From Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Garcia to the 400,000 hippies in attendance, these pictures from Woodstock 1969 capture the free spirit of this historic event.
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The Complete, Unadulterated History Of 1969’s Woodstock Music Festival
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1 of 69Billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”, Woodstock was organized by Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld with presale tickets available for $18 (equivalent to $120 today).Wikimedia Commons 2 of 69Hundreds of thousands of people descended upon Bethel 24 hours before the concert was slated to start. With traffic gridlocked for miles, many abandoned their cars and simply walked to the festival grounds.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 3 of 69A large group wait for a bus to take them to the festival grounds.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 4 of 69"On foot, in cars, atop cars, young people leave the great love-in of the sixties, the Woodstock Music Festival. Three hundred thousand young people descended upon Bethel, N.Y., and to the surprise of most, took part in a festival that will, no doubt, go down in history.“Bettmann/Getty Images 5 of 69The traffic jams caused by the enormous amount of festivalgoers on the road reportedly measured as much as 20 miles long.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 6 of 69Satchidananda Saraswati, an Indian religious teacher and guru, delivered the opening ceremony invocation at Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons 7 of 69A pair of friends enjoy some downtime between performances.Wikimedia Commons 8 of 69Max Yasgur greets the crowd on his dairy farm in Bethel, New York. On the bottom left, a young Martin Scorsese returns a peace sign.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 9 of 69On-and-off-again rain became a staple of the Woodstock weekend, though that didn’t stop the energy or proceedings of the festival.Pinterest 10 of 69Initially expecting only 100,000 people, Woodstock swelled to more than 400,000 revelers. Concert organizers realized that they had neither the means or resources to prevent the flood of people and thus made the concert “free” by cutting all the fences surrounding the festival area.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 69"Hippie woman named Psylvia, dressed in pink Indian shirt, dancing to music being played by a flute at Woodstock Music Festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 12 of 69Infamously, copious amounts of drugs such as acid were passed around the crowd, with organizers at one point having to warn people over the megaphone to not take the brown acid, which was supposedly bad and dangerous.John Dominis/Getty Images 13 of 69Jerry Garcia poses for a photograph before the Grateful Dead performed at Woodstock.Magnum Photos 14 of 69Festivalgoers who did attend Woodstock were widely dressed in the best hippie finery of the day — while scores of crowd members went completely nude.Magnum Photos 15 of 69Ravi Shankar plays the sitar during his performance on Friday night.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 16 of 69A group of journalists work amid the chaos of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 17 of 69Impromptu shelters were commonplace – pictured here, a group rests in the grass hut they’d built for the weekend.Factinate 18 of 69"Young woman with flute ecstatically raising her arms, amid crowd at Woodstock music festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 19 of 69With crowds so large, festival organizers ran out of food on the first day.John Dominis/Getty Images 20 of 69With food low, the resulting situation became so tense that two concession stands were burned down on Saturday night because of their prices.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 21 of 69Strapped for cash and time, Woodstock’s organizers contracted the festival’s food service to a fledgling group with almost no prior experience.Wikimedia Commons 22 of 69By some reports, thousands of young children attended the festival.Getty Images 23 of 69Janis Joplin pours herself a cup of wine before her performance at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 24 of 69While there is no definitive proof, reports have existed since 1969 that at least one baby was born during the festival.Pinterest 25 of 69Some 30 of the festival’s acts were forced to perform during the rain that plagued the proceedings.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection 26 of 69Joe Cocker performs on Sunday, August 17.Magnum Photos 27 of 69Thanks in part to performers like Jimi Hendrix, fringe jackets have become one of the most enduring symbols of Woodstock fashion.Getty Images 28 of 69"A bedraggled young woman stands in the mud, a sleeping bag and backpack at her feet.“Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 29 of 69Devotees of Swami Satchidananda meditate and perform yoga early in the morning at Woodstock. Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 30 of 69"What a smile–two kids in blue–torn jeans, old leather camera bag, blue midriff t-shirt, long hair, amazing smile, at the Woodstock music festival.“Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 31 of 69Heavy rains, especially on the third day, forced many attendees into tents. However, there were plenty of patches of sunshine well documented by the wealth of Woodstock photos and footage that survive to this day.John Dominis/Getty Images 32 of 69Heady vibes point the way to various spots of Woodstock 1969.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 33 of 69Acid, opium, cocaine, mushrooms, and, of course, marijuana were all widely used at the festival.Getty Images 34 of 69As popular depictions widely show, vibrantly painted hippie busses were common at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 35 of 69From the fashions to the festival’s official posters, the American Flag was a common design element on display at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 36 of 69Music fans and hippies weren’t the only people in attendance. Here, a bookseller offering revolutionary literature has set up shop.Scribol 37 of 69A festivalgoer reads a magazine between sets at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 38 of 69"The whole thing is a gas,” one attendee told The New York Times. “I dig it all, the mud, the rain, the music, the hassles.“Wikimedia Commons 39 of 69"We’re vestiges of our former selves,” another attendee told the Times just after returning from the festival.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 40 of 69With few places to catch a good night sleep, Woodstock attendees had to make do with what they had.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 41 of 69Creedence Clearwater Revival 3 a.m. start time meant that they began their performance to a crowd that virtually all asleep.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 42 of 69Singer/guitarist John Fogerty performing with Creedence Clearwater Revival at Woodstock.Tucker Ranson/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images 43 of 69"The dreams of marijuana and rock music that drew 300,000 fans and hippies to the Catskills had little more sanity than the impulses that drive the lemmings to march to their deaths in the sea,” wrote The New York Times.Pinterest 44 of 69Janis Joplin raises her arms during her iconic Woodstock performance.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 45 of 69A children’s playground was set up to accommodate the amount of kids in attendance.Pinterest 46 of 69A woman enjoys a smoke while sitting atop a decorated bus near the free stage of Woodstock.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 47 of 69Attendees climb the sound tower to see the stage.