Watch the Netflix three part series, "Trainwreck: Woodstock 99" to see what sort of ahole Michael Lang really is.
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Woodstock. Were you there?
- Thread starter Jaygetsreal
- Start date
I was just old enough, and some of my bandmate friends did jump in a car and drive 1000 miles to go there, but I had to work. All they could tell me after was “Whoah man, far out!” …so I guess it was
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I went to the 1969 Newport Jazz Festival over July 4th weekend and then to Woodstock in August. My friends and I decided we wanted to go to Woodstock when they added The Who and Grateful Dead to the bill. I was just short of my 17th birthday and living on Long Island. My father had a golfing date upstate NY the same week and I talked him into driving us up and dropping us off along the way. He was going to pick us up again on Monday. Four friends and I arrived the Wednesday before the start of the event. There weren't a lot of people yet and there also was no stage or fencing in place, they were just starting to get things rolling. We found a place to camp in the woods, it was buggy and damp but we were out of the sun and the nearest tent was 50 yards away. After having attended Newport without bringing any food or supplies we knew to bring food this time. The festival grounds were lush and green with alfalfa before the rain and crowds hit, it was beautiful and idyllic. By Saturday it had gotten so crowded that 2 of my friends bailed and hitch hiked back to Long Island. Friday we had hung in the back to listen but on Saturday being determined not to miss the Dead or Who we got a spot a couple of hundred feet from the stage in the center of the field around 9:30 AM. There was no schedule and we had no idea that it would be over 12 hours before the Dead played with The Who coming on even later. Stayed there for over 21 hours, each of us took one break to get food and pee while the others held our spot. The Jefferson Airplane came on after The Who Sunday morning and the sun was up. We caught about four songs before heading to our tent to pass out and get some sleep. When we woke up we headed to the stage and saw Joe Cocker's set then the big rain storm hit and we retreated to the tent again to wait it out. Sunday we spent wandering around while listening, at some point after dark (and after we hid in the woods from Blood Sweat and Tears) we realized we were exhausted and needed sleep. Missed a number of the bands that played late on Sunday and woke up to Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner. I had stood on line for hours Sunday waiting to use a pay phone to call home, let my parents know we were okay, and tell my father to come pick us up on Tuesday instead since the highways etc were such a mess.
I thought Woodstock was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. Not because of the music but because of the feel in the crowd. It was probably the most poorly planned and run event I ever attended but those who came pulled together to make it work. Other than the promise of lots of great bands nobody really knew what to expect because it was one of the first large festivals so there were no real expectations to meet except that there would be music and camping. I think it is accurate to say that nobody expected that many people to come and when they did it was hard to not be blown away by how many "hippie" oriented people and rock music lovers there actually were out in the world. That IMO is why the crowd pulled together to make the weekend a success. There was little to no security and other than the stage announcements it was up to everyone there to do what they could to make it a good scene and they did. What could have turned into a violent disaster (see Woodstock 99) ended up being a peaceful gathering. I don't think anyone at the time thought this would still be considered a historical event 50 years later, we were just there taking it all in. The magnitude of the event itself eclipsed the excellent music played. IMO one of the side effects of Woodstock was that the record companies finally had a better idea who to direct their marketing efforts toward. There was a brief period in the 60s where the bands and musicians had the upper hand since the record company "suits" did not understand the "new" rock music. That changed after Woodstock and it wasn't long before the record companies started to compartmentalize rock music into subdivisions for marketing purposes. I started gigging in the mid-60s and if you had long hair you got hassled by the "greasers". After Woodstock the "greasers" either realized the "hippies" had all the good drugs or that the world around them was changing because it became much safer to go out and gig if you had long hair. One band I was in as a teenager had a rhythm guitarist who could barely play but was a super nice guy and BIG, he always stepped in to protect us if we got hassled, which we did frequently.
One of the friends who came to Woodstock with me ended up contributing a chapter to a book called "Woodstock Revisited". The chapter in the book about our Woodstock experience is called "The Top of the Psychedelic Food Chain". Brian gets a couple of details wrong including how we got there and back and misspells my last name but otherwise his recollection is pretty accurate. Now when I see the aerial photos of the crowd it totally freaks me out to think I actually was immersed in that many people. I went to very few large events after Woodstock, my preference is to see live music in smaller spaces.
