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Great posts/comments! I'm amazed that nobody mentioned this drop-dead set from my boys. This was a month before their debut album came out.
And yes, I'm pretty sure Carlos Santana and drummer Mike Shreive were on something during this set lol but wasn't everyone a little "altered" at this show?
Phenomenal performance. The late David Brown with the sick bass groove as well:
I'm watching 'Woodstock', the documentary now...I wasn't there but wow, what a time and place to be; what a festival, the ones they have nowadays can't possible be like that one...
I'm watching 'Woodstock', the documentary now...I wasn't there but wow, what a time and place to be; what a festival, the ones they have nowadays can't possible be like that one...
Woodstock can never be replicated.
You can't manufacture something like that.
But there have been, and are still some great music fests going on out there.
It did not begin and end with Woodstock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marksman84
Great posts/comments! I'm amazed that nobody mentioned this drop-dead set from my boys. This was a month before their debut album came out.
And yes, I'm pretty sure Carlos Santana and drummer Mike Shreive were on something during this set lol but wasn't everyone a little "altered" at this show?
Santana - Soul Sacrifice (Woodstock 1969[/url]
I saw Santana in 1970 in a small, sweaty hall in Denver, and they were cookin.'
Country Joe and the Fish were there as well.
Still have the ticket stub.
Gimme an F!
They made a movie about Woodstock and it became symbolic of the '60s music festival phenomenon. I was at the Atlanta festival the month before Woodstock and believe it was just as good if not better. Led Zeppelin was there and flat knocked everybody out! Janis Joplin was there, Credence, Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter, BB King and many more I can't recall and a totally unknown band that played between sets called Grand Funk Railroad. It was very peaceful and the Atlanta fire department sent fire trucks in to spray everybody down with cool water (it was a sweltering 4th of July weekend). Some local merchants sent in trucks full of watermelons for us and they were great. Wonderful memories of a time long ago.
The Stones regreted blowing off Woodstock and other less than totally commercial events and decided to get in on the Woodstock buzz with a "free" concert at Altamont. As we know, it was a fatal disaster. That was the end of the "Woodstock phenomenon". How short a time it was from the Summer of Love in '67 to Altamont. It faded like the beautiful brief flower it was.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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I remember it. In fact I remember it too well because I was 12 and I was actually there live and in person. I recall spending the last few weeks of summer vacation with my uncle, aunt and her 2 neices in New York. Of course back then we were out of school until after Labor Day weekend. It was the oldest neice who was 19 and in college and her boyfriend that wanted to go. And the suggestion was made to them to take me and the younger neice along for the day. I recall her saying it was a "music and arts fair" - I think to make it sound more pleasant to her mom and dad. And we were only supposed to go for one day but unfortunately- or fortunately if you actually LIKED being there- it was the FIRST day. I really did not want to go. I mean, she was saying it was this "arts thing" out on "a farm" and my thinking was I live in farm country and while I am in New York, I want to go to Manhattan and goof around and see things.
None the less we went. The thing looked bad from the start. I recall the boyfriend- Paul as I recall- being stuck in traffic just trying to get in the place and thinking he might miss some of the acts but we got in. By that night the crowd was so big that you could not get anywhere near the stage. And, most importantly, we could not leave! There were still people coming in and cars were parked just anywhere and everywhere and nobody was leaving until everybody left.
This meant were were stuck there for 3 and 1/2 days. And if anybody tells you that it was such a good time, I will tell them bullcrap! It was a horrible time! At least through the eyes of this 12 year old. Here is what the experience was from my rememberance:
1. Was the music good?? To be honest I have no idea because you could not get close enough to the stage to HEAR it and the sound system they had absolutely SUCKED. They should have one 5 times as powerful for a concert that big! The sound systems you hear at 30,000 seat amphitheaters are louder that that one way. So no music really.
2. No food. We did not bring food or money to buy food for 3+ days (the thing actually into 4 days- not 3 as many think. The National Guard and some other people finally brought some food into the place and handed it out. The boyfriend was actually going to try to walk to a town some ways away to try and get some food before they showed up. I had one advantage- being a little kid meant we got fed first! But only after a whole day of nothing at all.
