15 Woodstock Artists Look Back at the Historic 1969 Festival

Even 5 and a half a long time after it occurred, Woodstock nonetheless looms giant within the minds of lots of people, each performers and attendees.

The three-day pageant started on Aug. 15, 1969, that includes over 150 musicians taking part in to a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals. Even these not current on the occasion might really feel its energy from miles away. Joni Mitchell, who didn’t seem on the pageant, would write a music about it which CSNY was successful — “Mentioned I am happening to Yasgur’s Farm / Gonna take part a rock ‘n’ roll band / Obtained to get again to the land / Set my soul free.”

READ MORE: Do You Keep in mind These Bands Who Performed Woodstock ’99?

Because of the abundance of medicine and alcohol, there are many gaps within the recollections of those that did play Woodstock, however there’s additionally nonetheless a lot that’s remembered. Beneath, so as of their look on the pageant, we’re having a look at 15 rock acts and their retrospective ideas on taking part in Woodstock.

1. Arlo Guthrie

They are saying that when you bear in mind the ’60s, you were not there. Arlo Guthrie, son of the well-known people pioneer Woody Guthrie, was definitely there. “I bear in mind gettin’ there,” he mentioned of Woodstock at a 2023 occasion, “however I do not bear in mind leavin.'”

However that was principally a joke, since Guthrie does have fond recollections of the day, as he recalled to Smithsonian journal in 2009: “One of many issues that was attention-grabbing to me was that everyone on the time knew that we have been in a history-making mode. It was plainly evident from the scale of the group and the overwhelming components like climate, roads and meals that we have been in the course of a catastrophe. And we knew that it was historic in proportion. Nothing like this had ever occurred earlier than, deliberate or abruptly. Whenever you understand that almost all historic occasions are written in hindsight – you do not understand you are in a historic occasion on the time – so it was particular to be in a historic occasion and know that it was simply that.”

2. Joan Baez

By the point Joan Baez hit the Woodstock stage, she had already made historical past a number of instances over in her profession as a folksinger, however this was a wholly completely different ballgame. “All people was loopy,” she mentioned to Rolling Stone in 2009. “I suppose the collective recollections that folks have, I’ve in a way. It is the mud and the cops roasting sizzling canine and folks wandering round within the nude. And the truth that, wanting again, it was in reality an enormous deal. I consider the occasions that occurred round that point, it was an ideal storm, which is why folks want they’d been there.”

It was a very memorable expertise for Baez as somebody with a extra political mindset than many of the different acts. “I used to be at all times an outsider,” she advised The New York Instances in 2019. “One, I used to be a lady. And two, I didn’t do medication or drink alcohol. I bear in mind operating into Janis Joplin a few instances. I mentioned, ‘Oh, Janis, you have to come over for tea a while.’ She held up her bottle [of booze] within the paper bag. I used to be a political activist, and there weren’t a lot of these at Woodstock.”

3. Santana

For the members of Santana, taking part in Woodstock was an particularly massive deal as a result of it was their first time taking part in a gig outdoors of their hometown of San Fransisco. “We stayed within the city of Woodstock and Paul Butterfield’s band was there,” percussionist Michael Carabello advised SFGate in 2009. “There was a saloon of some kind that for per week and a half we made right into a jam place and everyone would come down there and play. It was nice, simply nice, even earlier than attending to the gig.”

The gig helped deliver Santana nationwide consideration, the type that may guarantee a profitable future. “I’ve at all times mentioned that when you performed at Woodstock, you had a profession,” keyboardist Gregg Rolie advised UCR in 2014. “It was simply extensive open.”

4. Mountain

Even rock ‘n’ roll musicians need to eat in some unspecified time in the future. Leslie West of Mountain vividly remembered the meals state of affairs for the band at Woodstock. “There have been bagels backstage, they usually have been going actual fast,” he advised Rolling Stone again in 1989. “I keep in mind that distinctly as a result of our supervisor introduced these barbecued chickens up within the helicopter — his spouse had advised him he’d higher deliver one thing to eat, and we have been the one ones with meals. Effectively, with all of the smoke that was there, the appetites have been loopy, and there was completely nothing to eat. We might have in all probability offered these chickens for like 5 grand apiece.”

5. The Grateful Lifeless

Each Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Lifeless acknowledge the cultural significance of Woodstock, however neither of them felt their band’s efficiency was something to write down residence about. “You do not see festivals that draw half one million folks any extra,” Hart as soon as mentioned to The Detroit Information. “I recall the individuals who performed rather well at Woodstock — Carlos Santana, Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix — have been over-the-top nice. However we simply did not play properly. It was a missed alternative.”