I thought Woodstock was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. Not because of the music but because of the feel in the crowd. It was probably the most poorly planned and run event I ever attended but those who came pulled together to make it work. Other than the promise of lots of great bands nobody really knew what to expect because it was one of the first large festivals so there were no real expectations to meet except that there would be music and camping. I think it is accurate to say that nobody expected that many people to come and when they did it was hard to not be blown away by how many "hippie" oriented people and rock music lovers there actually were out in the world. That IMO is why the crowd pulled together to make the weekend a success. There was little to no security and other than the stage announcements it was up to everyone there to do what they could to make it a good scene and they did. What could have turned into a violent disaster (see Woodstock 99) ended up being a peaceful gathering. I don't think anyone at the time thought this would still be considered a historical event 50 years later, we were just there taking it all in. The magnitude of the event itself eclipsed the excellent music played. IMO one of the side effects of Woodstock was that the record companies finally had a better idea who to direct their marketing efforts toward. There was a brief period in the 60s where the bands and musicians had the upper hand since the record company "suits" did not understand the "new" rock music. That changed after Woodstock and it wasn't long before the record companies started to compartmentalize rock music into subdivisions for marketing purposes. I started gigging in the mid-60s and if you had long hair you got hassled by the "greasers". After Woodstock the "greasers" either realized the "hippies" had all the good drugs or that the world around them was changing because it became much safer to go out and gig if you had long hair. One band I was in as a teenager had a rhythm guitarist who could barely play but was a super nice guy and BIG, he always stepped in to protect us if we got hassled, which we did frequently.
One of the friends who came to Woodstock with me ended up contributing a chapter to a book called "Woodstock Revisited". The chapter in the book about our Woodstock experience is called "The Top of the Psychedelic Food Chain". Brian gets a couple of details wrong including how we got there and back and misspells my last name but otherwise his recollection is pretty accurate. Now when I see the aerial photos of the crowd it totally freaks me out to think I actually was immersed in that many people. I went to very few large events after Woodstock, my preference is to see live music in smaller spaces.
I have to believe that the majority of people attending didn't have a clue about what they were getting into. I know we didn't. Like one of the previous posts we expected parking, porta johns, access to food and water, etc. And the weather really screwed things up.
Some things I remember:
Don't remember what day, but as we were walking along a dirt road we saw a helecopter about 1000 yards away, which seemed to be unable to land. Finally they hovered at about 50 -60 feet and started dropping cardboard boxes. When we reached the spot it turned out they were dropping cartons of hot dogs. Many of the boxes had burst open, and there were dirty hot dogs everywhere. Notably, hippie-ants were swarming all over the food. One skanky looking guy came over to us and offered us a hot dog or 3; we declined because the hot dogs this guy was carrying were all covered with dirt, including the one he was eating (raw).
I hung around a small pond or stream to watch the girls bathing, when 2 or 3 guys walked up near where I was sitting. Straight looking guys, rather mean looking types. One of them pissed in the water, just a few feet from where the majority of them were bathing. I protested, he offered to beat the crap out of me. Peace and love huh?
I was amazed by the number of people who were stoned, many obviously first timers (don't ask how I know). LSD was everywhere, among other party favors. Over rhe PA they were constantly announcing "Don't take the green acid" Don't take the brown acid", etc. I bought 3 hits of green LSD; little green tabs the size of sacherine tablets. Took one, brought the other 2 home and shared it with the band I was in. It was powerful stuff. My father later commented that as he watched so many people, especially young girls, wandering around like zombies, he wondered how many of them made it back home after the experience of the festival. (he had a crowd control squad and was on duty).
My sister and I had no place to go, and we slept in police cars the first 2 nights. Saturday night I took one of the little green pills and sat listening to the bands. The Who were especially good
I notice I'm going on like an old man reliving memories, which is what I am. If a person could have died from having too much fun, it would have been at Woodstock.
I should write this stuff down someday.
Tom
Some things I remember:
Don't remember what day, but as we were walking along a dirt road we saw a helecopter about 1000 yards away, which seemed to be unable to land. Finally they hovered at about 50 -60 feet and started dropping cardboard boxes. When we reached the spot it turned out they were dropping cartons of hot dogs. Many of the boxes had burst open, and there were dirty hot dogs everywhere. Notably, hippie-ants were swarming all over the food. One skanky looking guy came over to us and offered us a hot dog or 3; we declined because the hot dogs this guy was carrying were all covered with dirt, including the one he was eating (raw).
