" By the time we got to woodstock we were half a million strong and everywhere was song and celebration"

Woodstock was a music festival that took place on Max Yagurs farm in Bethel New York on August 15th to the 18th in 1969. 32 acts performed in front of a crowd of 500,000 hippies dressed in maxi skirts, sun dresses and tie dyed shirts. If you've seen the movie there were even a couple of nuns in the crowd. Performers include Ritchie Havens, Canned Heat, The Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Santana, Sha Na Na, Sly & The Family Stone, John Sebastian, Arlo Gutrie, and Country Joe & The Fish. My favorite performances are when The who took the stage with Rodger Daltrey dressed it his fringe vest, swinging the mike singing See Me Feel Me. I also Loved hearing Joe Cocker sing With A Little Help From My Friends. He really nailed that number, I think I like his version better than the Beatles. But Woodstock was not just peace and love, there were three deaths, bad weather, and food shortages and of course lots of mud. It was assured to the town officials that there would be no more than 50,000 attendees, in fact so many people were arriving in large numbers that festival was for free. Most of the acts that were invited, but refused, of course regretted it after learning how big Woodstock really was.

photos-Henry Diltz, Rowland Scherman, Lisa Law, flickr