Woodstock 69

A detailed Summary of Woodstock 69

Woodstock, the Festival of the Flower Children, has had a huge impact upon the world that we live in now. Not only did it cause so much happiness and pain in 1969, but even in today's society, there are no signs of it fading away. The music of that generation began to fell music as a deeper thing; to them, it was wild, and its wildness freed them from cultural restraints, from the everyday strains that are placed on human beings. It took them to a point where people were free to be naked in public, to talk about having sex, to smoke grass openly with friends, drop acid, have long hair, dress anyway they chose, to experiment and explore life freely.

The bands that were scheduled to play at Woodstock and the bands that actually played at the Festival were different. There were some minor changes, but changes were done non the least. For example: The Jeff Beck Group were canceled from the Festival; Iron Butterfly failed to appear; and It's a Beautiful Day was rejected (Woodstock.com). But some of the more noteworthy bands that did play were: Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Richie Havens, Janis Joplin, Santana, Sweetwater, and The Who. Originally, the performances were scheduled to go from seven o'clock till about midnight

Makower, Joel. Woodstock: The Oral History. New York: Doubleday, 1989.

The local authority wasn't at all prepared for the challenges that faced them with the coming of this concert. On Thursday, a day before the start of the festival, over 300 New York City cops abandoned the concert after a warning by Police Commissioner Patrick Leary that their work as Woodstock Security Guards violated the departments regulations against moonlighting. But even after that threat, some officers still stayed (Casale, 7). First they had to worry about the roads, it was the first time in our nations history that any group of people have closed down a major highway to the point that no one could get through. By the time the music started Friday afternoon, cars were no longer allowed to enter the area, and also New York State Police had transferred 150 officers to help deal with traffic. They also faced the problem of what to do with all the drugs that was inevitably present. All together, the officers had given up on the pursuit of placing drug charges and arrests. The local police seemed quite friendly, it wasn't unusual to see 5-6 people sitting atop a police car that drove slowly toward the concert ground. But there were some minor set backs at the concert with the authorities. The site was declared a disaster area. It all started out with Rockerfeller's people, then with the governors's people, they were all freaking out and wanting to send in the National Guard and to remove everyone. They were saying that the Festival was a danger to the community and a danger to the public's health. But at the end of it all, they were more then happy to help out in anyway that they could, weather it was to send in medical teams, to set up flied hospitals, or to send in food (Makower, 57-58).

Landy, Elliott. Woodstock Vision (The Spirit Of A Generation). New York: Continuum, 1994.

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Approximate Word count = 1597
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English