97 Fun Facts About Woodstock

What is the bird perched on in the famous 1969 Woodstock festival poster?

A guitar: Arnold Skolnick's bird-on-a-guitar design became the festival's emblem, and it's still printed on T-shirts, mugs and even guitars.

Woodstock 1969 was held on a farm away from its namesake town, in which New York town?

Bethel hosted the festival on Max Yasgur's 600-acre farm, found just a month before the concert after the first site fell through.

Which Academy Award did the 1970 film Woodstock win?

Best Documentary Feature went to producer Bob Maurice, and the film was also nominated for Best Sound and Best Film Editing.

Woodstock was billed as 'An Aquarian Exposition' with which tagline?

3 Days of Peace & Music was the promise, and despite bad weather and food shortages, the festival stayed remarkably peaceful.

Roughly how many people came to the Woodstock festival in 1969?

About 500,000: farmer Max Yasgur told the crowd it had proven that 'half a million kids' could gather for fun and music.

Who opened Woodstock after police stopped the scheduled first act, improvising the song 'Freedom' after running out of material?

Richie Havens built 'Freedom' on the old spiritual 'Motherless Child', and by some accounts he kept playing for nearly three hours.

Which song did Jimi Hendrix famously reinvent with screaming feedback during Woodstock's closing set?

The Star-Spangled Banner was his showpiece, but by the time he played, most festivalgoers had already gone home and missed it.

Which famous band turned down an invitation to play Woodstock in 1969?

Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant said no because, in his words, they'd have been 'just another band on the bill'.

Neighbors who opposed Woodstock posted signs urging people not to buy which product from Max Yasgur?

His milk: signs read 'Buy No Milk. Stop Max's Hippy Music Festival', but the town's officials approved the permits anyway.

Which New York town's industrial park did the Woodstock organizers lease before local opposition forced them out?

Woodstock Ventures had leased Wallkill's Mills Industrial Park for $10,000, but residents opposed it and the town board passed a permit law that blocked the festival.

Which future star director was one of seven editors on the 1970 Woodstock documentary?

Martin Scorsese's fellow editor Thelma Schoonmaker earned the film a Best Film Editing nomination, and she has cut all his films since Raging Bull.

Which musician, absent from the festival, wrote a hit song about Woodstock?

Joni Mitchell stayed away so she wouldn't miss The Dick Cavett Show, then wrote the song from Graham Nash's account and TV reports.

Broadcast descriptions of the huge traffic jam around the Woodstock site eventually had what effect?

The host town stopped enforcing its codes for fear of chaos as the crowds poured in, and recent rain had already turned the roads and fields to mud.

Which musician, not on Woodstock's bill at all, was recruited to play while promoters waited for delayed acts?

John Sebastian, formerly of the Lovin' Spoonful, had come only as a spectator, yet songs from his set made the original Woodstock album.

Woodstock became the peak musical event of which 1960s movement?

Counterculture: that December, a fan was stabbed to death at the Altamont Free Concert, which came to be seen as the end of the 1960s.

Which band's Woodstock set closed with the showcase 'I'm Going Home'?

Ten Years After's 'I'm Going Home' made both the Woodstock film and its soundtrack album, and it gave the British band a big popularity boost.

The decision to make Woodstock a 'free concert' was largely due to what unforeseen circumstance?

Unfinished fences: people arrived days early, and the organizers chose to finish the stage instead of the fencing and ticket booths.

Which CSNY member skipped most of the acoustic set at Woodstock and refused to be filmed during the electric set?

Neil Young felt the cameras distracted performers and audience from the music, so he is largely missing from the film's CSNY footage.

When food ran short at Woodstock, what did the Hog Farm's free food lines dish out?

Granola came out of the Hog Farm's free kitchen, where volunteers fed an estimated 130,000 people.

Which artist's Woodstock set included the song "Coming into Los Angeles"?

Arlo Guthrie also told the crowd the New York State Thruway was closed, though the Woodstock museum's director says that never happened.

Woodstock '94, the 25th-anniversary festival, was held on a farm in which New York town?

Saugerties' Winston Farm hosted Woodstock '94, and it was the same farm the promoters had once eyed for the 1969 festival.

The two young promoters originally approached financiers Roberts and Rosenman for money to build what?

A small recording studio in Woodstock was the pitch; Roberts and Rosenman counter-proposed a concert with the kind of performers who frequented the area.

Which British band's Woodstock set was interrupted when activist Abbie Hoffman grabbed the microphone?

The Who's Pete Townshend knocked Hoffman offstage, reportedly with his guitar, as Hoffman protested the jailing of John Sinclair.

The Woodstock '99 festival faced severe criticism and problems due to its location at what kind of site?

