Friday , March 29 2024

Woodstock

The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival was a landmark rock festival held on Max Yasgur's rural upstate New York farm in 1969. Originally conceived as the mother of all rock festivals, its original promoters probably had no idea at the time of the cultural and historical milestone it would eventually become.

As things turned out, the three day event drew upwards of half a million people to watch the top rock bands of the day ranging from Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, to the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. As chaotic as the event was seen at the time, over the years it has since come to symbolize one of the defining events of the sixties generation.

As rock festivals go, Woodstock remains the standard by which all others — from Lollapalooza to Bonnaroo — are measured to this day.

Woodstock, on its way to making the careers of rock bands like Santana and Sly And The Family Stone — before making history as a groundbreaking event in it's own right — went on to become the source of an Academy Award winning documentary film, as well as several attempts to recreate the original magic with subsequent events to varying degrees of success.

For bloggers looking to rekindle their Woodstock memories or otherwise, probably the best current source to do so is Woodstock.com.

About Glen Boyd

Glen Boyd is the author of Neil Young FAQ, released in May 2012 by Backbeat Books/Hal Leonard Publishing. He is a former BC Music Editor and current contributor, whose work has also appeared in SPIN, Ultimate Classic Rock, The Rocket, The Source and other publications. You can read more of Glen's work at the official Neil Young FAQ site. Follow Glen on Twitter and on Facebook.

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