August 1969. The world was in a state of unrest and change. Cities across the United States were in flames, protesting against the Vietnam War and its involvement with their lives. In New York City, construction workers went on strike for higher wages and better working conditions. In Chicago, police beat up protesters at an anti-war demonstration outside of the Democratic Convention hall. Gambling and drug use were also prohibited. However, this was not the case for many people who snuck in drugs and alcohol into large events. And with sports gambling illegal in the United States and it being decades before websites like tonybet.co.uk/in-play existed, it often took place ‘under the radar’ in the crowds of large gatherings, even non-sporting events such as festivals.
Meanwhile, in Wallkill, New York, a small group of organizers had been planning a 3-day music festival that would be known as Woodstock Music Festival – one that would last from August 15 to 18th with over 400 bands playing on three different stages for nearly half a million people who attended this once-in-a-lifetime event!
It got started when Michael Lang, one of the four producers behind Woodstock Festival approached Max Yasgur through his daughter after seeing him at a local auction.
The first step to making it work was securing permits from both New York State and Sullivan County so that they could hold this festival with performances on outdoor stages throughout the weekend.
Everything had been set up for the festival that would be serving 50,000 attendees per day. Yasgur’s farm had been rented for $75,000 and a fence was built around it to keep people in. Meanwhile, nearby Wallkill Board Track Raceway was loaned equipment like water trucks while some of their crews were used as construction workers on the festival itself.
As the festival was coming closer to starting up on August 14th, there were rumors that it had been cancelled due to bad weather conditions in New York City which led many people not heading out to Yasgur’s farm for this once-in-a-lifetime event. However, the morning of August 15th brought sunny and clear skies with organizers expecting around 100,000 people to come out for the event.
The first band on stage was Richie Havens at noon while other performers included Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, John Sebastian (of The Lovin’ Spoonful) and Ravi Shankar.
The crowd was peaceful and accounted for the lack of violence. Despite it being hot during this time, there was plenty of food to go around while water trucks were on hand in case anyone needed something to drink.
After the first day of Woodstock Festival, word got out that there were 200 arrests and two people confirmed dead. The next day brought another round of performers like Sly & The Family Stone, Canned Heat and Johnny Winter while Jimi Hendrix closed it down on August 18th with his version of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.
At one point during his performance, Jimi Hendrix burned his guitar on stage with thousands upon thousands of attendees looking on with their jaws dropped to the floor.
The rain came later that night at 11 pm but only lasted an hour before stopping again. However, many people had already packed up their belongings.
By Sunday morning, there was another band on stage before the festival grounds were completely packed up. Over 500,000 people had visited Woodstock over this three-day period with nearly 100 of them staying at Yasgur’s farm afterwards to help clean up after everyone else left!
And that wraps it all up for a brief history behind Woodstock.
Add as a preferred source