60 Fun Facts About Hard Woodstock

Which band was the first act to sign a contract for Woodstock, in April 1969?

Drummer Doug Clifford said everyone else jumped in line once they signed. The band later resented its 12:30 am slot and its absence from the film.

Which frontman kept his band out of the 1970 Woodstock film, feeling their set was unworthy?

The band had gone on at 12:30 am after the Grateful Dead. An official Live at Woodstock album of all 11 songs finally appeared for the 50th anniversary in 2019.

Roughly how many advance tickets were sold for Woodstock before it turned into a free concert?

Tickets were only available at record stores in the New York area or by mail to a Radio City Station post office box. Gate price was to be $24.

What were John Roberts and Joel Rosenman building in Manhattan when approached about Woodstock?

Lang and Kornfeld wanted money for a smaller studio in Woodstock; Roberts and Rosenman counter-proposed a concert instead. Woodstock Ventures formed in January 1969.

Which Saugerties property, considered and rejected for the 1969 festival, ended up hosting Woodstock '94?

Lang and Kornfeld wrongly believed they had secured it in 1969. Twenty-five years later it drew an estimated 350,000 people.

Which body of water formed the backdrop to the Woodstock stage and became a popular skinny-dipping spot?

The land formed a natural bowl sloping down to the water. Its owner was the only landowner who refused to sign a lease with the promoters.

Local opponents of the festival put up signs urging people to boycott what?

One sign read 'Buy No Milk. Stop Max's Hippy Music Festival'. Yasgur was the largest milk producer in Sullivan County, with about 650 cows.

How many National Guard troops did Governor Rockefeller consider sending to the festival?

Roberts talked him out of it. Sullivan County declared a state of emergency, and Stewart Air Force Base helicopters ferried performers in and out.

Why did the 346 off-duty NYPD officers meant to handle Woodstock security withdraw?

The Hog Farm commune ended up as the 'Please Force', armed, in Wavy Gravy's words, with cream pies and seltzer bottles.

Introduced at Woodstock as the Experience, what did Hendrix say his group could be called?

The line-up was actually billed as Gypsy Sun and Rainbows. By the time he went on at 8:30 Monday morning the crowd had shrunk to about 30,000.

Besides two drug overdoses, the third recorded death at Woodstock was caused by what?

The 17-year-old was asleep in a nearby hayfield. Despite claims, an author's extensive research could not confirm a single birth at the festival.

Which sound engineer built the Woodstock PA, nicknamed the 'Woodstock Bins'?

He designed the system for 150,000 to 200,000 people. Each half-ton plywood cabinet held four 15-inch JBL speakers.

The live performances at Woodstock were captured backstage in a tractor trailer on what equipment?

Eddie Kramer and Lee Osbourne ran the tapes at 15 inches per second and later mixed them at the Record Plant in New York.

Which extra job was lighting designer Chip Monck handed at the last minute at Woodstock?

Michael Lang realised he had forgotten to hire an MC. Most of Monck's rented lighting sat unused under a stage roof too weak to hold it.

Apple Corps offered which act to Woodstock by letter, just as the promoters were losing the Wallkill site?

Michael Lang had invited John Lennon's new group knowing the Beatles were unavailable while recording Abbey Road. Nixon's government reportedly did not want Lennon in the country anyway.

Which guitarist said he deliberately broke up his band before Woodstock because he did not want it 'preserved'?

His pianist Nicky Hopkins ended up performing with Jefferson Airplane instead. Beck was booked for Woodstock '99 too, and cancelled that as well.

Bill Graham forced Chicago out of Woodstock so which band he managed could take the slot?

Graham also won a coin toss with Michael Lang over whether It's a Beautiful Day or Santana would play. Santana's debut album had not even been released.

Which Doors member appeared as a guest with Creed at Woodstock '99?

Krieger and Densmore had attended the original festival as spectators. Krieger said the band feared a second-class repeat of Monterey Pop.

Bob Dylan planned to sail to England on August 15, 1969, the day Woodstock began, but disembarked. Why?

Dylan lived in the town of Woodstock but never seriously negotiated to appear. He flew to England the following week and played the Isle of Wight Festival with the Band.

