How many people really attended Woodstock ‘69?
In August 1969, on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York, about 50 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, one of music’s most iconic weekends occurred. The town is now synonymous with the like-titled festival that saw scores of hippies flock from all corners of the North American continent for four days of musical performance and a shed-load of LSD.
Woodstock is celebrated not only for the music played in iconic sets by several stars of the era but also for its demonstration of social harmony and the unity of a generation committed to ideals of peace and love during a turbulent period in US history. For several years, musicians had stood at the centre of a counter of a countercultural push that opposed, among other things, America’s war in Vietnam.
Jimi Hendrix, who performed the weekend’s most iconic set with a poignant rendition of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, summed up the weekend with a characteristically poetic statement: “500,000 halos outshined the mud and history. We washed and drank in God’s tears of joy, and for once and for everyone, the truth was not a mystery. Love called to all; music is magic.”
These fitting words approximate that half a million people flocked to the festival over the weekend, but just how many people actually showed up? Much like the Sex Pistols’ highly influential concert at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1976, Woodstock became such a place to have been that several decades of fibbing warped the reality.
If everyone who said they attended Woodstock ’69 actually did, the number Hendrix cited would need to be increased by a factor of ten. That said, the festival did draw in far more punters than initially intended. The original expectation was for about 50,000 attendees, yet through word of mouth and a mass pilgrimage against the odds of inclement weather and traffic jams, an estimated 400,000 people flocked to the field.
Who performed at Woodstock in 1969?
The star-studded line-up showcased a mixture of rock, folk, blues, and contemporary psychedelic music, satisfactorily representing the musical diversity of the late 1960s. On the first day of the festival, Friday, August 15th, performances were given by Woodie Guthrie’s son, Arlo, Joan Baez, and George Harrison’s sitar meteor, Ravi Shankar.
Saturday, August 16th, more rock bands were welcomed to the roster, with Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, The Who, Canned Heat, and Jefferson Airplane taking the stage. Finally, Sunday, August 17th, featured performances by Joe Cocker, The Band, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Johnny Winter and more.
Due to weather conditions and technical issues, Hendrix was offered a late gig to close proceedings on the Sunday night at midnight. However, he decided to hold off and deliver his show-stopping two-hour set on the Monday morning. He reportedly drew in a crowd of 200,000 people.
See the full main stage line-up for Woodstock 1969 below.
Day One
- Richie Havens
- Sweetwater
- Bert Sommer
- Tim Hardin
- Ravi Shankar
- Melanie
- Arlo Guthrie
- Joan Baez
Day Two
- Quill
- Country Joe McDonald
- John Sebastian
- Keef Hartley Band
- Santana
- Incredible String Band
- Canned Heat
- Mountain
- Grateful Dead
- Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Janis Joplin
- Sly and the Family Stone
- The Who
- Jefferson Airplane
Day Three
- Joe Cocker
- Country Joe and the Fish
- Ten Years After
- The Band
- Blood, Sweat & Tears
- Johnny Winter
- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
- Paul Butterfield Blues Band
- Sha Na Na
Day Four
- Jimi Hendrix
