Essay On Woodstock

Woodstock
“But when I played Woodstock, I’ll never forget that moment looking out over the hundreds of thousands of people, the sea of humanity, seeing all those people united in such a unique way. It just touched me in a way that I’ll never forget,” says Edgar winter, a performer of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival. The Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 was much more than just a festival. Woodstock was 400,000 people of all ages, races, and religions, coming together to celebrate love and music for an entire weekend. People came to Woodstock to let loose and be free. This behavior defied the values of the previous generation. Woodstock and it’s counterculture ideals was the beginning of a new era, the 1970’s.
The Woodstock Music Festival

of 1969 was founded by Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld. The festival was held on Max Yasgur’s six hundred acre dairy farm in White Lake, New York. The festival was scheduled for August 15th -17th, but ran over to the 18th. Thirty-two acts played for 400,000 people. Woodstock featured many headliners such as Janis Joplin, Santana, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter, and Crosby,Stills,Nash, and Young. Many of the artists, like Ravi Shankar, continued
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their sets through obstacles such as rain. Another artist, Joan Baez, performed a fourteen song set while six months pregnant. These artist’s perseverance to continue playing shows just how important Woodstock was to them.
Moreover, one of the reasons Woodstock was created was to pull away from the city. Times were tough with the Vietnam War beginning. Many young men were being drafted, practically forced, into joining the army. The streets of New York were filled with anti-war protesters, who were passionate about starting a revolution. Many of the protests grew violent, as the people began to riot. One woman, Alice Herz, a 82 year old from Detroit burned herself to death to make a statement against the horrors of war. Woodstock took people away from the commotion of the city, and made them forget about the evil that was going on in the world.
Also, Woodstock attracted counterculture activists. These counterculture activists are more commonly referred to as “hippies”. The hippies believed in rejecting “the establishment”. They were beginning to be suspicious and untrusting of the major institutions of American life as a means of control. Institutions such as the government, schools, churches, big business, the police, and the military. The hippies created civil rights and antiwar movements, protesting against the establishment. Hippies also believed that they needed to save the world from the old ways of war and the establishment, and the use of hallucinogenic drugs was the way to do it.

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Hallucinogenic drugs became a way to to unlock the “doors to perception” and to find a higher consciousness. They believed that these states of altered consciousness made them better
people who could be capable of bringing humanity to peace.

Hippies wanted the world to evolve, and this was the way.
Furthermore, the hallucinogenic drugs tied counterculture to Woodstock. Music was used to enhance the “trip”, and to be the soundtrack of the journey to higher consciousness. Bands like Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead, who performed at Woodstock, were commonly used for this purpose. Music also was used as the trip. It was a drug-free approach to achieve the higher consciousness. Bands such as the Doors, and the Beatles could give this experience. Woodstock was the place where many people could just relax and open their minds, achieving the goal of higher consciousness and peace.
Overall, Woodstock was to spread the ideas of counterculture and peace. It was one big jam session with the main purpose of spreading the message of antiwar and love. During his set, Country Joe told the crowd, “If you want to stop this f****** war, you’ll have to sing louder than that.” By saying this Joe wanted the people to come together and love, and be at peace with one another. Many of the artists pushed these beliefs, in attempt to better humanity. A popular phrase still heard today is, “make love, not war.” And at Woodstock that is exactly what they did. The music united everyone together in the name of love and

peace.