The former air force base was a Superfund cleanup site, and its concrete and asphalt, with little shade, baked crowds in heat above 100°F.

Which singer-songwriter's Friday night solo set inspired her later hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)"?

Melanie (Melanie Safka) performed a solo set on Friday night, during which audience members lit candles, inspiring her hit song "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)."

Which band played its hit 'Going Up the Country' at Woodstock?

Canned Heat's Alan Wilson copied a Henry Thomas record almost note for note, pan-pipe break included, but rewrote the lyrics.

Which cowboy star turned down Michael Lang's invitation to close Woodstock?

Roy Rogers was Lang's first choice to close the festival with 'Happy Trails', so the closing slot went to Jimi Hendrix instead.

The 1969 Woodstock festival officially concluded on what day of the week?

Monday morning was when the rain-delayed final set finally played, a day past the advertised schedule, after most of the crowd had gone home.

Whose Woodstock set featured "Soul Sacrifice", with a drum solo by Michael Shrieve?

Santana played Woodstock before the band's debut album was out, and the set helped push that album into the US top five.

What was a major issue concerning sanitation at the Woodstock festival?

Too few facilities for the crowd meant sanitation and first aid were both overwhelmed, on top of food shortages and bad weather.

Which singer was pushed on for an unscheduled solo set on Saturday afternoon because the next band wasn't ready?

Country Joe returned the next day with the Fish, and his 'I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag' protested the Vietnam War.

Before the festival, the town of Woodstock, New York, had a long history as a colony for which group?

Artists have gathered there since the Byrdcliffe colony opened in the early 1900s, and Bob Dylan was living in the town in 1969.

Which band was left out of the original Woodstock film at its frontman's insistence?

Creedence didn't take the stage until about 12:30 a.m., and John Fogerty later vetoed their footage for the film.

One of Woodstock's recorded deaths came when a teenager asleep in a nearby hayfield was run over by what?

A tractor: the 17-year-old was one of three recorded deaths at the festival, and the other two were drug overdoses.

Which soul and funk band's Woodstock set ran from 3:30 to 4:20 in the morning?

Sly & the Family Stone played in the small hours of Sunday, yet their set is often called one of the best of the whole festival.

In 2017, the farmland where Woodstock was held was added to which official list?

The National Register of Historic Places now lists the farmland as the Woodstock Music Festival Site, nearly half a century after the concert.

Whose raw Sunday cover of the Beatles' 'With a Little Help from My Friends' became a defining Woodstock moment?

Joe Cocker's version had topped the UK chart in 1968, and George Harrison later gave him 'Something' to record.

In July 1969, Woodstock's original host town required a permit for gatherings above what size?

5,000 people was the threshold, and officials also ruled the festival's portable toilets illegal, so the promoters lost the site weeks before the concert.

Which hard-rock band played one of its first-ever gigs at Woodstock?

Mountain had played only three or four shows by differing counts, and an untitled song in their set later became 'For Yasgur's Farm'.

Which upstate New York city hosted the Woodstock '99 festival?

Rome, New York, hosted Woodstock '99, which ended in looting and riots on its final night.

Which artist performed "If I Were a Carpenter", a Bobby Darin hit, at Woodstock?

Tim Hardin wrote 'If I Were a Carpenter' himself and sang it solo at Woodstock, though it was Bobby Darin's cover that became the hit.

Which psychedelic band took the Woodstock stage at 8 am on Sunday?

Jefferson Airplane were booked to close Saturday night, but delays pushed their set to Sunday morning.

The Woodstock festival was a defining event for what generation?

Baby Boomers, with the tail end of the Silent Generation, saw it as a defining event, and a 1970 film, soundtrack album and hit song cemented it.

Which hip-hop group sampled Max Yasgur's Woodstock stage speech on its 1989 album?

Beastie Boys used Yasgur's speech from the Woodstock soundtrack on 'Car Thief', a song from their sample-heavy Paul's Boutique.

Which folk singer, whose husband David Harris was then jailed for draft resistance, closed Woodstock's first night while six months pregnant?

Joan Baez ended her set, and the festival's first night, with 'We Shall Overcome'.

What kind of instrument was a prominent feature of Ravi Shankar's performance at Woodstock?

Ravi Shankar played his sitar through the rain on Friday night, and he later said he disliked the venue.

Who directed the 1970 documentary film Woodstock?

Michael Wadleigh made it his directorial debut, setting out to film the hippies and the townspeople as much as the music.

Which band closed its Saturday-night Woodstock set with a 36-minute version of "Turn On Your Love Light"?

The Grateful Dead's marathon closer came in a set dogged by overloading stage amps, and the next act didn't go on until after midnight.

What name did Hendrix's expanded band go by at Woodstock?