3. Bad weather. I recall the rainstorm- pretty much as it was shown in the movie- but what they could not show you was the heat, humidity and the horrible stench that the portable toilets emitted. Which leads to....
4. Poor toilet facilities. If you had to go, you waited in line. Not for a little while but for a loooooong while. All they had was portable plastic toilets- like you see on construction sites- and they things smelled like the worse thing you ever wanted to smell. I don't think anybody even cleaned them after day 1 although they did have a couple of guys running around with rolls of toilet paper for them. Even when you were 100 feet from the things the smell was strong enough to gag a maggot! They were so bad that some people took the toilet paper and went elsewhere to use it which, I guess was wonderful for sanitation.
5. Too many *******s. Yes they said it was "3 days of peace, love and music" but that was bull. I saw more than one fight and by the end of the 2nd day the 2 fingered peace sign was pretty much replaced by the 1 fingered salute. People were hungry, dirty, wet, hot and smelly. And, like I said, it was impossible to leave unless you walked out. Cars were going nowhere.
The best part about it for me was on the 4th day when we finally got the hell outta there. I could not wait to go back to New York and change clothes and have a bath. I really get a kick about all the people who say they "wish they were there". I always tell them I wish they was too because they could have taken my place!
Honestly and ironically for me, the best part about Woodstock and the best way to enjoy the experience was to see the movie. That was the first time I actually enjoyed Woodstock! Aside from looking for myself in the film and being amazed that the cameraman was able to actually find somebody cleaning one of those horrible outdoor toilets (he certainly wasn't around when I was there), it was the first time I really saw an act up close or heard half decent sounding music! And the funny thing about it was that the movie was rated R which meant I was too young to see it (did anyway) but there was NO age restriction on the event itself!
And I went to an outdoor concert and got hungry dirty and smelly for 3 days, my niece and her boyfriend both missed time at work being stuck there. So for those of you that think you missed something big- from the eyes of a little kid- you didn't miss anything at all!
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Quote:
Originally Posted by burdell
I wonder of it isn't just disappointment?
Thinking back to the Woodstock era I think of an unpopular war of dubious purpose, an unhearing president, and an administration that believed itself above the law. Today I see..............................
The same damn crowd that was out there is the same crowd that runs things today. Don't be fooled by the dog and pony show. They were a bunch of selfish suburbanites then and still are today.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Visvaldis
I guess I'm the oldie here. I had already finished up my 3 year army hitch in 1968. My first job was driving a bus in Chicago, providing service from O'Hare aiport to the downtown hotels. All this as the Democrats were having their riotous convention in Chicago. I had a chance to be on Michigan avenue every day to watch the huge crowds, the barbed wire, the National Guard, the police, etc. It sure looked like a war zone. I wonder if anyone remembers the Yippies. It was a small group of protestors. One day they brought a medium sized pig and let it run loose in front of the Hilton Hotel, where most of the delegates were staying. They said the pig should be nominated as a candidate for president.
I heard about Woodstock only when the news reported that massive traffic jams were clogging the roads in upstate new York. I don't regret having missed it, but I sure liked the music from that era. That was during a time when the FM radio dial was almost empty. Some alternative music stations started broadcasting on FM, without crazy screaming DJs and no pre-recorded commercials. The DJs often played 30 minutes of music without interruption and spoke in a normal tone of voice. Also, playing songs that exceeded 5 minutes. Somebody coined the term for this the "laid back style". Now, FM radio is just as neurotic as AM once was.
That is about the time FM was just catching on and AM was king. In Kansas we had a station called "Channel 97" that played some really good rock and no screaming DJs. They used to play long songs and on Sunday they had "The King Biscuit Flower Hour" which introduced alot of now well known bands to the FM radio dial. They used to play the "Album 6 pack" on Saturdays in which they would play 6 whole albums with commercials only between each album.
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