For three days, August 15, 16, & 17, 1969, America witnessed something they had never seen before. A half a million people got together for three days of music on Max Yasgur's 600 acre farm, outside of Bethel, New York. It was called the Woodstock Music & Art Fair. What started out as a small outdoor concert soon became a phenomenon. The guys putting on the show were selling tickets and figured to make some money having the show. The people kept coming in droves! Traffic jams of up to 20 miles long were reported. It soon became evident that it would have to be a free show. They couldn't stop the people pouring in for the music. Down came the fences and a small city of people was born. Indeed it was a city. A city of 500,000 young people. These people lived through shortages of food, water, and shelter. Of all the people gathered that weekend, there were 3 reported deaths and 3 births. This was incredible!

Many performers took the stage that weekend. All the headliners of the day. They even made a movie about it. Below is a list of the performers at the festival.

Santana                                              Jimi Hendrix
Janis Joplin                                      Sly and the Family Stone
The Who                                              Ten Years After
Canned Heat                                     Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Jefferson Airplane                         John Sebastian
Country Joe and the Fish               Joan Baez
Richie Havens                                  Arlo Guthrie
ShaNaNa                                           Creedence Clearwater Revival
Tim Hardin                                       Incredible String Band
Ravi Shankar                                    Bert Sommer
Sweetwater                                       Quill
Grateful Dead                                  Keef Hartley
Blood, Sweat & Tears                     Jeff Beck Group
The Band                                           Johnny Winter
Joe Cocker                                         Mountain
Melanie                                             Paul Butterfield Blues Band
 

Quite a line-up wasn't it? Never had there been anything like this before or since. A lot of these performers are no longer with us, but I would like to thank them for what they left us. The memories and the music!

Here is a website I found on the web containing many Woostock links. Hope you enjoy it!

Woodstock '69' Lives