Gypsy Sun and Rainbows was introduced as the Experience, but Hendrix corrected the announcer and said they could call them a band of gypsies.

What stands on the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival today?

An outdoor amphitheater opened on the hill where the festival took place in 2006, and a 1960s museum stands on the site too.

Who engineered the festival sound system later nicknamed the 'Woodstock Bins'?

Bill Hanley built 16 loudspeaker arrays on 70-foot towers, set up for 150,000 to 200,000 people, far fewer than actually came.

Who was drafted as master of ceremonies after Michael Lang realized he'd forgotten to hire one?

Chip Monck had been paid $7,000 to build the staging and lighting, and much of his plan was scrapped when the festival lost its first site.

Apple Corps offered Woodstock which act, but the letter came as its first site fell through?

Plastic Ono Band was Apple's offer once the Beatles, recording Abbey Road and near collapse, weren't an option; Nixon's government reportedly didn't want Lennon in the US.

Which guitarist said, 'I deliberately broke the group up before Woodstock'?

Jeff Beck said he didn't want the group preserved, and his pianist Nicky Hopkins played Woodstock anyway with another band.

Bill Graham won a coin toss with Michael Lang, costing which band its promised Woodstock slot?

It's a Beautiful Day had only a verbal agreement with Lang, and their own manager, Bill Graham, won the toss for another band he managed.

Which band turned Woodstock down fearing a 'second class repeat of Monterey Pop'?

The Doors sat Woodstock out, but drummer John Densmore went anyway, just not to play.

Which band on the Woodstock poster never played because it was stuck at LaGuardia Airport?

Iron Butterfly's demands drew a telegram back from John Morris whose line initials spelled out a rude reply.

Bob Dylan skipped Woodstock and instead signed to play which festival on August 31, 1969?

Bob Dylan had planned to sail to the Isle of Wight on the QE2 the day Woodstock opened, but his son was hurt, or fell ill by another account.

Mick Jagger's band declined Woodstock because he was in Australia filming which movie?

Ned Kelly kept Jagger in Australia, and Keith Richards' partner Anita Pallenberg had just given birth to their son Marlon.

Which studio put up $100,000 to film Woodstock, a movie later credited with saving it?

Warner Bros. executive Fred Weintraub put his job on the line to fund the film after everyone else had turned it down.

With no money, what deal did the Woodstock film's director offer his crew?

Double or nothing: about 100 crew members signed on for twice their usual pay if the film succeeded and nothing if it bombed.

The couple Life magazine identified on the Woodstock soundtrack cover went on to do what?

Marry each other: the pair Life identified wed two years later, though another woman has since claimed to be the one in the blanket.

Woodstock's 38-CD 50th-anniversary box set won a Grammy in which category?

Packaging: the set won Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package but lost out for Best Historical Album.

Max Yasgur put up a big sign at his barn offering what for free?

Water: Yasgur was furious that some locals were selling it to arrivals, and demanded, 'How can anyone ask money for water?'

Which magazine gave Max Yasgur a rare full-page obituary when he died in 1973?

Rolling Stone gave him a full-page obituary, one of the few non-musicians so honored, after he died of a heart attack at 53.

Max Yasgur was later revealed to have held what political stance?

A Republican who backed the Vietnam War, Yasgur was still Michael Lang's 'hero', though Lang called him 'the antithesis' of the festival.

Who played Max Yasgur in Ang Lee's 2009 film Taking Woodstock?

Eugene Levy played Yasgur, while Jonathan Groff played Michael Lang and Imelda Staunton played the motel owner's mother.

Which singer released 'Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind' in 2017?

Lana Del Rey wrote it after Coachella in April 2017, with complex feelings about dancing while tensions with North Korea mounted.

To keep pilgrims away, later owners of Woodstock's field once spread what across it?

Chicken manure was meant to keep pilgrims away, and it wasn't until 1997 that a community group put up signs welcoming visitors.

John Roberts, who bankrolled Woodstock, was heir to the fortune from which product?

Polident denture adhesive money made him the festival's bankroller, and he used his trust fund as collateral for an emergency loan.

Which spiritual teacher gave the opening invocation at Woodstock?

Swami Satchidananda greeted the crowd as 'Brothers and Sisters of America', a nod to Vivekananda's 1893 speech in Chicago.

Which 1950s-revival group sang 'At the Hop' just before Hendrix?

Sha Na Na landed the slot with help from their friend Jimi Hendrix, only months after the group took shape.

Asked how he'd keep order at Woodstock, Hog Farm leader Hugh Romney named what tools?

Cream pies and seltzer bottles are classic clown props; the press wrote it down, and he later marvelled at 'the power of manipulating the media'.