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 48 of 69One of Woodstock’s two fatalities came when a tractor accidentally ran over an attendee sleeping in a field near the festival grounds.Pinterest 49 of 69From sculptures to makeshift shelters, festival attendees got creative in the absence of adequate facilities.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 50 of 69A sudden downpour on Sunday threatened the festival and delayed several performances while drenching the festival grounds. Here, a group wade through the water and mud.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 51 of 69"It’s about the quietest, most well-behaved 300,000 people in one place that can be imagined,” Michael Lang said. “There have been no fights or incidents of violence of any kind.“Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 52 of 69Because of rain delays, Jimi Hendrix didn’t actually take the stage until Monday morning.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 53 of 69Graham Nash and David Crosby of the group Crosby, Stills, & Nash perform on Sunday August 17 during Woodstock.Fotos International/Getty Images 54 of 69A couple attending the Woodstock Music Festival smiles while standing outside the shelter they’ve built during the concert.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 55 of 69"Notwithstanding their personality, their dress and their ideas, they were and they are the most courteous, considerate and well-behaved group of kids I have ever been in contact with in my 24 years of police work,” said one local police chief.Pictorial Parade/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 56 of 69A handful of prominent bands turned down performing at Woodstock. The Byrds were invited, but decided against playing. Said bassist John York, “We had no idea what it was going to be. We were burned out and tired of the festival scene… So all of us said, ‘No, we want a rest’ and missed the best festival of all.“Wikimedia Commons 57 of 69People bathe and clean up in a stream adjacent to the festival.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 58 of 69A couple bathe naked in a stream among others at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 59 of 69"It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud,” John Fogerty said of the crowd.Pinterest 60 of 69The Doors turned down an invitation to play at Woodstock, believing it would be a “second class repeat of Monterey Pop Festival.” Guitarist Robby Krieger said it was one of his biggest regrets as a musician.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 61 of 69"If we had any inkling that there was going to be this kind of attendance, we certainly would not have gone ahead,” said John Roberts.John Dominis/Getty Images 62 of 69Melanie Safka performs at Woodstock. She would later write the hit song “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)” inspired by the lighters in the audience during her performance.Elliott Landy/Redferns/Getty Images 63 of 69"I guess this was meant to happen, and everybody is still with us,” Artie Kornfeld said of the rain.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 64 of 69By the time Jimi Hendrix went on stage near the festival’s end, only 30,000 festivalgoers remained.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 65 of 69Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” in the final performance at Woodstock has since become a landmark in rock history.Wikimedia Commons 66 of 69The way out ended up being as chaotic as the way in. Here, a woman catches up on sleep as she waits for traffic to clear up.Pinterest 67 of 69The traffic jam trying to leave Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons 68 of 69A young man stands in front of the empty fields of Max Yasgur’s dairy farm after Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 69 of 69Like this gallery?Share it:
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69 Woodstock Photos That Will Take You To The 1960s’ Most Iconic Music Festival View Gallery
A half-century ago, the most celebrated festival in American history was held in upstate New York.
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The Complete, Unadulterated History Of 1969’s Woodstock Music Festival
Naked Hippies And Raging Fires: 55 Crazy Photos From History’s Most Iconic Music Festivals
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1 of 69Billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”, Woodstock was organized by Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld with presale tickets available for $18 (equivalent to $120 today).Wikimedia Commons 2 of 69Hundreds of thousands of people descended upon Bethel 24 hours before the concert was slated to start. With traffic gridlocked for miles, many abandoned their cars and simply walked to the festival grounds.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 3 of 69A large group wait for a bus to take them to the festival grounds.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 4 of 69"On foot, in cars, atop cars, young people leave the great love-in of the sixties, the Woodstock Music Festival. Three hundred thousand young people descended upon Bethel, N.Y., and to the surprise of most, took part in a festival that will, no doubt, go down in history.“Bettmann/Getty Images 5 of 69The traffic jams caused by the enormous amount of festivalgoers on the road reportedly measured as much as 20 miles long.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 6 of 69Satchidananda Saraswati, an Indian religious teacher and guru, delivered the opening ceremony invocation at Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons 7 of 69A pair of friends enjoy some downtime between performances.Wikimedia Commons 8 of 69Max Yasgur greets the crowd on his dairy farm in Bethel, New York. On the bottom left, a young Martin Scorsese returns a peace sign.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 9 of 69On-and-off-again rain became a staple of the Woodstock weekend, though that didn’t stop the energy or proceedings of the festival.Pinterest 10 of 69Initially expecting only 100,000 people, Woodstock swelled to more than 400,000 revelers. Concert organizers realized that they had neither the means or resources to prevent the flood of people and thus made the concert “free” by cutting all the fences surrounding the festival area.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 69"Hippie woman named Psylvia, dressed in pink Indian shirt, dancing to music being played by a flute at Woodstock Music Festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 12 of 69Infamously, copious amounts of drugs such as acid were passed around the crowd, with organizers at one point having to warn people over the megaphone to not take the brown acid, which was supposedly bad and dangerous.John Dominis/Getty Images 13 of 69Jerry Garcia poses for a photograph before the Grateful Dead performed at Woodstock.Magnum Photos 14 of 69Festivalgoers who did attend Woodstock were widely dressed in the best hippie finery of the day — while scores of crowd members went completely nude.Magnum Photos 15 of 69Ravi Shankar plays the sitar during his performance on Friday night.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 16 of 69A group of journalists work amid the chaos of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 17 of 69Impromptu shelters were commonplace – pictured here, a group rests in the grass hut they’d built for the weekend.Factinate 18 of 69"Young woman with flute ecstatically raising her arms, amid crowd at Woodstock music festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 19 of 69With crowds so large, festival organizers ran out of food on the first day.John Dominis/Getty Images 20 of 69With food low, the resulting situation became so tense that two concession stands were burned down on Saturday night because of their prices.