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Woodstock, the music festival that was the highlight of the hippie era

Woodstock, the music festival that was the highlight of the hippie era

11. March 2023 Oddi Comments 2 comments

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15-17 August 1969, history’s most iconic rock festival took place. The festival was named the Woodstock Music & Art Fair. The festival was to be held in Woodstock in New York. However, the festival was moved to a dairy farm in Bethel (New York state). 25,000 participants were expected for the festival. Probably about 500,000 came. The festival was in the hippie era, it bore the stamp of the Vietnam war and became a protest against the war.

Woodstock

Richie Havens

Sweetwater

Bert Sommer

Tim Hardin

Ravi Shankar

Melanie Safka

Arlo Guthrie

Joan Baez

Quill

Country Joe McDonald

Santana

John Sebastian

Keef Hartley Band

Incredible String Band

Canned Heat

Mountain

Grateful Dead

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Janis Joplin and the Kozmic Blues Band

Sly & the Family Stone

The Who

Jefferson Airplane

Joe Cooker and The Grease Band

Country Joe & The Fish

Ten Years After

The Band

Johnny Winther

Blood, Sweat & Tears

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Sha Na Na

Jimi Hendrix / Band of Gypsys

500,000 in bad weather

The weather at the festival was bad. Lots of rain, thunder and slush on the dairy farm. However, this did not stop the festival-goers. Several big names were on the show. Many of the performances have become iconic highlights in the rock and pop industry.

After Joe Cooker came on, his performance was halted for several hours due to thunderstorms. A lot of rain characterized the festival. The large number of visitors also came as a surprise. Expectations were 25,000. There were probably 20 times more people present during the festival.

Hippie time

To understand the Hippies, we need to understand the time. It was in the middle of the Cold War and the US was involved in the Vietnam War which seemed pointless. Hippie culture emerged in the United States in the mid-1960s and quickly spread to other countries.

The movement was a counterculture to the established middle class. In music and art we saw the hippie culture. It was initially young people aged 15 to 25 who established the culture. A generation of young people who grew up partly after World War 2 and were tired of war and rearmament. USA’s involvement in World War II was for them a symbol of everything they wanted to get away from. The struggle against the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons and the Cold War characterized the movement.

The uniform

Like other subcultures, the hippie culture also had its codes for uniforming. Boys with afro hair and headbands, fringed jackets and flared trousers. Girls often with headbands, trousers with large flares, etc.

The hippies also uniformed themselves through symbols. Peace marks were often used on clothes and cars. The generation that grew up after the war wanted a new world, without war and nuclear weapons. The use of floral motifs is also prominent. They actually symbolize the same thing that peace does, peace rather than war, flowers rather than guns.

Musical Woodstock highlights

For many, perhaps the most iconic moment during the festival is when Jimi Henrix was the last artist on stage. His iconic guitar solo of the American national anthem is legendary. For others maybe Country Joe & The Fish and the performance of “Vietnam song”.

The list of artists who perform is long and incredibly many well-known artists. I can mention The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Band to name a few others. See the entire playlist in the column on the left.

The Woodstock festival was attempted again 30 years later, but the festival in 1999 was a big failure. The biggest rock festival of all time took place on a dairy farm in Bethel in 1969.

James M Shelley, License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Sources:

Woodstock – Wikipedia

Woodstock 1969: 10 things you didn’t know about the legendary festival – Radio X

Hippie – Wikipedia

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2 thoughts on “Woodstock, the music festival that was the highlight of the hippie era”

  1. Arild Karlsen says:
    12. March 2023 at 20:19

    I 1968 ble endelig John Wayne ~ kanskje mitt største hat objekt noensinne i Hollywood ~ den mest upopulære av alle de gamle avdankede 40- talls stjernene ~ for den unge generasjonen.

    Dette fordi han regisserte og spilte hovedrollen i tidenes dårligste Vietnam-krig film “The Green Berets” ! En håpløst ultra patriotisk film i stil med hvordan filmene ble laget på 40- tallet.

    Hvordan Vietnam- soldatene ble fremstilt falt ikke i smak hos den generasjonen som var til stede på Woodstock !

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    1. Arild Karlsen says:
      13. March 2023 at 18:25

      Jeg vil få legge inn en rettelse på mitt innlegg !

      “Hvordan Vietnam- soldatene ble fremstilt falt ikke i smak hos den generasjonen som var til stede på Woodstock !” ~ hva jeg egentlig mente var ikke de Amerikanske elite soldatene i Green Berets, men de Nord- Vietnamesiske soldatene.

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