50 Fun Facts About Woodstock Trivia for Seniors

On whose dairy farm was the 1969 Woodstock festival held?

His speech to the crowd about half a million young people having three days of fun and music with no trouble drew a huge ovation. He died in 1973.

Woodstock was not actually held in Woodstock. Which New York town hosted it?

The site is about 60 miles from the town of Woodstock. Wallkill had been the planned venue until local permit conditions made it impossible.

In which month and year did Woodstock take place?

It ran from Friday the 15th to the morning of Monday the 18th, a month after the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

How was Woodstock billed on its posters?

More than 460,000 people turned up. The town had been assured no more than 50,000 would come.

Why did Woodstock end up as a free concert?

Three days out, the promoters had to choose between finishing the fences or the stage. They chose the stage, and people simply walked in.

How much did an advance ticket for all three days cost?

It was $24 at the gate. Advance tickets were sold only through New York record stores and a post office box.

Which folk singer opened the festival, after the scheduled first act was stuck in traffic?

Sweetwater were meant to open but were delayed. Havens' improvised set made him a star, and his ashes were scattered on the site in 2013.

Who was the last performer at Woodstock, taking the stage at 8:30 on Monday morning?

By then the crowd had shrunk from around 450,000 to about 30,000. He introduced his new group as a 'Band of Gypsies'.

Which piece did Woodstock's closer famously play with feedback imitating rockets and bombs?

Guitar World's editors named it the greatest guitar performance of all time in 2011. He was the world's highest-paid rock musician that year.

Which band was the first major act to sign a contract to play Woodstock, for $10,000?

They went on hours late, in the small hours to a sleepy crowd, and John Fogerty kept them out of the film and soundtrack as a result.

Which British band demanded $13,000 up front for Woodstock and later released Live at Leeds?

Pete Townshend gave the critic Robert Christgau a lift to the festival. Their set appears in the Woodstock film and The Kids Are Alright.

Which then-unknown Latin-rock band got on the bill because promoter Bill Graham managed them and insisted?

Graham won a coin toss with Michael Lang over which of his bands would play. Their first album came out the same month and Abraxas followed in 1970.

Which gravel-voiced English singer's Woodstock cover of 'With a Little Help from My Friends' became a TV theme?

His producer Denny Cordell talked organiser Artie Kornfeld into booking Cocker and the Grease Band. Cocker called the day 'like an eclipse'.

Which singer-songwriter wrote 'Woodstock' without attending, after boyfriend Graham Nash described it to her?

Her manager kept her in New York for The Dick Cavett Show. She watched the news coverage on television and wrote the song from that.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's version of the song 'Woodstock' appeared on which 1970 album?

In Britain the hit version was by Matthews Southern Comfort, which reached number one in 1970.

What did Stephen Stills tell the Woodstock crowd at CSNY's second-ever live show?

They played about an hour in the early morning of August 18, with many fellow performers standing in a circle behind them.

Which director debuted with the Oscar-winning 1970 Woodstock documentary?

He brought a crew of about 100 from the New York film scene and wanted the film to be as much about the crowd as the music.

Which future Oscar-winning director worked as an editor on the Woodstock film?

Thelma Schoonmaker, later Scorsese's regular editor, was nominated for Best Film Editing, a rarity for a documentary.

Which Canned Heat song became the unofficial theme of the Woodstock film?

They arrived by helicopter and played at sunset on the second day. The song had reached number 11 on the Billboard chart.

Which doo-wop revival group played Woodstock right before Hendrix, who had helped get them booked?

They closed with 'At the Hop' and got a standing ovation. They later hosted their own TV variety show from 1977 to 1981.

Which British blues-rock band's marathon 'I'm Going Home', sung by Alvin Lee, was a highlight of the film?

They played on Sunday, August 17. The film exposure made them stars in America.

Which singer led the Woodstock crowd in the 'Fish Cheer' before his 'I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag'?

The cheer's chorus asking what we are fighting for became an anthem for the Woodstock generation and Vietnam veterans alike.

Which son of the 'This Land Is Your Land' writer played 'Coming into Los Angeles' at Woodstock?

His announcement in the film that the New York State Thruway was closed is a famous moment, though the museum director says it never actually closed.

Which folk singer performed at Woodstock while her husband was jailed for resisting the draft?

Her appearance and the film raised her profile worldwide. Fifty years later she turned down Woodstock 50 because her instincts said no.

Which singer's 'Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)' was inspired by the Woodstock crowd lighting candles during her set?

She was one of only three solo women on the bill. 'Brand New Key' followed as a worldwide hit in 1971.

Grace Slick called her band's early-morning Woodstock slot 'morning maniac music'. Which band was it?