I hung around a small pond or stream to watch the girls bathing, when 2 or 3 guys walked up near where I was sitting. Straight looking guys, rather mean looking types. One of them pissed in the water, just a few feet from where the majority of them were bathing. I protested, he offered to beat the crap out of me. Peace and love huh?
I was amazed by the number of people who were stoned, many obviously first timers (don't ask how I know). LSD was everywhere, among other party favors. Over rhe PA they were constantly announcing "Don't take the green acid" Don't take the brown acid", etc. I bought 3 hits of green LSD; little green tabs the size of sacherine tablets. Took one, brought the other 2 home and shared it with the band I was in. It was powerful stuff. My father later commented that as he watched so many people, especially young girls, wandering around like zombies, he wondered how many of them made it back home after the experience of the festival. (he had a crowd control squad and was on duty).
My sister and I had no place to go, and we slept in police cars the first 2 nights. Saturday night I took one of the little green pills and sat listening to the bands. The Who were especially good
I notice I'm going on like an old man reliving memories, which is what I am. If a person could have died from having too much fun, it would have been at Woodstock.
I should write this stuff down someday.
Tom
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Glad you enjoyed the book but I can’t imagine anything written by Lang being worth the paper it’s printed on, even in digital form.
Guy is a complete con man and huckster. He’s like the PT Barnum of the classic rock generation.
As others have mentioned the show was an absolute mess. Majority of performers that were there state that very clearly in their own books.
Lang stands to profit from the mythology of a botched concert that happened over 50 years ago. So. Again. Not really a valid source of accurate info.
Guy is a complete con man and huckster. He’s like the PT Barnum of the classic rock generation.
As others have mentioned the show was an absolute mess. Majority of performers that were there state that very clearly in their own books.
Lang stands to profit from the mythology of a botched concert that happened over 50 years ago. So. Again. Not really a valid source of accurate info.
I was 15 years old and in the wrong country, but I did get to see The Stones' famous gig in Hyde Park in July '69 though. Also on the bill were The Battered Ornaments (minus Pete Brown, who they'd just sacked), Family, Roy Harper, Alexis Korner's New Church, King Crimson, Screw, and The Third Ear Band. We were a few short of "half a million strong", though.
I went to the Newport Jazz Festival the month before Woodstock. One of my favorite live acts at the time was The Jeff Beck Group. They did a great show there. There were no services to speak of for the crowd. No food concessions, no facilities of any sort.
Then I heard on the street Beck wouldn’t play at Woodstock. So I bailed. Historic mistake. Coincidentally we’re building a summer house in the area now.
I also went to Goose Lake. Hitchhiked out from NYC. Then there was the Toronto Peace Festival that John Lennon fronted. But Canadian customs refused us entry. I think there 8 of us in one car. Doh.
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I had just turned 18 when Woodstock happened. Even if I was in a position to attend the festival it wouldn't have made a difference. At that age I was deathly afraid of getting VD and hated rolling around in mud. Not much has changed.
M. M.
M. M.
Didn’t an entire generation, for the most part?
That is true. But Lang’s lack of concern for everything about Woodstock 99, especially his disregard for the girl being raped, just really rubbed me the wrong way.
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I need to watch the doc. Thing is I know how selective editing can work... context matters. I certainly never experienced Michael in a negative way, never saw him as selfish or unconcerned about others - and he did not seem as aloof to me as I think many people imagine him to have been. I know the documentary presents a very different image.
In 1969 I was nineteen. My friend and I attended the June Devonshire Downs Newport Pop Festival in Northridge, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Many of the same performers as Woodstock. We sat on the grass most of Saturday, slept there overnight, and stayed to the end Sunday evening. There were a few minor incidents, but it was well organized and a lot of fun. Didn't even think of going to Woodstock.
My first wife (then girlfriend) had tickets, but my idea of roughing it is if the hotel I'm staying in doesn't have 24 hour room service, so we didn't go. I would have probably hated it: like I said, I'm not a camper, and all the mud and lack of "facilities" looked pretty grim. . .
I was at Devonshire too! I went with a friend who just got some white snakeskin boots, of which he was really proud. He went to use one of the portapotties, stepped in, only to find that there was about four inches of that blue liquid on the floor, giving him blue sh*t-stained boots and a broken heart. . .
I guess that falls under the "few minor incidents."