“Had we performed a superb set, we in all probability would have transported them to a different actuality solely,” Weir advised Rolling Stone in 1989. “Some folks made their careers at Woodstock, however we have spent about 20 years making up for it [Laughs]. It was in all probability the worst set we have ever carried out. And to have carried out it in entrance of a crowd that measurement was not an altogether fulfilling expertise.”

6. Creedence Clearwater Revival

Not solely did Creedence Clearwater Revival wrestle to get to Woodstock due to the horrible climate, additionally they had the misfortune of getting to comply with the Grateful Lifeless, whose discombobulated set went over their allotted time. So when CCR lastly hit the stage it was someplace round 2:30 a.m. “We ran onstage able to rock ‘n’ roll, however everyone was simply mendacity there in entrance of the stage asleep,” John Fogerty recalled to the Los Angeles Instances in 2019. “About midway via, I went to the microphone and mentioned, ‘We’re taking part in our hearts out for you and need you to have a superb time.’ And from the again of the sector someplace I heard a voice shout, ‘Don’t fear about it, John.’ So in my thoughts, there was one man who was awake and we completed our set for that man.”

Drummer Doug Clifford had truly been anticipating one thing like that taking place. “It is what I anticipated, to be trustworthy,” he advised Rock Cellar in 2019. “We have been a reasonably disciplined band. We prided ourselves in being constant. It was one other stroll within the park; that is what we do it for.”

7. The Who

Roger Daltrey has mentioned that he feels Woodstock was maybe the Who’s worst gig ever. “It was a very arduous one for me, due to the state of the gear,” he defined to The New York Instances in 2019. “It was all breaking down. I am standing in the course of the stage with huge Marshall 100 watt amps blasting my ears behind me. [Keith] Moon on the drums within the center. I might barely hear what I used to be singing.”

Like CCR, the Who performed their set within the wee hours of the morning to an exhausted crowd. Pete Townshend wasn’t actually a fan of the expertise both. “Effectively, it modified me, I hated it,” he as soon as mentioned (by way of Far Out Journal). “I took my six-month-old little one, and it was very bizarre. I did not prefer it all. They dumped us out of a limousine into six ft of mud, and we stood there for 5 hours ready to go on.

“I drank a cup of espresso, and 5 minutes later, I am on an LSD journey, unwillingly. They put LSD within the espresso, LSD within the mud, when you fell over and by accident drank some muddy water, you have been on a visit.”

8. Jefferson Airplane

Many individuals who have been current at Woodstock — each on the stage and within the crowd — have spoken in regards to the feeling of togetherness that was there. “The factor that actually hit me was the sense of identification and group,” Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen as soon as mentioned (by way of woodstock.com). “The counter tradition prepare had been rolling for a few years by that point, however hastily these of us who have been collaborating within the circus discovered that we had a nationwide identification. That sea of humanity…we might look out at them from the stage and know that everybody knew the place we have been coming from.”

But it surely was additionally, as singer Grace Slick recalled to CBC in 2019, muddy, messy and logistically sophisticated. “For us, it wasn’t fairly as marvelous because it could be for any individual who’s 18 years previous,” she mentioned. “I used to be 29, so my thought of enjoyable isn’t having to be careful for a white gown and no bogs and taking part in at six o’clock within the morning. So Woodstock, personally, was not enjoyable. However the thought of it, and the concept we attracted that many individuals, was form of superb. However that is all in your head. That is not what truly occurred.”

9. Nation Joe and the Fish

The identical 12 months that he carried out at Woodstock, Nation Joe McDonald was additionally issued an arrest warrant for inciting an viewers into lewd conduct at a live performance in Massachusetts. (He wound up paying a $500 high quality.) So for McDonald, taking part in Woodstock was nothing wanting a rags to riches kind of story. “I by no means had a plan for a profession in music, so Woodstock modified my life,” he advised The New York Instances in 2017.

It must be famous that along with the pageant itself, the film made out of it additionally helped deliver the bands an increasing number of consideration, which guitarist Barry “The Fish” Melton would describe because the “greatest paying minute I ever spent in my life.”

