A month after two men landed on the freakin' moon, 500,000 guys and gals landed at White Lake, NY for the event that turned out to be the "high" point of the hippie era. Two stoned-out, mellow dudes, Michael Lang (promoter) and Artie Kornfeld (song writer and record producer†), hooked-up with two straight-laced, Ivy League-ish MBAs, Joel Rosenman and John Roberts, who were looking to invest in "interesting business propositions." They certainly did. They had to ask their dads to sign notes for even more than the $250,000 that they started with. When it was over, they owed millions. 25 years later, with royalties coming in, they were more than paid back. The show was put together in the spring and early summer and was close to being cancelled when the town officials in Wallkill, NY (the original concert site—never was planned for Woodstock) decided that they didn't want a bunch of dirty hippies mussing up their beautiful town. Thankfully, dairy farmer and great guy, Max Yasgur was willing to allow the promoters to use one of his fields in Bethel (for a price). Taking Woodstock ![]() |
†Artie co-wrote The Rain, The Park And Other Things. See more at 45cat .
Friday, Aug 15 (5:00pm - 4:00am Saturday)
Richie Havens
Sweetwater(~6:15pm)
Bert Sommer(~7:45pm)
Tim Hardin(~8:50pm)
Ravi Shankar(~12:00am, rain interupts)
Melanie(~1:00am)
Arlo Guthrie(~1:45am)
Joan Baez(~3:00am)
Saturday, Aug 16 (2:15pm - 8:00am Sunday)
Quill
Country Joe McDonald(~2:50pm)
Santana(~3:30pm)
John Sebastian(~4:30pm)
Keef Hartley Band(~5:00pm)
Incredible String Band(~6:20pm)
Canned Heat(~7:15pm)
Mountain(~9:15pm)
Grateful Dead(~10:30pm)
Creedence Clearwater Revival(~12:45am)
Janis Joplin(~2:00am)
Sly & The Family Stone(~3:30am)
The Who(~4:30am)
Jefferson Airplane(~6:00am)
Sunday, Aug 17 (2:50pm - 10:00am Monday)
Max Yasgur
Joe Cocker(~3:00pm)
Mother Nature(~4:30pm)
Country Joe & The Fish(~7:20pm)
Ten Years After(~9:00pm)
The Band(~10:45pm)
Johnny Winter(~12:45am)
Blood Sweat & Tears(~2:00am)
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young(~3:45am)
Paul Butterfield Blues Band(~5:30am)
Sha-Na-Na(~7:00am)
Jimi Hendrix(~8:00am)
Updates
2020: A festival goer, Dave Tiedemann, took notes of when the artists appeared on stage. You can see his notebook towards the end of this Youtube video ![]() |
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Woodstock Performers' Set Lists—2025 edition Updated! Complete set lists for all Woodstock performers. Plus eight pages of ephemera photos (like WABC Survey, videos, albums, books) |
Learn More! The blog on the Bethel Woods website has detailed info for each performer. Fascinating reading ![]() |
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Network News Coverage: "Walter & others ![]() How the Big 3 Networks reacted to our field of dreams. |
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Woodstock(Mar 26, 1970) |
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Woodstock |
Cotillion SD3-500 | |
5/11/70 1 [UK: 6/70] UK | |
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John Sebastian | I Had A Dream | 2:35 |
Canned Heat | Going Up The Country | 3:20 |
[Chip Monck] | stage announcements | |
Richie Havens | Freedom | 4:38 |
Country Joe & the Fish | Rock & Soul Music | 2:08 |
Arlo Guthrie | Coming Into Los Angeles | 2:07 |
Sha Na Na | At The Hop | 2:00 |
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Country Joe McDonald | The 'Fish' Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin-To-Die Rag | 3:15 |
Joan Baez (with Jeffrey Shurtleff) | Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man | 2:07 |
Joan Baez | Joe Hill | 2:40 |
[John Morris] | stage announcements | |
Crosby, Stills & Nash | Suite: Judy Blue Eyes | 8:11 |
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | Sea Of Madness | 3:24 |
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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | Wooden Ships | 5:27 |
The Who | We're Not Gonna Take It | 4:25 |
[Hugh Romney] | stage announcements | |
Joe Cocker | With A Little Help From My Friends | 7:40 |
rainstorm, crowd sounds, announcements, and general hysteria | ||
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crowd rain chant | 2:20 | |
Santana | Soul Sacrifice | 8:06 |
[Muskrat] | stage announcements(NY Times) | |
Ten Years After | I'm Going Home | 9:20 |
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Jefferson Airplane | Volunteers | 2:44 |
Max Yasgur | ||
Sly & The Family Stone | Dance To The Music | 2:10 |
Music Lover | 6:59 | |
I Want To Take You Higher | 4:07 | |
John Sebastian | Rainbows All Over Your Blues | 2:10 |
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Butterfield Blues Band | Love March | 7:45 |
Jimi Hendrix | The Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze & Instrumental Solo | 12:45 |
Note: Sea Of Madness recorded at the Fillmore East (close, really), Coming Into Los Angeles came in from Los Angeles,
Hendrix was Popeil'd, and other performances edited or "sweetened" due to technical glitches on site.