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 21 of 69Strapped for cash and time, Woodstock’s organizers contracted the festival’s food service to a fledgling group with almost no prior experience.Wikimedia Commons 22 of 69By some reports, thousands of young children attended the festival.Getty Images 23 of 69Janis Joplin pours herself a cup of wine before her performance at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 24 of 69While there is no definitive proof, reports have existed since 1969 that at least one baby was born during the festival.Pinterest 25 of 69Some 30 of the festival’s acts were forced to perform during the rain that plagued the proceedings.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection 26 of 69Joe Cocker performs on Sunday, August 17.Magnum Photos 27 of 69Thanks in part to performers like Jimi Hendrix, fringe jackets have become one of the most enduring symbols of Woodstock fashion.Getty Images 28 of 69"A bedraggled young woman stands in the mud, a sleeping bag and backpack at her feet.“Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 29 of 69Devotees of Swami Satchidananda meditate and perform yoga early in the morning at Woodstock. Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 30 of 69"What a smile–two kids in blue–torn jeans, old leather camera bag, blue midriff t-shirt, long hair, amazing smile, at the Woodstock music festival.“Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 31 of 69Heavy rains, especially on the third day, forced many attendees into tents. However, there were plenty of patches of sunshine well documented by the wealth of Woodstock photos and footage that survive to this day.John Dominis/Getty Images 32 of 69Heady vibes point the way to various spots of Woodstock 1969.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 33 of 69Acid, opium, cocaine, mushrooms, and, of course, marijuana were all widely used at the festival.Getty Images 34 of 69As popular depictions widely show, vibrantly painted hippie busses were common at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 35 of 69From the fashions to the festival’s official posters, the American Flag was a common design element on display at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 36 of 69Music fans and hippies weren’t the only people in attendance. Here, a bookseller offering revolutionary literature has set up shop.Scribol 37 of 69A festivalgoer reads a magazine between sets at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 38 of 69"The whole thing is a gas,” one attendee told The New York Times. “I dig it all, the mud, the rain, the music, the hassles.“Wikimedia Commons 39 of 69"We’re vestiges of our former selves,” another attendee told the Times just after returning from the festival.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 40 of 69With few places to catch a good night sleep, Woodstock attendees had to make do with what they had.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 41 of 69Creedence Clearwater Revival 3 a.m. start time meant that they began their performance to a crowd that virtually all asleep.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 42 of 69Singer/guitarist John Fogerty performing with Creedence Clearwater Revival at Woodstock.Tucker Ranson/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images 43 of 69"The dreams of marijuana and rock music that drew 300,000 fans and hippies to the Catskills had little more sanity than the impulses that drive the lemmings to march to their deaths in the sea,” wrote The New York Times.Pinterest 44 of 69Janis Joplin raises her arms during her iconic Woodstock performance.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 45 of 69A children’s playground was set up to accommodate the amount of kids in attendance.Pinterest 46 of 69A woman enjoys a smoke while sitting atop a decorated bus near the free stage of Woodstock.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 47 of 69Attendees climb the sound tower to see the stage.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 48 of 69One of Woodstock’s two fatalities came when a tractor accidentally ran over an attendee sleeping in a field near the festival grounds.Pinterest 49 of 69From sculptures to makeshift shelters, festival attendees got creative in the absence of adequate facilities.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 50 of 69A sudden downpour on Sunday threatened the festival and delayed several performances while drenching the festival grounds. Here, a group wade through the water and mud.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 51 of 69"It’s about the quietest, most well-behaved 300,000 people in one place that can be imagined,” Michael Lang said. “There have been no fights or incidents of violence of any kind.“Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 52 of 69Because of rain delays, Jimi Hendrix didn’t actually take the stage until Monday morning.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 53 of 69Graham Nash and David Crosby of the group Crosby, Stills, & Nash perform on Sunday August 17 during Woodstock.Fotos International/Getty Images 54 of 69A couple attending the Woodstock Music Festival smiles while standing outside the shelter they’ve built during the concert.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 55 of 69"Notwithstanding their personality, their dress and their ideas, they were and they are the most courteous, considerate and well-behaved group of kids I have ever been in contact with in my 24 years of police work,” said one local police chief.Pictorial Parade/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 56 of 69A handful of prominent bands turned down performing at Woodstock. The Byrds were invited, but decided against playing. Said bassist John York, “We had no idea what it was going to be. We were burned out and tired of the festival scene… So all of us said, ‘No, we want a rest’ and missed the best festival of all.“Wikimedia Commons 57 of 69People bathe and clean up in a stream adjacent to the festival.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 58 of 69A couple bathe naked in a stream among others at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 59 of 69"It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud,” John Fogerty said of the crowd.Pinterest 60 of 69The Doors turned down an invitation to play at Woodstock, believing it would be a “second class repeat of Monterey Pop Festival.” Guitarist Robby Krieger said it was one of his biggest regrets as a musician.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 61 of 69"If we had any inkling that there was going to be this kind of attendance, we certainly would not have gone ahead,” said John Roberts.John Dominis/Getty Images 62 of 69Melanie Safka performs at Woodstock. She would later write the hit song “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)” inspired by the lighters in the audience during her performance.Elliott Landy/Redferns/Getty Images 63 of 69"I guess this was meant to happen, and everybody is still with us,” Artie Kornfeld said of the rain.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 64 of 69By the time Jimi Hendrix went on stage near the festival’s end, only 30,000 festivalgoers remained.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 65 of 69Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” in the final performance at Woodstock has since become a landmark in rock history.Wikimedia Commons 66 of 69The way out ended up being as chaotic as the way in. Here, a woman catches up on sleep as she waits for traffic to clear up.Pinterest 67 of 69The traffic jam trying to leave Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons 68 of 69A young man stands in front of the empty fields of Max Yasgur’s dairy farm after Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 69 of 69Like this gallery?Share it:
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And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:
The Complete, Unadulterated History Of 1969’s Woodstock Music Festival
Naked Hippies And Raging Fires: 55 Crazy Photos From History’s Most Iconic Music Festivals
33 Photos From The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 And The Other Wild Early Years