Which bluesman gave Hog Farm founder Hugh Romney his clown name weeks after Woodstock?

B.B. King named him at the Texas International Pop Festival, where the Hog Farmers kept the peace between cowboys and hippies.

Who closed Woodstock '94 as the final North Stage headliner?

Peter Gabriel closed Sunday night, while Aerosmith had played around 3 to 4 a.m. the night before, straight after Metallica's fireworks.

Woodstock '94 earned what nickname after storms turned the field to sludge?

Mudstock stuck: Primus were pelted with mud during 'My Name Is Mud', and Les Claypool said years later some was still in his bass cabinets.

Which band's Woodstock '94 mudfight ended with bassist Mike Dirnt losing a tooth?

Green Day's mud fight brought fans onstage, and security mistook the mud-soaked Mike Dirnt for one of them and tackled him.

Whose Woodstock '94 performance won the 1996 Grammy for Best Metal Performance?

Nine Inch Nails wrestled in the mud just before going on, and Trent Reznor still called the set 'terrible' afterward.

Which band's performance is widely blamed for escalating the Woodstock '99 violence?

Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst goaded the crowd into a frenzy during a set full of violent moshing.

Woodstock '99's inexperienced, unarmed security staff went by what name?

The Peace Patrol came from a nearby job agency, and many members sold their spare security shirts or simply abandoned their posts.

Which Hendrix cover by the Red Hot Chili Peppers was blamed for inciting Woodstock '99's final-night chaos?

Fire capped the Chili Peppers' set, and organizers had to plead with the crowd to let fire trucks through.

To protest concession prices at Woodstock '99, Insane Clown Posse taped what to beach balls?

Fans fought over the money; a year later the duo launched the Gathering of the Juggalos as a riposte to the festival.

Which drummer was one of just two 1969 Woodstock performers to play Woodstock '99?

Mickey Hart played with his band Planet Drum, though no complete act from the original festival made the bill.

Woodstock 50 was moved in July 2019 from Watkins Glen to Merriweather Post Pavilion in which state?

Maryland's Merriweather Post Pavilion took it on July 25, but every announced artist was released the next day and the festival was cancelled on July 31.

Poland's Przystanek Woodstock was renamed what in 2018 after a licensing dispute?

Pol'and'Rock Festival replaced the Przystanek Woodstock name in March 2018 after a licensing dispute with the agency representing Michael Lang.

Which 1969 event is sometimes called the 'Black Woodstock'?

The Harlem Cultural Festival ran on summer Sundays in Mount Morris Park, and Questlove's 2021 documentary Summer of Soul brought it to wide audiences.

The New York Times' editorial on the festival ran under what headline?

Nightmare in the Catskills compared the fans to lemmings marching to their deaths, but coverage turned kinder once worried parents phoned in.

Janis Joplin performed at Woodstock backed by which group?

The Kozmic Blues Band included former Big Brother guitarist Sam Andrew, and Janis Joplin's set only reached the film in the 1994 director's cut.

As 'See Me, Feel Me' played at Woodstock, what happened 'almost as if on cue'?

The sun rose right on cue, and one member later joked that 'God was our lighting man'; they had demanded $13,000 up front before playing.

In the iconic Woodstock images, Hendrix wears a red head-scarf and what on top?

A white fringed leather jacket, beaded in blue: he took far less than his usual fee, yet was still the festival's highest-paid performer.

Which folk group refused to play in Friday's pouring rain and was rescheduled to Saturday?

The Incredible String Band had been booked for $4,500, and their rescheduled Saturday set was left out of the film.

Woodstock drummer Keef Hartley later held whose old drum seat in Rory Storm's band?

Ringo Starr left the Hurricanes to join the Beatles, and Hartley went on to drum for John Mayall before leading his own band at Woodstock.

Abbie Hoffman's 1969 book about the festival was titled what?

Woodstock Nation is where Hoffman admits he was on a bad LSD trip when he grabbed the microphone onstage.

Which magazine ran a 1970 parody poem, 'I Remember, I Remember The Wondrous Woodstock Music Fair'?

Mad ran it in April 1970, with Frank Jacobs's verses and Sergio Aragonés's drawings sending up the traffic jams and the struggle to get near the stage.

Before Woodstock, Michael Lang had co-organized which 1968 festival?

Miami Pop drew about 25,000 people to a Florida racetrack, with the Jimi Hendrix Experience among the acts.

Why did the 346 off-duty New York City police hired for Woodstock security withdraw?

They were warned about moonlighting rules, so security fell largely to the Hog Farm commune's 'Please Force'.

Taking Woodstock is based on the memoir of which local motel owner?

Elliot Tiber claimed he introduced Michael Lang to Max Yasgur, but Lang says a realtor drove him to the farm instead.