THe woodstock Protest
The Protest
Woodstock was a gathering focused on music and nonviolent protest in the name of peace and love. Many of the artists and the spectators were there in protest of the ongoing Vietnam War. Several of the most famous Woodstock performances reflect this viewpoint. Woodstock was also widely celebrated and attended by hippies who were openly agaisnt the Vietnam War. Festival organizers advertised that anyone who purchased a ticket (before the event became free) was contributing to the protest of the Vietnam War. Several of the artists gave anti-war speeches as well. The Lineup: 8-15-69 -Richie Havens -Sweetwater -Bert Sommer -Tim Hardein -Ravi Shankar -Melanie Safka -Arlo Guthrie -Joan Baez 8-16-69 -Quill -Country Joe McDonald -John Sebastian -Keef Hartely Band -Santana -The Incredible String Band -Canned Heat -Mountain Grateful Dead -Creedence Clearwater Revival -Janis Joplin with the Kozmic Blues Band -Sly & the Family Stone -The Who -Jefferson Airplane 8-17-69 to 8-18-69 -Joe Cocker -Country Joe and Fish -Ten Years After -The Band -Johnny Winter -Blood, Sweat & Tears -Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -Paul Butterfield Blues Band -Sha-Na-Na -Jimi Hendrix |
About the Music This concerct took place at the hieght of rock and roll and psychedelic band such as The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and The Who. The music played nonstop and the fesitival was full of sex, drugs, and nudity. It was scandalous, but very peaceful. The music itself was promoting peace and love, hence the newly created peace symbol. The entire montra of the festival was peace, in a time when peace was contraversial (this took place during the Vietnam War 1956-1975). Jimi Henrix's rendition of the American National Anthem at the end of the fesitval was especially groundbreaking as it included sounds from his guitar that very closely resembled bombs and gunfire. This was meant as a sarcastic tribute to war and a fairly blatant protest against it. Many of the artists that performed at Woodstock were openly against the Vietnam war, and performed out of protest. They boldly exercised their right to free speech and in thier eyes, were using thier influential power as celebrities resonsibly to spread thier message of peace. The Experience The organizers had no way to keep people from just walking into the grounds of the festival, and had to make it a free concert. There was hour long lines to use the bathroom and limited food and water for the vast amounts of people (at least a half a million). The sanitary conditions weren't great, and there was quite a bit of mud due to the rain during the festival. Despite these conditions, the concert dwellers were mainly hippies and were there not for the luxury, but for the great rock-n-roll, peace, and togetherness. The hippy movement of the time was largley against the Vietnam War and current violent events against communism. That was a main component of woodstock: the movement against the Vietnam War. |
Woodstock was essentially a mass movement promoting peace (in protest with the Vietnam war going on at the time), openness, and cultural acceptance. Over half a million souls gathered at a dairy farm in Bethel, NY 1969 to witness 32 acts perform over the course of 4 days in the middle of August. The focus was unity. All these people coming together to stand against violence and promote peace and love.