They were the only band to play all three big 1960s festivals: Monterey, Woodstock and Altamont. They taped The Dick Cavett Show right afterwards.

Which singer played Woodstock at 2 a.m. with her Kozmic Blues Band but kept her set out of the film?

Her 'Work Me, Lord' was finally added in the 25th-anniversary director's cut. She stayed on site until the end of the festival.

Which Bob Dylan backing group played Woodstock but was left out of the film over legal issues?

They had recorded The Basement Tapes with Dylan around Woodstock, New York, in a house called Big Pink. Dylan himself lived in the town but never seriously negotiated to appear.

Which hard-rock band, known for 'Mississippi Queen', played only its third-ever gig at Woodstock?

Leslie West and Felix Pappalardi had just formed the group. Iron Butterfly, by contrast, was on the poster but got stuck at LaGuardia Airport.

Which Lovin' Spoonful frontman played an unscheduled Woodstock set on a borrowed guitar?

He was there as a spectator. Accounts still differ over exactly when he went on during Saturday.

Which Indian sitar master played Woodstock and later said he disliked the venue?

He played in the rain on Friday night. His pupil George Harrison would organise the Concert for Bangladesh two years later.

Which group turned Woodstock down while recording Abbey Road and close to breaking up?

Michael Lang then invited John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band instead. Bob Dylan, who lived in the town of Woodstock, never seriously negotiated to appear.

Which group's guitarist Robby Krieger said they pulled out fearing a 'second class repeat of Monterey Pop'?

Krieger and drummer John Densmore went along to watch anyway, and the group later regretted the decision.

Which counterculture figure's Hog Farm commune ran Woodstock security with 'cream pies and seltzer bottles'?

Hugh Romney got the name Wavy Gravy from B.B. King two weeks later in Texas. He was the only person on the bill of all three Woodstock festivals.

Which newspaper ran an editorial called 'Nightmare in the Catskills' while the festival was still on?

The farmer who owned the site, the festival's chief medical officer and local residents all publicly praised the crowd's behaviour.

Roughly how many advance tickets were sold before the fences came down?

Sales were limited to record shops around New York City and a post office box in Midtown Manhattan. Most of the crowd walked in free.

Which four men are credited with putting Woodstock together, two of them as financiers?

John Roberts and Joel Rosenman put up the money and were nearly ruined, until the film and album rights turned it around.

Asked to host a repeat festival in 1970, the landowner refused, saying he was going back to doing what?

He refused. Yasgur died in 1973, having sold the farm for about $1,000 an acre.

Which cable-TV pioneer bought the festival site in 1996 and turned it into a performing arts centre?

The centre opened in 2006 with the New York Philharmonic, and a Woodstock museum followed in 2008. The site joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

The 25th-anniversary Woodstock '94 was held in which New York town and nicknamed 'Mudstock'?

Only 164,000 tickets were sold but about 350,000 came. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Joey Kramer had all attended the original as fans.

Woodstock '99, remembered for fires and riots, was held on a former Air Force base in which NY city?

Griffiss Air Force Base is about 100 miles from the original site. The festival has since been the subject of two documentaries.

What became of Woodstock 50, planned for Watkins Glen in 2019?

Its investors pulled out in April 2019 and it never recovered. The arts centre on the original site held its own anniversary shows instead.

How many acts performed at Woodstock over its three rainy days?

Performers played outdoors despite overcast skies and sporadic rain, with crowds estimated at nearly half a million.

In which New York town was Woodstock originally going to be held before the permit fell through?

The organizers had leased the Mills Industrial Park in Orange County, and the late move to Bethel left little time to prepare.

Which British folk-rock group also had a hit with Joni Mitchell's song 'Woodstock', besides CSNY?

Mitchell wrote the song without attending the festival; both versions became major hits.

Which New York governor phoned the organizers as Sullivan County declared an emergency?

Rockefeller, a future vice president, was talked out of sending in the National Guard.

Which struggling Hollywood studio was reportedly saved by the success of the 1970 Woodstock film?

The documentary, directed by Michael Wadleigh and edited by a crew led by Thelma Schoonmaker, won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Which band is on the Woodstock poster but never played, being stuck at LaGuardia Airport?

The Moody Blues also backed out, having been booked in Paris the same weekend.

In what year was the Woodstock festival site listed on the National Register of Historic Places?

New York's preservation office applied in late 2016 to list 600 acres, including the festival field and adjacent campgrounds.

Which comedian played Elliot Tiber in the 2009 film Taking Woodstock?

Tiber's 2007 book claims he offered his motel grounds for the festival and introduced the promoters to Max Yasgur.