⌛ Woodstock '69, Anyone there?

I watched on HBO, "Taking Woodstock" tonight. Got me thinking, I was back in the US in '69 but on the west coast, did anyone of our fellow expats attend the big gig?

 

Wish I was, would have seen Santana, Jimi, TYA, CSN&Y and Joe Cocker (brilliant version of With a Little Help From My Friends) jam it out. Not really keen on the other bands esp Sha-Na-Na.

 

woodstock

I was 16, packed and ready to go. At the last minute my parents said no. I regret not going.

2 bb

 

I can imagine a 16 yr old on your own having a blast up there. I had just got out of the military and couldn't believe how the hippie culture had spread. My sister was a prototypical example, her and her husband still look like hippies and have a toke now and then.

 

I was 13 and the best looking girl in the neighborhood asked me if I wanted to go with her and her brother who was a marine and just returned from Vietnam. It was a tough choice and I think I made the better decision not to go but I can't help but wonder now how different my life might of been had I accepted.

 

I was there (age 13) as well as Watkins-Glen and so many other memorable outdoor concerts. My favorite concerts though had to be Days-on-the-Green by Bill Graham in San Francisco (Oakland). Also, got to see the Dead every New Years Eve in Winterland from 1975 - 1978. My stepfather had a lawyer friend who represented Madison Square Garden Vendors and once the Stones played there for a week straight (can't remember the year). I was able to get a gig selling Roses for all the concerts. I would end of selling all my roses (making $200) before the concert even started and then smoking awesome herb for the concert. Unfortunately, I was sick of the stones by weeks end. I don't even listen to the crap being put out now. Oh to see Hendrix again. Those were the days

 

Great herb and Jimi, great combo. lol

 

Jimmy Buffet and oregano? What a combo! :D ROFL!

 

I guess living in the middle of nowhere, and still using a black and white TV, I didn't actually hear anything about it until Walter Cronkite reported on traffic jams on the highways and byways, and it was probably by accident that I had happened to watch the news with my parents that night, plus I wasn't even a teen at that time, but, now looking back on it; despite all sorts of attempts, it could never be reproduced. I do remember some very excellent weekend long rock concerts held in various places throughout Germany in the 70's that were good, but again, could never come close to the Woodstock of 69.

 

I was 6 months old and part of the official traffic jam that weekend in Woodstock, NY. While my family did not enter the concert area, we stayed very close on my aunt's farm/trailer.... But later on in life, had the privilege/opportunity to see the Grateful Dead over 100 times in California.