1 of 69Billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”, Woodstock was organized by Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld with presale tickets available for $18 (equivalent to $120 today).Wikimedia Commons 2 of 69Hundreds of thousands of people descended upon Bethel 24 hours before the concert was slated to start. With traffic gridlocked for miles, many abandoned their cars and simply walked to the festival grounds.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 3 of 69A large group wait for a bus to take them to the festival grounds.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 4 of 69"On foot, in cars, atop cars, young people leave the great love-in of the sixties, the Woodstock Music Festival. Three hundred thousand young people descended upon Bethel, N.Y., and to the surprise of most, took part in a festival that will, no doubt, go down in history.“Bettmann/Getty Images 5 of 69The traffic jams caused by the enormous amount of festivalgoers on the road reportedly measured as much as 20 miles long.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 6 of 69Satchidananda Saraswati, an Indian religious teacher and guru, delivered the opening ceremony invocation at Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons 7 of 69A pair of friends enjoy some downtime between performances.Wikimedia Commons 8 of 69Max Yasgur greets the crowd on his dairy farm in Bethel, New York. On the bottom left, a young Martin Scorsese returns a peace sign.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 9 of 69On-and-off-again rain became a staple of the Woodstock weekend, though that didn’t stop the energy or proceedings of the festival.Pinterest 10 of 69Initially expecting only 100,000 people, Woodstock swelled to more than 400,000 revelers. Concert organizers realized that they had neither the means or resources to prevent the flood of people and thus made the concert “free” by cutting all the fences surrounding the festival area.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 69"Hippie woman named Psylvia, dressed in pink Indian shirt, dancing to music being played by a flute at Woodstock Music Festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 12 of 69Infamously, copious amounts of drugs such as acid were passed around the crowd, with organizers at one point having to warn people over the megaphone to not take the brown acid, which was supposedly bad and dangerous.John Dominis/Getty Images 13 of 69Jerry Garcia poses for a photograph before the Grateful Dead performed at Woodstock.Magnum Photos 14 of 69Festivalgoers who did attend Woodstock were widely dressed in the best hippie finery of the day — while scores of crowd members went completely nude.Magnum Photos 15 of 69Ravi Shankar plays the sitar during his performance on Friday night.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 16 of 69A group of journalists work amid the chaos of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 17 of 69Impromptu shelters were commonplace – pictured here, a group rests in the grass hut they’d built for the weekend.Factinate 18 of 69"Young woman with flute ecstatically raising her arms, amid crowd at Woodstock music festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 19 of 69With crowds so large, festival organizers ran out of food on the first day.John Dominis/Getty Images 20 of 69With food low, the resulting situation became so tense that two concession stands were burned down on Saturday night because of their prices.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 21 of 69Strapped for cash and time, Woodstock’s organizers contracted the festival’s food service to a fledgling group with almost no prior experience.Wikimedia Commons 22 of 69By some reports, thousands of young children attended the festival.Getty Images 23 of 69Janis Joplin pours herself a cup of wine before her performance at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 24 of 69While there is no definitive proof, reports have existed since 1969 that at least one baby was born during the festival.Pinterest 25 of 69Some 30 of the festival’s acts were forced to perform during the rain that plagued the proceedings.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection 26 of 69Joe Cocker performs on Sunday, August 17.Magnum Photos 27 of 69Thanks in part to performers like Jimi Hendrix, fringe jackets have become one of the most enduring symbols of Woodstock fashion.Getty Images 28 of 69"A bedraggled young woman stands in the mud, a sleeping bag and backpack at her feet.“Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 29 of 69Devotees of Swami Satchidananda meditate and perform yoga early in the morning at Woodstock. Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 30 of 69"What a smile–two kids in blue–torn jeans, old leather camera bag, blue midriff t-shirt, long hair, amazing smile, at the Woodstock music festival.“Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 31 of 69Heavy rains, especially on the third day, forced many attendees into tents. However, there were plenty of patches of sunshine well documented by the wealth of Woodstock photos and footage that survive to this day.John Dominis/Getty Images 32 of 69Heady vibes point the way to various spots of Woodstock 1969.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 33 of 69Acid, opium, cocaine, mushrooms, and, of course, marijuana were all widely used at the festival.Getty Images 34 of 69As popular depictions widely show, vibrantly painted hippie busses were common at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 35 of 69From the fashions to the festival’s official posters, the American Flag was a common design element on display at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 36 of 69Music fans and hippies weren’t the only people in attendance. Here, a bookseller offering revolutionary literature has set up shop.Scribol 37 of 69A festivalgoer reads a magazine between sets at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 38 of 69"The whole thing is a gas,” one attendee told The New York Times. “I dig it all, the mud, the rain, the music, the hassles.“Wikimedia Commons 39 of 69"We’re vestiges of our former selves,” another attendee told the Times just after returning from the festival.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 40 of 69With few places to catch a good night sleep, Woodstock attendees had to make do with what they had.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 41 of 69Creedence Clearwater Revival 3 a.m. start time meant that they began their performance to a crowd that virtually all asleep.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 42 of 69Singer/guitarist John Fogerty performing with Creedence Clearwater Revival at Woodstock.Tucker Ranson/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images 43 of 69"The dreams of marijuana and rock music that drew 300,000 fans and hippies to the Catskills had little more sanity than the impulses that drive the lemmings to march to their deaths in the sea,” wrote The New York Times.Pinterest 44 of 69Janis Joplin raises her arms during her iconic Woodstock performance.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 45 of 69A children’s playground was set up to accommodate the amount of kids in attendance.Pinterest 46 of 69A woman enjoys a smoke while sitting atop a decorated bus near the free stage of Woodstock.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 47 of 69Attendees climb the sound tower to see the stage.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 48 of 69One of Woodstock’s two fatalities came when a tractor accidentally ran over an attendee sleeping in a field near the festival grounds.Pinterest 49 of 69From sculptures to makeshift shelters, festival attendees got creative in the absence of adequate facilities.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 50 of 69A sudden downpour on Sunday threatened the festival and delayed several performances while drenching the festival grounds. Here, a group wade through the water and mud.