Music from the original soundtrack and more and less... There are differences between this "soundtrack" album and the actual soundtrack. Click the Blue note for details. |
Release date conundrum Most references to the album show a release date of 3/26. That's the date the movie premiered. The album was released on 5/11 (according to a few other sources). By looking at the Billboard Top 200 chart data, the date the album debuted was 6/6 and reached #1 on 7/11 (spending 68 weeks total). To me, there is no way that the album from a very popular rock music movie (with heavy FM airplay) would have sat around in stores under-bought for that long of a time (2+ months). |
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Woodstock Two |
Cotillion SD2-400 | |
3/71 BB [UK: 6/71] | |
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Jimi Hendrix | Jam Back At The House | 6:09 |
Izabella | 3:32 | |
Get My Heart Back Together | 8:02 | |
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Jefferson Airplane | Saturday Afternoon/Won't You Try | 4:52 |
Eskimo Blue Day | 6:00 | |
Butterfield Blues Band | Everything's Gonna Be Alright | 8:36 |
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Joan Baez | Sweet Sir Galahad | 3:27 |
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | Guinnevere | 5:04 |
4 + 20 | 2:10 | |
Marrakesh Express | 2:09 | |
Melanie | My Beautiful People | 3:45 |
Birthday Of The Sun | 3:21 | |
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Mountain | Blood Of The Sun | 3:05 |
Theme For An Imaginary Western | 4:44 | |
Canned Heat | Woodstock Boogie | 12:55 |
Audience During Sunday Rainstorm | Let The Sunshine In | :50 |
Note: The Mountain tracks were not recorded at Woodstock
The release date of this album was moved back to 3/71 (from 5/71), as the album entered the Billboard charts on 4/10.
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Woodstock - 25th Anniversary Collection |
Atlantic 82636 (4-CD) | |
8/94 | |
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Richie Havens | Handsome Johnny | 5:47 |
Freedom | 6:24 | |
Tim Hardin | If I Were A Carpenter | 2:53 |
Arlo Guthrie | Walking Down The Line | 5:11 |
Canned Heat | A Change Is Gonna Come/Leaving This Town | 7:56 |
Going Up The Country | 4:14 | |
Creedence Clearwater Revival | Commotion | 2:45 |
Green River | 3:06 | |
Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won't Do) | 3:41 | |
I Put A Spell On You | 4:34 | |
Janis Joplin | Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) | 4:15 |
Work Me Lord | 7:53 | |
Ball & Chain | 5:40 | |
Jefferson Airplane | Somebody To Love | 4:37 |
Uncle Sam Blues | 6:09 | |
White Rabbit | 2:53 | |
Joe Cocker | Let's Go Get Stoned | 5:42 |
The Band | Long Black Veil | 3:12 |
Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever | 5:05 | |
The Weight | 4:47 | |
Johnny Winter | Mean Town Blues | 4:46 |
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | Find The Cost Of Freedom | 3:12 |
Jimi Hendrix | Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)/Stepping Stone | 12:10 |
Note: Although there are some "new" tracks in this set, a lot of the stage banter and other bits were edited out.
Nice, but wait a few years...
The Mother Load† |
For the 40th anniversary in 2009, Rhino put out a massive 6-CD![]() ![]() ![]() †Looks kinda puny compared to what's next! |
The Big One |
![]() ![]() Well, dreams do come true! For the 50th, Rhino released a mammoth 38-CD box with all but 3 songs that were played that weekend. One Sha Na Na track and the two Larry Lee songs in the Hendrix set. Andy Zax and crew ![]() ![]() |
Besides CSN&Y's famous recording of Joni's Woodstock, here are some other songs about the good times had by all: |
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Woodstock | Joni Mitchell (Ladies Of The Canyon) | 4/70 |
She debuted the song at | The Assembled Multitude (45) | 10/70 |
Big Sur in September | Matthews' Southern Comfort (45) | 11/70 |
Bonnie Raitt (3/27/71, Syracuse University) | 3/71 | |
Joni Mitchell with L A Express(Miles Of Aisles) | 11/74 | |
Eva Cassidy (Time After Time) | 6/2000 | |
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Going To Bethel | Route 17 (45) Youtube link ![]() |
10/69 |
In The Peaceful Valley (Woodstock '69) | Steve Duboff (45) Youtube link ![]() |
10/69 |
Woodstock | Thomas & Richard Frost (Visualise CD)† | rec late/69 |
Return To Woodstock | Jackie Watts (45) | late/69 |
For Yasgur's Farm | Mountain (Climbing) | 3/70 |
Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) | Melanie & The Edwin Hawkins Singers (Candles In The Rain) | 4/70 |
The Spirit Of Woodstock (Remains In America Today) | Ernie Maresca (45) | 9/69 |
Shakin' Stevens & The Sunsets (UK 45) | 8/70 | |
I Wish I Could Have Been There (Woodstock) | John Denver (Whose Garden Was This) | 10/70 |
Woodstock Nation | Cosmic Michael (After A While) • | ?/70 |
Note: †Record shelved by Imperial, finally released in 2002 by Rev-Ola
A premonition |
In England in November, 1968, a Muswell Hill* group called Turquiose released a 45 with "Woodstock" • as the A-side. Although the song is not about the festival, listening to the lyrics, it seems they had such a place in mind! *home of The Kinks |
A parody |
A small band of comedians wrote a scathing send-up of Woodstock that played for several months at The Village Gate in 1973. They dubbed it: the Woodchuck Festival: Three Days of Peace, Love, and Death. Most of the cast went onto bigger things. |
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