Woodstock still something special, even 50 years on

Tie-dyed pilgrims and white-haired Woodstock festival veterans converged at the generationdefining site to celebrate its 50th anniversary, while Arlo Guthrie came back to sing – what else? – Times They Are a-Changin.’’

Bethel Woods Centre for the Arts is hosting a series of events this weekend at the bucolic 1969 concert site, 130km northwest of New York City.

Guthrie, an original Woodstock performer, played an evening set atop the famous hill, but said he also wanted to play at least one song near where the 1969 stage was located. Picking up a guitar, he sang the Bob Dylan classic for a group of reporters gathered on the grass under the wilting afternoon sun.

‘‘It was a great time,’’ Guthrie told reporters, his long white hair flowing from a straw hat. ‘‘For me, the Woodstock festival was a celebratory end of an era. It was not the beginning of anything. It was the end of something, and it was an end of a very turbulent time that was also very wonderful.’’

An estimated 400,000 people showed up for the original festival on upstate New York farmland August 15-18, 1969.

There won’t be overcrowding and chaos this time. Visitors need event tickets and travel passes to drive to the site through the weekend. But the site was buzzing by the afternoon, with people stopping by the on-site museum and the monument near the stage area.

‘‘This is like a pilgrimage. Coming back to the holy land,’’ said Glenn Radman, a 67-year-old New Milford, Connecticut, resident stopping by the monument with his friend. Radman was at the festival 50 years ago, as was 75-year-old Roger Dennis, an Ithaca, New York, resident who was making his first visit since that famous weekend.

‘‘I was here 50 years ago right on this day, and it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. And I just had to be back here,’’ Dennis said, standing by the monument.

Dennis went to the concert with his brother and turned 26 years old that Sunday.

His brother died years ago, which made the visit yesterday a bit melancholy.

‘‘But the memories, the energies of this festival were just unbelievable,’’ he said. ‘‘And I feel that.’’

Access to the field is usually open, but Bethel Woods is setting restrictions this weekend to avoid a repeat of the chaos that engulfed the site in 1969.

Guthrie’s evening performance drew a crowd heavy on baby boomers, many with psychedelicprint shirts. In contrast to the 1969 show, there were plenty of seats and well-stocked vendors selling food, wine and beer.

Guthrie’s show was to precede a screening of the Woodstock documentary at an amphitheatre on the site.

Bethel Woods is hosting a long weekend of events featuring separate shows by festival veterans like Carlos Santana and John Fogerty.

Photographers like Henry Diltz are exhibiting their festival shots for the anniversary and other places are hosting musical performances, but this site holds a special place for many music fans.

‘‘Being here reminds me of what it’s like to feel differently,’’ said Helen Rothberg, ‘‘to live in a community, to feel joy.’’

AP In this August 16, 1969, file photo, thousands of rock music fans are packed around the stage in a field near Bethel, New York, at the Woodstock Festival.

AP A man who calls himself Run-A-Way Bill stands in front of a Volkswagen bus while waiting for the gates to open at a Woodstock 50th anniversary event.

AP Woodstock veteran Arlo Guthrie reacts after playing a song at the original site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Fair.