Which band on the Woodstock Sunday poster never played, stuck at LaGuardia demanding helicopters?

Production coordinator John Morris replied with a telegram whose lines spelled out a rude acrostic telling them to find other transportation.

Which television programme did Joni Mitchell's manager insist she appear on instead of playing Woodstock?

She wrote her song 'Woodstock' in a New York hotel room watching TV reports and hearing Graham Nash's account. She first performed it at the Big Sur Folk Festival a month later.

Which singing cowboy star was asked to close Woodstock with 'Happy Trails' but declined?

Instead the festival ended with Hendrix on Monday morning. Rogers' regular closing theme had been written by his wife Dale Evans.

The Rolling Stones declined Woodstock partly because Mick Jagger was in Australia filming which movie?

Keith Richards' girlfriend Anita Pallenberg had also just given birth to their son Marlon. Four months later the Stones headlined the disastrous Altamont concert.

Which pop star turned down Woodstock after his secretary called it a 'pig farmer' who 'wants you to play in his field'?

Tommy James and the Shondells were in Hawaii at the time. James said they realised what they had missed a couple of days later.

Which New York Times editorial headline compared Woodstock's crowd to lemmings marching into the sea?

The other two headlines belonged to the Daily News. Coverage turned positive partly because parents phoned the media after hearing from their children at the site.

How did the Middletown Times Herald-Record get Woodstock stories and photos to its office 35 miles away?

The paper had editorialised against the Wallkill ban and printed a rare Saturday edition during the festival.

Which Warner Bros. executive put his job on the line to give Artie Kornfeld $100,000 to film Woodstock?

Kornfeld had been turned down everywhere else. The film is credited with helping save Warner Bros. when the studio was close to going under.

How did director Michael Wadleigh pay his roughly 100-person film crew at Woodstock?

The crew would get double pay if the film succeeded and nothing if it bombed. It grossed about $50 million on a $600,000 budget.

Which Woodstock editor earned a rare Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing on a documentary?

She headed the editing crew and went on to a lifelong partnership with fellow editor Scorsese, winning three Oscars for his films.

How long is the 1994 director's cut of the Woodstock film?

The 1970 release ran 185 minutes. The longer cut added Janis Joplin plus more Jefferson Airplane, Hendrix and Canned Heat.

In how many theatres did the Woodstock film open on March 26, 1970?

Boston, Coral Gables, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Washington were the cities. Roger Ebert called it maybe the best documentary ever made in America.

The 1970 Woodstock soundtrack was released as a triple album on which Atlantic Records label?

Compiled by Eric Blackstead, it went gold within eleven days and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.

Who was the couple embracing under a blanket on the Woodstock soundtrack cover?

The pair married two years after the festival and settled 40 miles away in Pine Bush. Photographer Burk Uzzle shot it for Magnum during Jefferson Airplane's set.

Which band's tracks on Woodstock Two (1971) were actually recorded at the Fillmore East?

Woodstock was only the group's third gig. Unlike the first soundtrack, Woodstock Two contains no stage announcements.

How many copies of the 38-disc 2019 box set Woodstock – Back to the Garden were made?

The only omissions were two Hendrix songs his estate rejected and some Sha Na Na music that was never taped. Production delays caused a backlash against Rhino.

Which group backed Janis Joplin at Woodstock?

Former Big Brother guitarist Sam Andrew was in the line-up. A 2019 documentary claimed she required a personal supply of strawberries.

What was the title of the book Roberts and Rosenman wrote about paying for Woodstock?

Its subtitle calls them the two people who paid for it. Michael Lang's own account, The Road to Woodstock, came out in 2009.

Roughly how many lawsuits, mostly by local farmers, were filed against Woodstock Ventures?

The film's profits financed the settlements and paid off $1.4 million of debt. Bethel voters also threw out the town supervisor who had approved the permits.

Which cable TV pioneer bought the Woodstock field in 1996 and built Bethel Woods Center for the Arts?

The centre opened in July 2006 with the New York Philharmonic; CSNY played there a month later. The museum followed in June 2008.

Which Woodstock performer's ashes were scattered at the festival site in August 2013?

Havens had opened the festival 44 years earlier. Despite recalling a three-hour set, tapes show his opening slot lasted under an hour.

