Woodstock at 50
Peace and love are worth celebrating
The 50th anniversary of the greatest rock concert of all time arrives this week, and if only because it was not a disaster, we remember it as a high point of the baby boomer generation.
Woodstock, with all its unexpected twists and turns, ended up being a pretty safe event at which some 500,000 people had a good time.
There were two known fatalities, one caused by insulin, the other the result of a tractor accident. Other than that, traffic jams and mud were the worst experiences of America’s final blowout of the hippie era in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
We remember it today as a testament to human flexibility and tolerance.
In retrospect, Woodstock really was three days of peace, love and rock ’ n’ roll.
The festival took place in a field in upstate New York Aug. 15- 18, 1969. The concert attracted rock ’ n’ roll enthusiasts from far and wide. The concert produced memorable performances by many well- known artists, such as Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, Country Joe and the Fish, and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
The organizers had to move their planned concert site several times as they struggled to find a community that would accommodate the expected turnout, which turned out to be far less than the actual turnout. They found a willing partner in dairy farmer Max Yasgur, in Bethel, N. Y.
Permits for the festival were approved by the town attorney, the building inspector and the town supervisor. Had they known of the mass of humanity that would overwhelm the narrow roads of the rural community on that weekend, even those three might have rethought their approvals.
Luckily, the entertainers did not disappoint. Planning for the festival, though, was so haphazard that the organizers stopped collecting tickets and allowed free entrance.
The organizers avoided bankruptcy only because a movie and soundtrack from it made enough money to pay the entertainers and vendors.
What does Woodstock mean now? It means the decade of flower power and peace is remembered for something good. The truth is that Woodstock was a lucky break for the generation of Americans whose social revolution based in peace and love was ending in disappointment. The Manson murders occurred just days before Woodstock, and the next big festival, organized by the Rolling Stones at Altamont Speedway near San Francisco, resulted in violence and crime.
Woodstock is a way to remember the best of times for baby boomers.
No one claims that Woodstock was a utopia in a New York farm field. It was a mess, a catastrophe of inadequate services and planning, but because almost everyone chose to act with patience and kindness, the participants were a credit to their generation.