10. The Band

If there was one act that may very well be thought-about the hometown group at Woodstock, it was the Band, who had moved to the city in 1967. After spending a number of years in semi-seclusion, all of the sudden performing for that many individuals was surprising, as Robbie Robertson would recall to Rolling Stone in 1989: “I bear in mind wanting on the market, and it appeared as if the children have been us form of humorous. We have been taking part in the identical approach we performed in our front room, and which may have given the impression that we weren’t up for it. But it surely might’ve been that we simply could not get that very same intimate feeling with a number of hundred thousand folks.

“Many of the different musicians went up and mentioned, ‘All people clap your fingers and sing together with me.’ However that wasn’t our calling. We have been considering, ‘These poor suckers have been placing up with a number of stuff, so perhaps we should always ship out somewhat non secular blessing to them.'”

11. Johnny Winter

When requested in 2009 by The Repository what he remembered probably the most from taking part in Woodstock, Johnny Winter replied: “That it was very muddy!” But, when Winter took the stage, on day three of the pageant, the climate had improved. “I performed Sunday round midnight. It was in all probability the time of the most important attendance and the climate was nice at the moment,” he mentioned. “I had Tommy Shannon on bass and Uncle John Turner on drums. It was a particular night time.”

12. Sly and the Household Stone

“I kicked ass,” Sly Stone recalled in his 2023 memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (by way of The Guardian), reminiscing on his Woodstock efficiency with the Household Stone. “Did I really feel the second as stress? I knew we needed to reside as much as it, to not point out rise to the extent of the opposite artists. Janis Joplin was on earlier than us, after which there was a break, and it was just like the sky break up open with rain. A couple of of us was afraid to the touch the gear due to the hazard of getting shocked.”

13. Blood, Sweat and Tears

The factor that has struck singer David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears probably the most within the years following Woodstock is how superb it was that even with all of the mud, medication and late nights, all the occasion occurred peacefully. That is particularly attention-grabbing when you think about that most of the folks attending Woodstock have been pissed off and fed up with points just like the Vietnam Struggle and different selections being made by a authorities they felt managed an excessive amount of of their lives.

“The legacy of Woodstock is {that a} small metropolis’s price of individuals, as much as their asses in mud, sharing only some Port-a-Potty’s with little refreshments did not kill each other,” Clayton-Thomas mentioned to The Western Gazette in 2009. “There was not one assault reported. The three days of affection and peace might have simply been a massacre.”

Bandmate Steve Katz would not recall the gig all that fondly on account of the climate, to not point out the dearth of reference to the group.

“Whenever you’re searching at 300,000 folks or no matter it is similar to a curtain. I believe the issue was the viewers was removed from us,” he advised Radio New Zealand in 2019. “And when the viewers is way from you, you lose intimacy and principally you are taking part in for your self.”

14. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Younger

When Crosby, Stills, Nash & Younger hit the Woodstock stage, it was solely their second time performing collectively. However with the entire dope round and basic good vibes, it did not unsettle them.

“I assumed we did a awful set,” Graham Nash advised Rolling Stone in 1989. “When you think about taking part in acoustic guitars to 400,000 folks and making an attempt to succeed in to the again of the group with songs like ‘Guinnevere,’ it was absurd. However we definitely gave it our greatest shot. Positive, the ‘Suite’ was somewhat out of tune, however so what?”

“We have been all trying to find enlightenment, nevertheless it was a number of rants,” Stephen Stills recalled to The Unbiased in 2023. “Watching all of the American children lolling round within the mud, I remembered that there have been peace talks making an attempt to go on on the time. I assumed: ‘Oh, the North Vietnamese should be quaking of their fucking boots this!’ These ironies struck me, right here at age 78.”

15. Sha Na Na

Out of all of the bands that carried out at Woodstock, Sha Na Na stood out as the one doo-wop revival group. Singer Henry Gross set the document for the youngest particular person on the invoice at 18 years previous — he graduated highschool just some months earlier than the pageant — and he all of the sudden discovered himself rubbing shoulders with a few of the most well-known folks within the music business.

“I acquired there at 9 within the morning, I used to be ingesting all morning, ingesting Jack Daniels out of a bottle with Jimi Hendrix,” he advised CultureSonar in 2019. “I went within the automotive with Jerry Garcia. It took us about an hour to get to the backstage space from the resort, which was truly solely a minute away as a result of there have been a whole bunch of 1000’s of children in the way in which. … And Jerry acquired me so stoned. I did not keep in mind that I spent all the day earlier than the live performance began at night time with Jerry. When Jerry Garcia acquired you stoned, you have been prepared for surgical procedure.”