"Woodstock" in 1969 in pictures of LIFE magazine
The most famous rock festival "Woodstock", which began on August 15, 1969 on one of the farms of the town of Bethel, New York, USA, gathered about half a million spectators, fifteen hundred of whom were journalists.
Two photojournalists from LIFE magazine, John Dominis and Bill Eppridge, also came to the festival. We see their photos today. Here it is, the end of the hippie era and the beginning of the sexual revolution.
1. Woodstock Music and Art Fair (eng. Woodstock Music & Art Fair, colloquially "Woodstock") is one of the most famous rock festivals.
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3. Took place on August 15-18, 1969 at one of the farms of the town in rural Bethel, New York, USA.
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5. The number of visitors is about 500 thousand, including 1,500 journalists.
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7. The festival has become a symbol of the end of the hippie era.
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9. Such singers, singers, musicians and bands as The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Ravi Shankar, Carlos Santana and many others performed at the festival.
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11. In his opening remarks, Max Yasgur, the owner of the farm where the festival was held, said: "I am a farmer, I do not know how to perform in front of the audience, in front of such a large gathering of people like this. This is the largest group of people ever gathered in one place. But other than that, the important thing that you have proved to the world is that half a million children — and I call you children because I have children who are older than you — half a million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music, and have nothing but fun and music, and God bless you for it!"
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13. The festival was called "Woodstock" because it was originally planned to be held in the city of Woodstock (New York) of Ulster County, but the city did not have a suitable territory for such an event, out of fear that more than a million spectators would arrive.
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15. The place was found in the town of Wallkill.
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17. The event almost fell through, but Sam Yasgur persuaded his father, Max, to allow the concert to be held on a family-owned field located in Sullivan County, about 40 miles southwest of Woodstock.
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19. Although the show was planned for 200 thousand visitors, more than 500 thousand arrived, most of them without tickets.
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21. The highways towards the festival venue were crowded.
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23. People left their cars and walked several miles to get to the show.
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25. During the festival, three people died: one from a heroin overdose, the second was hit by a tractor, the third fell from high structures; there were 2 unconfirmed births.
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27. Also, soon after the festival, 200 thousand illegitimate children were born.
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29. The festival marked several significant events — the end of the hippie era, the beginning of the sexual revolution and the movement of the "sixties".
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31. Among the stars invited to "Woodstock" were The Who and Jimi Hendrix.
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33. Due to disagreements with the organizers on the issue of payment, The Who did not go on stage until 4 am.
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35. One of the most memorable performances of The Who was the performance of the song See Me, Feel Me: The sun rose as soon as lead singer Roger Daltrey began to sing.
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37. Also, while on the stage of the group, political activist Abby Hoffman, taking advantage of a brief break in the performance, shouted into the microphone: "What, we're going to sit and listen to this shit while John Sinclair is rotting in prison?", but was expelled from the stage by the leader of the group Pete Townshend.
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39. At the end of the set, Townsend smashed the guitar on the stage and threw it into the crowd. This moment contributed to the formation of The Who as superstars and helped their album "Tommy" become multi-platinum.
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41. Jimi Hendrix gave a huge performance, including an alternative version of the "Star-Spangled Banner". The song was something incredible, the Vietnam War was in full swing, and the sound effects that Hendrix extracted from the guitar caused parallels with the sounds of violence and conflict.
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43. Fans have recognized these two performances as the greatest in the history of rock music.
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45. In 1970, the documentary film "Woodstock. Three Days of Peace and Music", which received an Oscar in 1971.
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47. It is curious that one of the editors of this documentary was Martin Scorsese.
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49. Also in 2009, the fortieth anniversary edition was published, which included several additions.
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51. Subsequently, anniversary festivals were held to coincide with the anniversaries of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: "Woodstock-79", "Woodstock-89", "Woodstock-94" (25th anniversary), "Woodstock-99".
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53. The organization of recent festivals has been sharply criticized (high prices for drinks and food and a ban on bringing food themselves, lack of proper medical care).
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55. In 2009, the next "Woodstock" was supposed to take place, however, due to budget problems, the show never took place, but a lot of things timed to the anniversary of the festival came out.
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57. In the middle of August '69, no one knew that later endless rows of culturologists would call the Woodstock Festival one of the greatest moments in history, which changed the image of modern culture.
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59. The organizers were young people who received permission for the event only two weeks before it was held, but they had $2.5 million — a lot of money at that time. The most expensive Hollywood blockbuster cost then a million or two.
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61. It was planned that 100-150 thousand people would gather, no one expected to sell 250 thousand tickets, and especially no one thought that the same number would fit into that field without any tickets.
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63. By the way, the cost of tickets for the three scheduled days was only $ 18. The price for the "Woodstock-89" was $ 150.
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65. Exactly two days before the start of the festival, the Warner Brothers film studio paid 100 thousand dollars for shooting a film that became a cult.
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67. Most of the famous artists gathered at Woodstock. Only Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull refused. The bands Moody Blues, Doors and Bob Dylan agreed, but for various reasons did not make it. The Beatles were in the process of disintegration — McCartney refused, Lennon wanted to come with Yoko Ono, but they refused him.
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71. The average fee of a top artist at that time was about 12-13 thousand dollars, even the famous team of The Who agreed to such a price, they had just released an unforgettable rock opera "Tommy" at the beginning of the festival summer.
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80. Despite dozens of various problems, the festival still took place, became legendary and had a huge impact on culture.