Five bands that had major problems playing at Woodstock 1969
A lot of the time, when you’re living through music history, it can be hard to recognise as much, but that wasn’t the case at Woodstock.
In 1969, from August 15th to 18th, a band of hippies descended onto a dairy farm in Bethel, New York, and were witnesses to what has gone down in history as one of the most iconic festivals of all time. The whole thing brought with it a real sense of change, as people opted for peace, listened to great music, and generally rejoiced in the unrelenting power that a great gig can have.
Of course, while history remembers Woodstock as a cultural turning point, we cannot glance over the fact that the festival was riddled with issues. The weather didn’t play its part, there were technical difficulties, and constant delays meant that artists performed long after they were due.
You’d be surprised just how many of the legendary performers who played at the festival complained about how poorly everything was put together, as, despite the notoriety of the whole event, plenty of sets were marred by problems. These are five of the artists who played the festival but also got swept up in the major issues they faced.
The bands that faced major problems performing at Woodstock
The Who
Despite being one of the most famous bands at the festival, The Who had a horrible time playing at Woodstock. It wasn’t that they actually disliked the show itself. But rather, they grew tired of the crowd, who seemed to think that the world would be different simply because they attended a gig. The Who grew so tired of their attitude that they wrote the song ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ about the whole experience.
“All those hippies wandering about thinking the world was going to be different from that day,” recalled Pete Townshend, “As a cynical English arsehole, I walked through it all and felt like spitting on the lot of them, and shaking them and trying to make them realise that nothing had changed and nothing was going to change.”
Janis Joplin
As one of the leading figures in the hippie counterculture, and let’s face it, one of the best vocalists of all time, Janis Joplin was always going to play at the massive Woodstock Festival. According to those in attendance, her set was fantastic. One of the music journalists who watched wrote, “Janis Joplin danced with them as if they were one”.
However, while the set might have gone down well, it was also plagued with difficulties. Joplin was already shattered before even stepping foot on stage, given she had been awake for about 36 hours due to travelling. Meanwhile, because of technical difficulties at the festival, she didn’t actually end up on stage until about two in the morning. The show might have gone down well, but it wasn’t without its issues.
Joan Baez
Joan Baez was six months pregnant when she played at Woodstock, but knowing how monumental the festival could be, she felt the urge to perform. She arrived with Janis Joplin and found herself starving throughout the set, given that she was avoiding all food at risk of it being laced with LSD.
Baez enjoyed playing the festival and recognised it as a pretty historic moment in music history; however, she also said that the weather, while bringing people together somewhat, still made for a messy situation. “I think at a concert, one of these acts of God makes it a totally unique concert. Everyone is just in it together,” she said, before admitting, “The fainthearted had a miserable time.”
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead’s performance at Woodstock may be one of the most infamous. The band were arguably one of the most anticipated groups at the festival, given they were very much linked with the hippie movement, and were famous for their excellent live performances. However, their set was nothing short of disastrous, and something the band were never able to make peace with.
All band members agreed that the set was terrible. “Our sound man at the time decided he was going to change the ground in the middle of the whole thing,” explained Bob Weir, “It was not done right or something. Every time I touched my instrument, I got a horrible shock, and [Jerry] was getting the same thing.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival
With their politically charged music and growing success, there was a lot of hype surrounding the performance of Creedence Clearwater Revival. The band played incredibly well, and all in all, it was a set that went down as one of the best of the weekend; however, there were a couple of issues which rubbed John Fogerty the wrong way.
Two of the major problems were that the band went on far too late; they took to the stage well after midnight, following the Grateful Dead’s poor performance, so the crowd wasn’t great, and the set happened long after it should have. In addition to that, Fogerty also complained that the band did not get paid for their performance either.
