Woodstock was a huge music festival held over several days in 1969. It was all about peace, love, and music! Here are 10 facts about Woodstock that you might have not known.
Woodstock Wasn’t Actually Held in Woodstock
The Woodstock festival was originally supposed to be held in Woodstock in New York. However, plans fell through and after looking for a new venue, it was decided to have the festival on a farm in Bethel, New York. This was about 70 miles from Woodstock, but nobody seemed to care enough to change the name.
Richie Havens Was the First Performer
Richie Havens was the first to perform at Woodstock, even though that originally wasn’t the plan. The original performers to go on first were Sweetwater, but they were stuck in traffic. Havens kept trying to leave the stage but was told to keep performing. He eventually ran out of his own material and started singing covers of The Beatles’ songs.
The Festival Was Almost Cancelled Half Way Through
The organizers of Woodstock vastly underestimated how many people would be in attendance for the festival. They didn’t realize how much food and water they were going to need for festival goers and the money was running out quickly. They eventually had food and water helicoptered into the event, saving it from halting in the middle of the festivities.
There Is No Evidence That Anyone Was Born at Woodstock
There are rumors that babies were born at Woodstock, but there is nothing factual to substantiate these claims. So if anyone ever says they were a Woodstock baby, then they must be mistaken. Any babies that were born during Woodstock were born in a hospital.
Some People Didn’t Pay for Their Tickets
If you haven’t guessed already, Woodstock was not very well organized. They were expecting about 50,000 people and it is estimated that 400,000 people showed up. A lot of people snuck into the festival and didn’t have to pay a dime for their tickets.
Joni Mitchell Wasn’t Actually at Woodstock
Joni Mitchell missed Woodstock because she had to be on a television show and there was no way she could have done both (the traffic was insane after all). There is an irony to this because Mitchell wrote a song about the festival, called “Woodstock”. She watched some of the festival on television and attributes that to part of her song writing process.
Traffic Was Really Bad
The traffic at Woodstock went on for miles! It was hard for acts to actually get into the festival, so some of them had to get there by helicopter. That is exactly what happened to Sweetwater, the intended first act. They had to fly to the festival via helicopter.
The Festival Was Held on a Farm
Woodstock’s venue wasn’t the typical place for a rock concert to be held. It was held on a dairy farm owned by Max Yasgur. Since it was a dairy farm, there is the assumption that some cows made it to the festival and rocked out to the Grateful Dead.
Read More: The Best Festival in Every State in the U.S.
Abbie Hoffman Crashed The Who’s Set
Political activist Abbie Hoffman rushed to the stage to protest the jailing of White Panther Party member John Sinclair. Pete Townshend was not pleased with Hoffman and eventually escorted him off stage. This was probably a first for The Who, but definitely not a first for Abbie Hoffman — he liked to make political statements in big crowds.
Read More: The 10 Most Legendary Women Rock Guitarists
Jimi Hendrix Was the Last Performer
Jimi Hendrix was the last to perform at Woodstock. His set was supposed to be Sunday night but nothing went as planned during Woodstock, so he ended up performing on Monday morning. This was also because Hendrix had a clause in his contract that no one could perform after him. A lot of people had already left Woodstock, so a lot of them missed out on his legendary performance.
Read More: The 20 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