Where was Woodstock 50 moved from Watkins Glen before its July 2019 cancellation?

Investors Dentsu Aegis had tried to cancel it in April; a judge ruled they had no right to. The event shrank from three days to one before dying.

How was the original poster's design changed for Woodstock '94?

The '94 festival was promoted as '2 More Days of Peace and Music' with $135 tickets, though a third day was added later.

Which electronic artist's Woodstock '94 set was cut short after he signed a fake name on his contract?

The false signature would have forfeited PolyGram's rights to the performance. Only 164,000 tickets were sold for a crowd estimated at 350,000.

Woodstock '99 was held on the site of which decommissioned Air Force base?

The former B-52 base in Rome, New York was a designated Superfund clean-up site. About 220,000 people attended over three days.

Which two 1969 performers were the only original Woodstock acts on stage at Woodstock '99?

The Who's bassist played a solo set and the Grateful Dead's drummer appeared with Planet Drum. No complete 1969 act was on the bill.

Woodstock '99 organisers planned, then cancelled, a European leg in which country?

The site was to be Wiener Neustadt. Michael Lang said there was not enough time to stage it safely.

Which bluesman gave Wavy Gravy his nickname?

It happened at the Texas International Pop Festival two weeks after Woodstock, when Hugh Romney was lying exhausted on stage and King said he could work around him.

The Hog Farm commune was originally recruited by Woodstock Ventures to do what at the site?

They talked the promoters into letting them run a free kitchen too, and only learned at JFK Airport that they were also the security force.

Which band was scheduled to open Woodstock but was delayed by traffic and had to be helicoptered in?

That is why the folk singer who went on first kept playing far beyond his slot. Sweetwater eventually performed after Swami Satchidananda's invocation.

Which Friday performer earned the festival's first standing ovation with a cover of 'America'?

The Hair cast member was there because his producer Artie Kornfeld co-created the festival. His song about the weekend, 'We're All Playing in the Same Band', reached number 48.

According to Country Joe McDonald, what did he play his unscheduled Saturday solo set on?

He said nobody paid attention until he walked back on and led the crowd in his infamous four-letter version of the Fish Cheer.

Sha Na Na closed their Woodstock set with which late-1950s number one, earning a standing ovation?

Jimi Hendrix, a friend from a New York club, helped the months-old group land the slot, and they went on immediately before him.

Arnold Skolnick's famous Woodstock poster shows a bird on a guitar neck. What kind of bird is it?

Skolnick was hired on a Thursday and delivered it the following Monday. Despite the millions made from the image he received one royalty cheque of about $15.

Ang Lee's 2009 film Taking Woodstock cast which comedian as motel owner Elliot Tiber?

Lee practically rented out the town of New Lebanon, New York, to shoot it. Jonathan Groff played Michael Lang, who disputes Tiber's account of introducing him to Yasgur.

Max Yasgur's politics surprised many. What was he?

Michael Lang called him 'the antithesis' of what Woodstock stood for, yet his hero. Yasgur put up a 'Free Water' sign after hearing locals were selling water to the crowd.

Which two-day festival did Michael Lang co-organise in 1968, a year before Woodstock?

Hendrix, Zappa and John Lee Hooker played, and rain ended day two early. Lang later helped move Altamont to its ill-fated speedway site.

Which British band took Joni Mitchell's 'Woodstock' to number one on the UK singles chart in 1970?

In the US the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young version from Déjà Vu became the standard. Mitchell's own recording was the B-side of 'Big Yellow Taxi'.

Where was the 2019 US Postal Service Forever stamp marking Woodstock's 50th anniversary first issued?

The Met was hosting the Play It Loud instrument exhibit. Kirk Douglas of the Roots opened the ceremony with an electric 'Star-Spangled Banner'.

Which band's 2017 album Woodstock was inspired by the frontman's father's old festival ticket stub?

John Gourley's conversation with his father sparked the title. Charles Schulz had honoured the festival decades earlier by naming Snoopy's bird after it.

How much did Woodstock Ventures pay to lease the Mills Industrial Park in Wallkill, the festival's original site?

Town officials were told no more than 50,000 would attend; a permit ordinance for gatherings over 5,000 later forced the move to Bethel.