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 51 of 69"It’s about the quietest, most well-behaved 300,000 people in one place that can be imagined,” Michael Lang said. “There have been no fights or incidents of violence of any kind.“Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 52 of 69Because of rain delays, Jimi Hendrix didn’t actually take the stage until Monday morning.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 53 of 69Graham Nash and David Crosby of the group Crosby, Stills, & Nash perform on Sunday August 17 during Woodstock.Fotos International/Getty Images 54 of 69A couple attending the Woodstock Music Festival smiles while standing outside the shelter they’ve built during the concert.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 55 of 69"Notwithstanding their personality, their dress and their ideas, they were and they are the most courteous, considerate and well-behaved group of kids I have ever been in contact with in my 24 years of police work,” said one local police chief.Pictorial Parade/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 56 of 69A handful of prominent bands turned down performing at Woodstock. The Byrds were invited, but decided against playing. Said bassist John York, “We had no idea what it was going to be. We were burned out and tired of the festival scene… So all of us said, ‘No, we want a rest’ and missed the best festival of all.“Wikimedia Commons 57 of 69People bathe and clean up in a stream adjacent to the festival.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 58 of 69A couple bathe naked in a stream among others at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 59 of 69"It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud,” John Fogerty said of the crowd.Pinterest 60 of 69The Doors turned down an invitation to play at Woodstock, believing it would be a “second class repeat of Monterey Pop Festival.” Guitarist Robby Krieger said it was one of his biggest regrets as a musician.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 61 of 69"If we had any inkling that there was going to be this kind of attendance, we certainly would not have gone ahead,” said John Roberts.John Dominis/Getty Images 62 of 69Melanie Safka performs at Woodstock. She would later write the hit song “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)” inspired by the lighters in the audience during her performance.Elliott Landy/Redferns/Getty Images 63 of 69"I guess this was meant to happen, and everybody is still with us,” Artie Kornfeld said of the rain.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 64 of 69By the time Jimi Hendrix went on stage near the festival’s end, only 30,000 festivalgoers remained.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 65 of 69Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” in the final performance at Woodstock has since become a landmark in rock history.Wikimedia Commons 66 of 69The way out ended up being as chaotic as the way in. Here, a woman catches up on sleep as she waits for traffic to clear up.Pinterest 67 of 69The traffic jam trying to leave Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons 68 of 69A young man stands in front of the empty fields of Max Yasgur’s dairy farm after Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 69 of 69Like this gallery?Share it:
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1 of 69Billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”, Woodstock was organized by Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld with presale tickets available for $18 (equivalent to $120 today).Wikimedia Commons 2 of 69Hundreds of thousands of people descended upon Bethel 24 hours before the concert was slated to start. With traffic gridlocked for miles, many abandoned their cars and simply walked to the festival grounds.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 3 of 69A large group wait for a bus to take them to the festival grounds.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 4 of 69"On foot, in cars, atop cars, young people leave the great love-in of the sixties, the Woodstock Music Festival. Three hundred thousand young people descended upon Bethel, N.Y., and to the surprise of most, took part in a festival that will, no doubt, go down in history.“Bettmann/Getty Images 5 of 69The traffic jams caused by the enormous amount of festivalgoers on the road reportedly measured as much as 20 miles long.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 6 of 69Satchidananda Saraswati, an Indian religious teacher and guru, delivered the opening ceremony invocation at Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons 7 of 69A pair of friends enjoy some downtime between performances.Wikimedia Commons 8 of 69Max Yasgur greets the crowd on his dairy farm in Bethel, New York. On the bottom left, a young Martin Scorsese returns a peace sign.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 9 of 69On-and-off-again rain became a staple of the Woodstock weekend, though that didn’t stop the energy or proceedings of the festival.Pinterest 10 of 69Initially expecting only 100,000 people, Woodstock swelled to more than 400,000 revelers. Concert organizers realized that they had neither the means or resources to prevent the flood of people and thus made the concert “free” by cutting all the fences surrounding the festival area.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 69"Hippie woman named Psylvia, dressed in pink Indian shirt, dancing to music being played by a flute at Woodstock Music Festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 12 of 69Infamously, copious amounts of drugs such as acid were passed around the crowd, with organizers at one point having to warn people over the megaphone to not take the brown acid, which was supposedly bad and dangerous.John Dominis/Getty Images 13 of 69Jerry Garcia poses for a photograph before the Grateful Dead performed at Woodstock.Magnum Photos 14 of 69Festivalgoers who did attend Woodstock were widely dressed in the best hippie finery of the day — while scores of crowd members went completely nude.Magnum Photos 15 of 69Ravi Shankar plays the sitar during his performance on Friday night.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 16 of 69A group of journalists work amid the chaos of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 17 of 69Impromptu shelters were commonplace – pictured here, a group rests in the grass hut they’d built for the weekend.Factinate 18 of 69"Young woman with flute ecstatically raising her arms, amid crowd at Woodstock music festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 19 of 69With crowds so large, festival organizers ran out of food on the first day.John Dominis/Getty Images 20 of 69With food low, the resulting situation became so tense that two concession stands were burned down on Saturday night because of their prices.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 21 of 69Strapped for cash and time, Woodstock’s organizers contracted the festival’s food service to a fledgling group with almost no prior experience.Wikimedia Commons 22 of 69By some reports, thousands of young children attended the festival.Getty Images 23 of 69Janis Joplin pours herself a cup of wine before her performance at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 24 of 69While there is no definitive proof, reports have existed since 1969 that at least one baby was born during the festival.Pinterest 25 of 69Some 30 of the festival’s acts were forced to perform during the rain that plagued the proceedings.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection 26 of 69Joe Cocker performs on Sunday, August 17.Magnum Photos 27 of 69Thanks in part to performers like Jimi Hendrix, fringe jackets have become one of the most enduring symbols of Woodstock fashion.Getty Images 28 of 69"A bedraggled young woman stands in the mud, a sleeping bag and backpack at her feet.“Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 29 of 69Devotees of Swami Satchidananda meditate and perform yoga early in the morning at Woodstock. Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 30 of 69"What a smile–two kids in blue–torn jeans, old leather camera bag, blue midriff t-shirt, long hair, amazing smile, at the Woodstock music festival.“Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 31 of 69Heavy rains, especially on the third day, forced many attendees into tents. However, there were plenty of patches of sunshine well documented by the wealth of Woodstock photos and footage that survive to this day.John Dominis/Getty Images 32 of 69Heady vibes point the way to various spots of Woodstock 1969.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 33 of 69Acid, opium, cocaine, mushrooms, and, of course, marijuana were all widely used at the festival.Getty Images 34 of 69As popular depictions widely show, vibrantly painted hippie busses were common at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 35 of 69From the fashions to the festival’s official posters, the American Flag was a common design element on display at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 36 of 69Music fans and hippies weren’t the only people in attendance. Here, a bookseller offering revolutionary literature has set up shop.Scribol 37 of 69A festivalgoer reads a magazine between sets at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 38 of 69"The whole thing is a gas,” one attendee told The New York Times. “I dig it all, the mud, the rain, the music, the hassles.“Wikimedia Commons 39 of 69"We’re vestiges of our former selves,” another attendee told the Times just after returning from the festival.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 40 of 69With few places to catch a good night sleep, Woodstock attendees had to make do with what they had.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 41 of 69Creedence Clearwater Revival 3 a.m. start time meant that they began their performance to a crowd that virtually all asleep.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 42 of 69Singer/guitarist John Fogerty performing with Creedence Clearwater Revival at Woodstock.Tucker Ranson/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images 43 of 69"The dreams of marijuana and rock music that drew 300,000 fans and hippies to the Catskills had little more sanity than the impulses that drive the lemmings to march to their deaths in the sea,” wrote The New York Times.Pinterest 44 of 69Janis Joplin raises her arms during her iconic Woodstock performance.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 45 of 69A children’s playground was set up to accommodate the amount of kids in attendance.Pinterest 46 of 69A woman enjoys a smoke while sitting atop a decorated bus near the free stage of Woodstock.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 47 of 69Attendees climb the sound tower to see the stage.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 48 of 69One of Woodstock’s two fatalities came when a tractor accidentally ran over an attendee sleeping in a field near the festival grounds.Pinterest 49 of 69From sculptures to makeshift shelters, festival attendees got creative in the absence of adequate facilities.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 50 of 69A sudden downpour on Sunday threatened the festival and delayed several performances while drenching the festival grounds. Here, a group wade through the water and mud.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 51 of 69"It’s about the quietest, most well-behaved 300,000 people in one place that can be imagined,” Michael Lang said. “There have been no fights or incidents of violence of any kind.“Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 52 of 69Because of rain delays, Jimi Hendrix didn’t actually take the stage until Monday morning.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 53 of 69Graham Nash and David Crosby of the group Crosby, Stills, & Nash perform on Sunday August 17 during Woodstock.Fotos International/Getty Images 54 of 69A couple attending the Woodstock Music Festival smiles while standing outside the shelter they’ve built during the concert.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images 55 of 69"Notwithstanding their personality, their dress and their ideas, they were and they are the most courteous, considerate and well-behaved group of kids I have ever been in contact with in my 24 years of police work,” said one local police chief.Pictorial Parade/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 56 of 69A handful of prominent bands turned down performing at Woodstock. The Byrds were invited, but decided against playing. Said bassist John York, “We had no idea what it was going to be. We were burned out and tired of the festival scene… So all of us said, ‘No, we want a rest’ and missed the best festival of all.“Wikimedia Commons 57 of 69People bathe and clean up in a stream adjacent to the festival.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 58 of 69A couple bathe naked in a stream among others at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 59 of 69"It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud,” John Fogerty said of the crowd.Pinterest 60 of 69The Doors turned down an invitation to play at Woodstock, believing it would be a “second class repeat of Monterey Pop Festival.” Guitarist Robby Krieger said it was one of his biggest regrets as a musician.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 61 of 69"If we had any inkling that there was going to be this kind of attendance, we certainly would not have gone ahead,” said John Roberts.John Dominis/Getty Images 62 of 69Melanie Safka performs at Woodstock. She would later write the hit song “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)” inspired by the lighters in the audience during her performance.Elliott Landy/Redferns/Getty Images 63 of 69"I guess this was meant to happen, and everybody is still with us,” Artie Kornfeld said of the rain.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 64 of 69By the time Jimi Hendrix went on stage near the festival’s end, only 30,000 festivalgoers remained.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 65 of 69Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” in the final performance at Woodstock has since become a landmark in rock history.Wikimedia Commons 66 of 69The way out ended up being as chaotic as the way in. Here, a woman catches up on sleep as she waits for traffic to clear up.Pinterest 67 of 69The traffic jam trying to leave Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons 68 of 69A young man stands in front of the empty fields of Max Yasgur’s dairy farm after Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos 69 of 69Like this gallery?Share it:
Share
1 of 69Billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”, Woodstock was organized by Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld with presale tickets available for $18 (equivalent to $120 today).Wikimedia Commons
2 of 69Hundreds of thousands of people descended upon Bethel 24 hours before the concert was slated to start. With traffic gridlocked for miles, many abandoned their cars and simply walked to the festival grounds.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
3 of 69A large group wait for a bus to take them to the festival grounds.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images
4 of 69"On foot, in cars, atop cars, young people leave the great love-in of the sixties, the Woodstock Music Festival. Three hundred thousand young people descended upon Bethel, N.Y., and to the surprise of most, took part in a festival that will, no doubt, go down in history.“Bettmann/Getty Images
5 of 69The traffic jams caused by the enormous amount of festivalgoers on the road reportedly measured as much as 20 miles long.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
