Three major music festivals occurring within about year of
each other. Many bands who missed out on
Woodstock made it a point to show up for Isle of Wight, and as you can see,
some bands were at both.
Born in 1969, I was obviously too young for this. In fact, I didn’t even bother to attend the
1994 version. The closest thing to a
Woodstock I’ve attended was Donington in 1985. I’ve mentioned it multiple times so I’ll hold off
on doing so yet again.
Incidentally, I recently saw a Season 9 episode of South
Park in which Cartman tries to warn South Park of the danger posed by a hippie
population which grew to threshold level sufficient to organize a multiple day
music festival, ostensibly to challenge and oppose all of society’s injustices,
in particular opposition to “big business” and “The Man”. Though as a practical matter, the festival
simply winds up being simply music and weed.
For all their talk of sticking it to the man or making a difference, ultimately
it’s simply an excuse to get high and listen to music. The stupid thing is that Altamont and Isle of
Wight were not expected to change anything but simply honest gatherings for the
sake of music. Nixon didn’t pull us out
of Vietnam because of Woodstock – or because of Altamont or Isle of Wight. In fact, it would be hard to find ANY war which
could be described as having ended because thousands of hippies got together and
smoked weed at a music festival. Eventually
they determined the optimal way to disperse the crowds – in fact, highly effective
-was to simply broadcast Slayer at full volume.
[All performances listed in reverse order from headliner
to opener]
Woodstock: Friday, August 15 to Sunday, August 18, 1969. Upstate New York, in the mud. Attendance: over 400,000. This is clearly the most famous.
Friday. Joan Baez,
Arlo Guthrie, Melanie Safka, Ravi Shankar, Tim Hardin, Bert Sommer, Sweetwater,
Swami Satchidananda, Richie Havens
Saturday. Jefferson
Airplane, The Who, Sly & the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Creedence
Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Mountain, Canned Heat, The Inedible String
Band, Keef Hartley Band, John B. Sebastian, Santana, Country Joe McDonald
(“what are we fighting for?”), Quill
Sunday. Jimi
Hendrix, Sha Na Na, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Blood Sweat & Tears,
Johnny Winter, The Band, Ten Years After, Country Joe & the Fish, Joe
Cocker
Although the Dead played, they considered their
performance so poor they refused to allow it to be released. The Stones were not there as Mick Jagger was
in Australia filming “Ned Kelly”. Led
Zeppelin were touring the East Coast as a headliner and weren’t interested in
being yet another band on the bill. Iron
Butterfly insisted on a helicopter which was denied. The Moody Blues had been booked for a
European tour – so they made it a point to show up for Isle of Wight. The Beatles were in the process of breaking
up and did not show up, of course. It
was Santana’s debut. Joni Mitchell was
convinced not to appear at Woodstock because her manager said she would not be
back in time for a TV appearance on Monday night – only to show up at the TV
appearance and discover the other bands playing WERE at Woodstock. D’oh!
There have been more recent Woodstock festivals, but we
ignored those. Generally the gist is shitty
bands, too much mud, and overpriced water.
Altamont. December 6, 1969.One day, at a race track in California. Attendance:
300,000.
The Stones hired the Hell’s Angels as security, confusing
the somewhat more notorious American variety with the more sedate Hell’s
Grannies they have back in the UK. The
Grateful Dead showed up but refused to play.
The Stones’ set was filmed, but shot FROM behind Charlie Watts, so the
view is through the band and at the audience.
Marty Balin was beaten by the Angels, but Mr. Hunter was killed. Sonny Barger, the famous head of the Hell’s Angels,
had a substantial chapter on this incident, obviously blaming the Stones, who
struck him as effeminate English troubadours, for the whole thing. [Note: the Beatles endured shitty clubs in
Hamburg until they made it big. As a
Liverpool band they had no choice. Black
Sabbath, from Birmingham, another non-London city, did the same years
later. The Stones, from London, were
spared this experience. And yet some
consider the Stones a heavier, nastier band than the Beatles. SMH.]
Bands: Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills Nash & Young,
Flying Burrito Brothers, Jefferson Airplane, Santana
Isle
of Wight 1970: August 26-31. Some island off the southern coast of England. Attendance: over 600,000. Graeme Edge of the Moody Blues remarked, “even
if 90% of the crowd left, it would still be 60,000 people.” That’s the capacity of a football or soccer stadium. And no one was killed.
Wednesday: Mighty
Baby, Kris Kristofferson, David Bromberg, Rosalie Sorrels, Kathy Smith, Judas
Jump
Thursday: Gracious!, Gilberto Gil & Caetano Veloso,
Terry Reid, Groundhogs (!!!), Black Widow, Howl, Ray Owens’ Moon, Andy Roberts’
Everyone, Supertramp (first album), Gary Farr
Friday: Mungo Jerry, Cactus (!), Voices of East Harlem,
Redbone, Procol Harum, Family, Chicago, Tony Joe White, Taste (Rory Gallagher’s
first band, final show), Lighthouse, Arrival, Fairfield Parlour
Saturday: Melanie, Sly & the Family Stone, The Who [I
have the DVD], The Doors, Emerson Lake & Palmer (second show ever), Ten
Years After, Miles Davis, Tiny Tim, Joni Mitchell, Lighthouse, Shawn Phillips,
John Sebastian
Sunday: Richie Havens, Leonard Cohen, Joan Baez, Jimi
Hendrix, Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues, Pentagle, Donovan, Free, Heaven, Ralph
McTell, Kris Kristofferson, Good News
Outside: Hawkwind
and Pink Fairies.
As noted, many bands who passed on Woodstock made it
here. Jim Morrison overcame his fear of
playing outdoor shows and made it. The
Moody Blues showed up. The Who and
Hendrix were at both Woodstock AND IOW.
Santana was at Woodstock AND Altamont.
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