<p>The Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969 was organized by inexperienced promoters who still managed to get performers like Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and Joe Cocker.</p><p><br></p><p>There were problems from the start: both Woodstock and Wallkill would not stage it. Then farmer Max Yasgur made his land available for the festival. Only a few tickets were sold, but over 400,000 showed up and mostly entered without paying. It rained, but the audience bonded - probably because they consumed marijuana and psychedelics.</p>

Woodstock - the most famous rock festival

<p>The festival caused its promoters to become almost bankrupt. But they held on to the film and recording rights. When Michael Wadleigh's documentary Woodstock (1970) became a hit, the promoters made their money back and more.</p><p><br></p><p>A 1994 festival on the same site was better organised and more financially successful, but less noteworthy. A small riot spoiled the third festival in 1999.</p>

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<p><strong><span> </span>Woodstock </strong>, in full <strong>The Woodstock Music and Art Fair </strong>, the most famous of the 1960s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/rock-festival">rock festivals </a>, held on a farm property in <span> </span>Bethel, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-state">New York </a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/August">August </a>15–18, 1969. The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was organized by four inexperienced promoters who nonetheless signed a who’s who of current rock acts, including <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jimi-Hendrix">Jimi Hendrix </a>, <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sly-and-the-Family-Stone">Sly and the Family Stone </a>, <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-Who">the Who </a>, the <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Grateful-Dead">Grateful Dead </a>, <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Janis-Joplin">Janis Joplin </a>, the <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-Jefferson-Airplane">Jefferson Airplane </a>, <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ravi-Shankar">Ravi Shankar </a>, and <span> </span>Country Joe and the Fish. </p>

<p>The festival began to go wrong almost immediately, when the towns of both <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Woodstock-New-York">Woodstock </a>and Wallkill, New York, denied permission to stage it. (Nevertheless, the name Woodstock was retained because of the cachet of hipness associated with the town, where <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bob-Dylan-American-musician">Bob Dylan </a>and several other musicians were known to live and which had been an artists’ retreat since the turn of the century.) Ultimately, farmer <span> </span>Max Yasgur made his land available for the festival. Few tickets were sold, but some 400,000 people showed up, mostly demanding free entry, which they got due to virtually nonexistent security. Rain then turned the festival site into a sea of mud, but somehow the audience bonded—possibly because large amounts of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/marijuana">marijuana </a>and psychedelics were consumed—and the festival went on. </p>

<p>Although it featured memorable performances by <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Crosby-Stills-and-Nash-group">Crosby, Stills and Nash </a>(performing together in public for only the second time), <span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Santana-musical-group">Santana </a>(whose fame at that point had not spread far beyond the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/San-Francisco-Bay">San Francisco Bay </a>area), <span> </span>Joe Cocker (then new to American audiences), and Hendrix, the festival left its promoters virtually bankrupt. They had, however, held onto the film and recording rights and more than made their money back when Michael Wadleigh’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/documentary-film">documentary film </a><em><span> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Woodstock-film">Woodstock </a> </em>(1970) became a smash hit. The <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legend">legend </a>of Woodstock’s “Three Days of Peace and Music,” as its advertising promised, became enshrined in American history, at least partly because few of the festivals that followed were as star-studded or enjoyable. </p>

<p>A 1994 festival on the same site was better organized and more successful financially, if less legendary. In 1999 a third festival was marred by a small riot. The Museum at Bethel Woods, a multimedia exhibit space attached to a performing arts centre, opened in 2008, with the stated mission of preserving the original festival site and educating visitors about the music and <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture">culture </a>of the Woodstock era. </p>

Learn More  in these related Britannica articles:

<ul><li><a href="/art/rock-music/Folk-rock-the-hippie-movement-and-the-rock-paradox#ref667525"><div><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/s:180x120,c:crop/70/21270-004-3E74C5FA/The-Rolling-Stones-left-bass-player-Brian.jpg"> </div><div><strong>rock: Folk rock, the hippie movement, and the rock paradox </strong> </div><div>…rebellion (as celebrated by the <strong>Woodstock </strong>festival of 1969), and it fed both off and into a buoyant new music business (also celebrated by <strong>Woodstock </strong>). This music and audience were now where the money lay; the <strong>Woodstock </strong>musicians seemed to have tapped into an insatiable demand, whether for “progressive” rock… </div> </a> </li><li><a href="/art/rock-festival#ref1048860"><div><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/s:180x120,c:crop/69/103169-050-C25C55DA/Poster-Woodstock-Music-and-Art-Fair-17-1969.jpg"> </div><div><strong>rock festival: Monterey, Woodstock, and beyond </strong> </div><div>…mounting similar events until the <strong>Woodstock </strong>Music and Art Fair, held in Bethel, New York, in 1969, became the prototype. Like <strong>Woodstock </strong>, many of the subsequent festivals were commercial disasters, which kept any single rock festival from becoming an annual event like the jazz festivals had become, and the Rolling… </div> </a> </li><li><a href="/topic/hippie#ref754547"><div><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/s:180x120,c:crop/24/77324-004-7E1285A0/Members-Road-Hog-commune-Fourth-of-July-July-1968.jpg"> </div><div><strong>hippie: Be-ins, music festivals, and other public gatherings </strong> </div><div>…festivals were held in 1969: <strong>Woodstock </strong>, a three-day event in rural New York state, and the free concert at Altamont Speedway near Livermore, California. The former drew an estimated 400,000–500,000 people and became virtually synonymous with the movement. That latter, however, was hastily planned and immediately turned unruly. The Hells… </div> </a> </li> </ul>

Woodstock | History, Location, & Facts | Britannica

Woodstock - the most famous rock festival

Other Woodstock festivals

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