6 of 69Satchidananda Saraswati, an Indian religious teacher and guru, delivered the opening ceremony invocation at Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons
7 of 69A pair of friends enjoy some downtime between performances.Wikimedia Commons
8 of 69Max Yasgur greets the crowd on his dairy farm in Bethel, New York. On the bottom left, a young Martin Scorsese returns a peace sign.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
9 of 69On-and-off-again rain became a staple of the Woodstock weekend, though that didn’t stop the energy or proceedings of the festival.Pinterest
10 of 69Initially expecting only 100,000 people, Woodstock swelled to more than 400,000 revelers. Concert organizers realized that they had neither the means or resources to prevent the flood of people and thus made the concert “free” by cutting all the fences surrounding the festival area.Wikimedia Commons
11 of 69"Hippie woman named Psylvia, dressed in pink Indian shirt, dancing to music being played by a flute at Woodstock Music Festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
12 of 69Infamously, copious amounts of drugs such as acid were passed around the crowd, with organizers at one point having to warn people over the megaphone to not take the brown acid, which was supposedly bad and dangerous.John Dominis/Getty Images
13 of 69Jerry Garcia poses for a photograph before the Grateful Dead performed at Woodstock.Magnum Photos
14 of 69Festivalgoers who did attend Woodstock were widely dressed in the best hippie finery of the day — while scores of crowd members went completely nude.Magnum Photos
15 of 69Ravi Shankar plays the sitar during his performance on Friday night.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
16 of 69A group of journalists work amid the chaos of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
17 of 69Impromptu shelters were commonplace – pictured here, a group rests in the grass hut they’d built for the weekend.Factinate
18 of 69"Young woman with flute ecstatically raising her arms, amid crowd at Woodstock music festival.“Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
19 of 69With crowds so large, festival organizers ran out of food on the first day.John Dominis/Getty Images
20 of 69With food low, the resulting situation became so tense that two concession stands were burned down on Saturday night because of their prices.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
21 of 69Strapped for cash and time, Woodstock’s organizers contracted the festival’s food service to a fledgling group with almost no prior experience.Wikimedia Commons
22 of 69By some reports, thousands of young children attended the festival.Getty Images
23 of 69Janis Joplin pours herself a cup of wine before her performance at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
24 of 69While there is no definitive proof, reports have existed since 1969 that at least one baby was born during the festival.Pinterest
25 of 69Some 30 of the festival’s acts were forced to perform during the rain that plagued the proceedings.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection
26 of 69Joe Cocker performs on Sunday, August 17.Magnum Photos
27 of 69Thanks in part to performers like Jimi Hendrix, fringe jackets have become one of the most enduring symbols of Woodstock fashion.Getty Images
28 of 69"A bedraggled young woman stands in the mud, a sleeping bag and backpack at her feet.“Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
29 of 69Devotees of Swami Satchidananda meditate and perform yoga early in the morning at Woodstock. Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
30 of 69"What a smile–two kids in blue–torn jeans, old leather camera bag, blue midriff t-shirt, long hair, amazing smile, at the Woodstock music festival.“Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images
31 of 69Heavy rains, especially on the third day, forced many attendees into tents. However, there were plenty of patches of sunshine well documented by the wealth of Woodstock photos and footage that survive to this day.John Dominis/Getty Images
32 of 69Heady vibes point the way to various spots of Woodstock 1969.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
33 of 69Acid, opium, cocaine, mushrooms, and, of course, marijuana were all widely used at the festival.Getty Images
34 of 69As popular depictions widely show, vibrantly painted hippie busses were common at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
35 of 69From the fashions to the festival’s official posters, the American Flag was a common design element on display at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
36 of 69Music fans and hippies weren’t the only people in attendance. Here, a bookseller offering revolutionary literature has set up shop.Scribol
37 of 69A festivalgoer reads a magazine between sets at Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
38 of 69"The whole thing is a gas,” one attendee told The New York Times. “I dig it all, the mud, the rain, the music, the hassles.“Wikimedia Commons
39 of 69"We’re vestiges of our former selves,” another attendee told the Times just after returning from the festival.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images
40 of 69With few places to catch a good night sleep, Woodstock attendees had to make do with what they had.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
41 of 69Creedence Clearwater Revival 3 a.m. start time meant that they began their performance to a crowd that virtually all asleep.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
42 of 69Singer/guitarist John Fogerty performing with Creedence Clearwater Revival at Woodstock.Tucker Ranson/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images
43 of 69"The dreams of marijuana and rock music that drew 300,000 fans and hippies to the Catskills had little more sanity than the impulses that drive the lemmings to march to their deaths in the sea,” wrote The New York Times.Pinterest
44 of 69Janis Joplin raises her arms during her iconic Woodstock performance.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
45 of 69A children’s playground was set up to accommodate the amount of kids in attendance.Pinterest
46 of 69A woman enjoys a smoke while sitting atop a decorated bus near the free stage of Woodstock.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images
47 of 69Attendees climb the sound tower to see the stage.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
48 of 69One of Woodstock’s two fatalities came when a tractor accidentally ran over an attendee sleeping in a field near the festival grounds.Pinterest
49 of 69From sculptures to makeshift shelters, festival attendees got creative in the absence of adequate facilities.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
50 of 69A sudden downpour on Sunday threatened the festival and delayed several performances while drenching the festival grounds. Here, a group wade through the water and mud.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
51 of 69"It’s about the quietest, most well-behaved 300,000 people in one place that can be imagined,” Michael Lang said. “There have been no fights or incidents of violence of any kind.“Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
52 of 69Because of rain delays, Jimi Hendrix didn’t actually take the stage until Monday morning.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
53 of 69Graham Nash and David Crosby of the group Crosby, Stills, & Nash perform on Sunday August 17 during Woodstock.Fotos International/Getty Images
54 of 69A couple attending the Woodstock Music Festival smiles while standing outside the shelter they’ve built during the concert.Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images
55 of 69"Notwithstanding their personality, their dress and their ideas, they were and they are the most courteous, considerate and well-behaved group of kids I have ever been in contact with in my 24 years of police work,” said one local police chief.Pictorial Parade/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
