Does anyone remember it?
Billed as Three Days of Peace and Love, with the added attraction of a lot of rain and terrible music quality, Woodstock gained mythic status as the embodiment of the hippie dream in August 1969, a dream that turned into a nightmare six months later at Altamont.
I have been listening to recordings of the event and they are dire. There are going to be a lot of 40th Anniversary special editions flying about and well, you cannot polish a turd. Crosby Stills and Nash were ragged, helped eventually by some studio overdubs. Many bands simply declined to appear. Jethro Tull were very big at the time but heard that it was chaos and the bands weren't being paid. Canned Heat were obviously so loaded it sounded as if somebody had leapt onto the stage from the crowd to sing "Goin' up the Country", instead of "Bob (The Bear) Hite". The Incredible String Band were ghastly, not helped by spending three days in their wet stage clothes. I suppose their are some good musical moments, but none spring to mind.
All in all, love and peace and all that, man, but you were better off doing what Joni did and sit in a nice hotel in New York and write the Myth.
11 Woodstock.mp3
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