Woodstock
1969
The
Woodstock festival in 1969 attracted more than 450,000 people to
Sullivan
County.
For
four days the pasture became a " mini - nation ", where different
cultures
were meeting.
The
festival began on the 15th of August and stopped on the 19th of
August.
At the
festival they said that drugs were almost legal and love was
" free
".
The
festival cost more than 2,4 million $. It was sponsered by four
young
and very different men named John Roberts, Joel Rosenman,
Artie
Kornfeld and Michael Lang.
John
Roberts supplied the money. He was a multimillionaire.
He had
only seen one rock concert before, the Beach Boys.
They
had an idea of making a cultural rock concert which should be
luxurios.
They wanted the best rock artists to play at the festival, e.g
Jimi
Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Janis Joplin.
The
whole idea was to make the largest rock festival ever held.
They
discussed a budget of 500,000 $ and an attiendence of 100,000
people.
Now
they started looking for a large place to hold the festival.
They
formed a coporation there each one owned 25 %. The coporation
was
called Woodstock Ventures inc.
" The
Woodstock Ventures " found a place for the festival in the town
of Walkill,
but they thought it was too small. Because of that they
continued
to look for a place.
At last
they found a place in Sullivan County on a farm in Bethel. It
was
perfect, they said.
Now
" The Woodstock Ventures " was trying to book the greatest rock
´n´
roll bands in America.
The
first band which signed a contract was " The Jefferson Airplane "
they
signed for $ 12,000. " Creedence Clearwater Revival " signed for
$ 11,500,
" The Who " signed for $ 12,500.
" The
Woodstock Ventures " spent $ 180,000 at artists.
" The
Team " invented a slogan: " Three Days of Peace and Music ".
All
" The Woodstoc Ventures " looked like hippies with long hair and
shabby
clothes. The hippies often were associated with left wing
politics
and drugs.
" The
Woodstock Ventures " wanted the best sound system for the
festival.
Allan Markoff had the responsibility for the sound system.
He designed
a system for 50 - 150,000 people. Such a large system had
never
been used before.
" The
Woodstock Ventures " had an idea of making a rock movie
documentation
of the festival. They asked Michael Wadleigh to help
them
and he said " Yes ". Earlier he had filmed Martin Luther King,
Bobby
Kennedy and George McGovern.
Their
idea was irresistable but the money was not.
They
did comercial on TV, in newspapers and on the radio.
A concert
ticket also included a campsite.
The
key figure was Jimi Hendrix and his appearance was " The Big
Finale
". He signed a contract for $ 32,000.
Bob
Dylan was the only one of " The Woodstock Ventures " rock
heroes
who didn´t signed a contract.
Two
weeks before the festival " The Woodstock Ventures " had
already
sold 180,000 tickets.
A week
before the festival, Yasgur´s farm didn´t look like a concert
place.
It looked like they were building a house, except for a helicopter
pad.
By the
afternoon of Thursday August 14, Woodstock was an idyllic
place
with 25,000 people.
On 15th
of August the opening of the festival took place. About
400,000
people came.
This
was the largest rock festival ever held.