56 of 69A handful of prominent bands turned down performing at Woodstock. The Byrds were invited, but decided against playing. Said bassist John York, “We had no idea what it was going to be. We were burned out and tired of the festival scene… So all of us said, ‘No, we want a rest’ and missed the best festival of all.“Wikimedia Commons
57 of 69People bathe and clean up in a stream adjacent to the festival.Bill Eppridge/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
58 of 69A couple bathe naked in a stream among others at Woodstock.Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
59 of 69"It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud,” John Fogerty said of the crowd.Pinterest
60 of 69The Doors turned down an invitation to play at Woodstock, believing it would be a “second class repeat of Monterey Pop Festival.” Guitarist Robby Krieger said it was one of his biggest regrets as a musician.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
61 of 69"If we had any inkling that there was going to be this kind of attendance, we certainly would not have gone ahead,” said John Roberts.John Dominis/Getty Images
62 of 69Melanie Safka performs at Woodstock. She would later write the hit song “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)” inspired by the lighters in the audience during her performance.Elliott Landy/Redferns/Getty Images
63 of 69"I guess this was meant to happen, and everybody is still with us,” Artie Kornfeld said of the rain.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
64 of 69By the time Jimi Hendrix went on stage near the festival’s end, only 30,000 festivalgoers remained.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
65 of 69Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” in the final performance at Woodstock has since become a landmark in rock history.Wikimedia Commons
66 of 69The way out ended up being as chaotic as the way in. Here, a woman catches up on sleep as she waits for traffic to clear up.Pinterest
67 of 69The traffic jam trying to leave Woodstock.Wikimedia Commons
68 of 69A young man stands in front of the empty fields of Max Yasgur’s dairy farm after Woodstock.Elliott Landy/Magnum Photos
69 of 69Like this gallery?Share it:
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69 Woodstock Photos That Will Take You To The 1960s’ Most Iconic Music Festival View Gallery
69 Woodstock Photos That Will Take You To The 1960s’ Most Iconic Music Festival View Gallery
69 Woodstock Photos That Will Take You To The 1960s’ Most Iconic Music Festival View Gallery
69 Woodstock Photos That Will Take You To The 1960s’ Most Iconic Music Festival View Gallery
69 Woodstock Photos That Will Take You To The 1960s’ Most Iconic Music Festival
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Advertised as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”, more than 400,000 revelers flocked to Bethel, New York to take part in what would become the zenith of 1960s counterculture: the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
And it almost didn’t happen.
The Decade-Defining Festival Gets Off To A Rocky Start
Ralph Ackerman/Getty Images"Portrait of three unidentified and barefoot women, two of whom are seated on the hood of a Plymouth Barracuda parked on the side of a gravel road near the side of the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair.”
The four young entrepreneurs from New York City who conceived of the festival — Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld, Joel Rosenman, and John Roberts — encountered a handful of hurdles from the onset.
First, apart from Michael Lang, none of the organizers had experience with large festivals or promotion. When they first approached musicians, they were either rebuffed or flat-out rejected. Only when they secured Creedence Clearwater Revival in April 1969 were they able to then get further commitments from other musical acts to perform.
Second, it was proving nearly impossible to find a suitable location for the festival that also would be willing to have it. Residents in Wallkill, New York rejected the festival, as did a landowner in nearby Saugerties, leaving the organizers scrambling mere months before the festival was set to take place.
A six-minute compilation of footage from Woodstock.
Fortunately, Max Yasgur, a dairy farmer in Bethel, heard of the festival’s troubles and offered a field on his land to the organizers. After encountering some local opposition, Yasgur impassionately addressed the Bethel town board:
A six-minute compilation of footage from Woodstock.
The organizers then secured the necessary permits in July and begin construction of the festival grounds for the four-day event in mid-August.
However, if I know my American history, tens of thousands of Americans in uniform gave their lives in war after war just so those kids would have the freedom to do exactly what they are doing. That’s what this country is all about and I am not going to let you throw them out of our town just because you don’t like their dress or their hair or the way they live or what they believe. This is America and they are going to have their festival.”
The Show Goes On
Pictorial Parade/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesAmerican folk singer and guitarist Richie Havens opens Woodstock on August 15, 1969.
On Wednesday, August 13, two days before the start of the festival, there were already massive traffic jams caused by tens of thousands making their way early to the festival grounds.
Woodstock’s organizers had prepared for a crowd of 150,000, but by the second day of the festival, somewhere between 400,000 to 500,000 had descended upon Max Yasgur’s dairy farm. Without adequate time to prepare fencing and hordes of people at the gates, they had but one choice: make the event free.
Jefferson Airplane performs ‘White Rabbit’ on Sunday morning.
Despite the logistical nightmares and unexpected crowds, Woodstock miraculously went off relatively hitch-free. There were barely any reported crimes and the only death occurred when a festivalgoer fell asleep on the field of a neighboring farm and was subsequently run over by a tractor.
Jefferson Airplane performs ‘White Rabbit’ on Sunday morning.
Large volunteer centers opened up to serve food and first aid while free hits of acid were distributed amongst the crowd.
The counterculture mantra of peace and love won out with an audience that hit almost half a million who got to enjoy Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, among others.
Woodstock Photos And Videos That Captured The Spirit Of The 1960s
Bill Eppridge/Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesA couple bathe naked in a stream at Woodstock.
Thanks to extensive coverage in the media, Woodstock 1969 had an impact far beyond its actual borders.
A front cover pictorial proclaiming “Ecstacy At Woodstock” was published in LIFE Magazine, bringing the free-spirited (and sparsely-clothed) hippies of Woodstock to magazine stands across the country, while The New York Times and others ran articles on the four-day festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqZceAQSJvc
The year following Woodstock, an eponymous documentary film was released to critical acclaim and distribution across the United States. The film was more than three hours long and featured performances by 22 of the artists that played at Woodstock alongside footage of the already immortalized audience. Likewise, Woodstock photos that circulated in the media gave outsiders some idea of what it was like to be at this festival that was quickly becoming emblematic of the ‘Woodstock generation’.
To an entire generation, Woodstock 1969 embodied the central tenets of 1960s cultural revolution. Fifty years afterward, the legend of “3 Days of Peace & Music” lives on.
See for yourself in the gallery of Woodstock photos above.
If you enjoyed these Woodstock photos, check out our other posts on life inside hippie communes as well as this history of hippie culture.
