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Sam
September 4, 2025
Woodstock was MUCH MORE than just a festival — it was many things to many people. It was the messy, muddy heartbeat of an era. A cultural revolution and movement of the people against current global political events. It was a peaceful gathering of like-minded people in a long, hot summer.
August 15–18, 1969. Bethel, New York. Half a million people chasing peace, love, and maybe a little bit of shelter from the rain.
The lineup was absolutely stacked and looking back these were eternal legends. Everyone from folk poets to face-melting guitar heroes. But for me, five names tower over that weekend: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, and The Band.
Let’s break it down.
Hendrix is probably the most recognizable name that played the main stage in 69… but do you know why?
He closed the show in spectacular fashion – not on Sunday night when everyone was still awake and wired, but Monday morning, after the crowd had been whittled down from hundreds of thousands to maybe 30–40,000 stragglers. Still, those who stuck it out got one of the most iconic performances in rock history.
His version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” — distorted, screaming, bending into the sounds of bombs and gunfire — was more than music. It was protest. It was chaos. It was America in 1969, played through six strings and an amp turned all the way up.
It’s not an exaggeration to say Hendrix at Woodstock became the image of the festival.
Shop the Hendrix Woodstock Star-Spangled Tee
By the time Janis hit the stage in the early hours of Sunday morning, the crowd was exhausted, the rain had soaked everything, and the festival was already running way behind.
Didn’t matter. Janis was pure fire. Backed by the Kozmic Blues Band, she tore into “Piece of My Heart” and “Ball and Chain” like she was wringing every drop of emotion out of herself.
It wasn’t note-perfect — Janis was never about perfection. It was feeling. Soul-crushing, goosebump-inducing feeling. And that’s why she’s remembered as one of Woodstock’s high points.
So you many have missed it because CCR didn’t even make it into the original Woodstock movie.
Why? They played after midnight, following the Grateful Dead’s famously long and messy set, and most of the crowd was asleep.
But John Fogerty wasn’t having it. He spotted a few hundred people still awake and told them, “We’re playing for you.”
Then they ripped through “Born on the Bayou”, “Bad Moon Rising”, and “Proud Mary” like it was the middle of the day.
It’s one of those “you had to be there” sets — and the fans who were there still talk about it like it was a secret just for them.
The Who hit the stage at 5 a.m. on Sunday — the sun literally rising as they blasted through their set.
They played Tommy almost in full, Pete Townshend swinging his arm like he was trying to beat the sun back down. There was chaos too — Townshend famously smacked activist Abbie Hoffman with his guitar mid-set when Hoffman tried to grab the mic to make a political statement.
Woodstock wasn’t just peace and love — it had sharp edges. And The Who showed both in one set.
The Band didn’t need pyrotechnics or wild stage antics. They brought something different — a quiet, almost reverent moment in the middle of all the noise.
Their set was pure Americana: “The Weight”, “Long Black Veil”, “I Shall Be Released”. Music that sounded like it had been dug straight out of the soil.
After days of blistering volume, The Band felt like a campfire in the middle of the storm. Watch their set.
Richie Havens kicked things off on Friday evening, after the original opener didn’t make it. Havens didn’t have a setlist — he improvised “Freedom,” stretching the word into something gospel-level cathartic. A perfect chaotic warm-up act.
Santana gave a career-making performance of “Soul Sacrifice” (that drum solo still kills).
Ravi Shankar with his Sitar in the storm. Shankar played long and hypnotic ragas — a transcendental jab of East-meets-West calm while Bethel was still turning into Mudstock.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young nervously announced, “This is only the second time we’ve played in front of people.”
Jefferson Airplane made morning came alive with Grace Slick ripping into “White Rabbit” and “Volunteers.” Trip-hop psychedelia hitting with political edge — they were the bay area’s answer to electric revolution.
The Grateful Dead were legendary, but not for this night. Rain, electronics gone haywire — the Dead’s set wasn’t at their best. Still, their “Turn On Your Love Light” drone bred a certain kind of moonlit, muddy magic.
Sly and the Family Stone ignited the crowd when they stumbled onstage at 3:30 am, roused a mud-caked half-million with funk, soul, psychedelic edge, and turned tired bodies into a living dance floor.
Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Sweetwater, Joe Cocker and the Grease Band, and dozens more filled the schedule.
It was chaotic, muddy, and plagued with delays — but that’s what makes the original Woodstock legendary.
Woodstock wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t slick. But it was real.
And the performances from Hendrix, Joplin, Creedence, The Who, and The Band are still the reason we talk about it like it was rock’s holy ground.
To celebrate the anniversary of the original Woodstock festival 1969 this weekend only I am proud to offer a 20% discount for all Woodstock Legends. Use code WDSTCK20 at checkout for 20% off
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