by Robert Wilkinson
Today we celebrate day two of the 53rd anniversary of that iconic festival. Santana, CCR, Janis, the Dead, the Who, and more! Welcome to Woodstock Nation!
We must remember that no one really knew they were making history at the time. Monterey had kicked off “the Summer of Love” two years earlier, and there were more than a few festivals that happened between Monterey and Woodstock. Many bands turned down the chance to be at Woodstock for all kinds of reasons.
Even Joni Mitchell chose not to perform, since she didn’t want to miss her gig on The Dick Cavett Show. But she did write the song “Woodstock” while in her hotel room in NYC, watching the television reports. As she told an interviewer at the time, “The deprivation of not being able to go provided me with an intense angle on Woodstock..." Lyrics at the end of this article.
When Crosby, Stills, and Nash made the song huge, everyone knew something was up with the “Woodstock Nation.” From there it entered the annals of history, and became an icon no one has been able to replicate since.
Country Joe MacDonald was the first major act on Saturday, flying solo without the Fish. He also performed as Country Joe and the Fish on Sunday, but for our tribute I’ll combine both his solo acoustic performances and the band’s very psychedelic electric set pieces in today’s tribute. So today we open the second day of Woodstock with Country Joe going acoustic solo performing his extremely psychedelic tune that kicked off side one of his first album, Electric Music for the Mind and Body, “Flyin’ High.”
We now have CJ and the Fish cranking up “Rock and Soul Music” and then move into the very psychedelic “Love”
The end of the set featured the ever-memorable anti-war rag by Country Joe McDonald doing the legendary “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag” (... be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box, and It’s one two three what are we fighting for, don’t ask me now I don’t give a damn, next stop is Vietnam, and it’s five six seven open up the pearly gates, there ain’t no time to wonder why whoopie we’re all gonna die…..)
We’ll close this set with another performance of “Flyin’ High” at the Fillmore West, also in 1969. Welcome to 12 minutes of the very trippy “Flyin’ High” (For those of you who have never heard the song - and album - that made the world aware that psychedelic music was in full swing in San Francisco, here’s Electric Music For the Mind and Body “Flyin’ High” is the first song, and the whole album is considered one of the first truly psychedelic creations.)
Even though it’s not Woodstock, this 1969 b/w of Country Joe and the Fish on German television is a gem from the same period. For your enjoyment, the very psychedelic bloozy “Crystal Blues.”
We now move and groove into the next performer, the legendary Carlos Santana! There isn’t much performance video footage out there, but I did find great performance video of his hit "Evil Ways."
We now move into one of the truly legendary performances of all time! Here’s the Magic Man telling his story of taking LSD just before he went on stage at Woodstock grounding lightning in a bottle. This is 9 minutes of one of the most exciting performances in history!! “Soul Sacrifice”
If you want more, here’s the entire audio-only set by Santana at that iconic festival! Santana At Woodstock 1969
While there were a few bands between Santana and our next act, we’ll cut to the chase since it’s time to get down and boogie! For your dancing pleasure, Canned Heat! We’ll begin with their opening tune, “Going Up The Country”
We’ll move into “A Change Is A-Gonna Come” and then “Woodstock Boogie – Pt.1 and “Woodstock Boogie – Pt.2
We’ll close the Canned Heat set with their huge hit, “On The Road Again”
If you want more, here’s the hour and 19 audio of the entire Canned Heat set at that iconic festival! Canned Heat At Woodstock 1969
Following Canned Heat, a brief set by legendary guitar slinger Leslie West and Mountain! First, two audio only performances. Here’s their opening number, “Blood of the Sun” followed by “Theme From An Imaginary Western”
We’ll now go to their performance of “Beside the Sea” and their closing number, “Southbound Train”
Here’s the album of Mountain’s entire 50 minute set. This one’s great! Mountain at Woodstock 1969
Even though last year’s video footage has been pulled by Warner, I found this video footage of the Grateful Dead at Woodstock! Here’s ”Mama Tried” and this is a mashup of other video with Woodstock video of ”Dark Star.”
Here’s the full hour and 22 of their set! The Grateful Dead At Woodstock 1969
After the Dead, the next group to perform was Creedence Clearwater Revival! Last year I had their entire set, but it’s gone this year. However, this year I found this 21 minute video of CCR performing “Born on the Bayou,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “I Put a Spell on You,” and “Keep On Chooglin'”
For those of you that just want to hit the highlights, they opened their set with “Born on the Bayou” which we’ll follow with “Green River” and close with 9+ minutes of “Keep On Chooglin’”
After CCR, Janis Joplin! Last year I had a full 21 minute quartet of tunes, but this year the clip has disappeared. So I’ll give them to you as I found them!
Here’s the audio of “Can’t Turn You Loose” and “Try.”
Videos! This is from the movie, with no actual footage of Janis as she sings “Me and Bobby McGee”
”Work Me Lord”Here’s Janis belting out “Ball and Chain”
Here’s an audio-only clip of Janis’ performance of her huge hit “Piece of My Heart”
Here’s the full audio-only recording of her entire set! Janis Joplin – The Woodstock Experience
She was followed by Sly and the Family Stone, one of the funkiest soul rock groups ever to hit a stage! I couldn’t find much in the way of video footage, but I found two greats! First, “Love City,” which we’ll follow with a video of their very exciting set closer, “I Want To Take You Higher”
We now go to audio-only clips of this exciting set! First, “Dance to the Music,” “Music Lover,” and “I Want To Take You Higher,” which we’ll follow with a full 10 minutes of “You Can Make It If You Try,” followed by “Stand” and “Everyday People.”
Here’s their entire set! Sly and the Family Stone – The Woodstock Experience.
To give you a sense of how electrifying this band could be at the time, I’ve got a few clips from 1968-69. Unfortunately, all the videos of SATFS at the Harlem Cultural Festival in June 1969 (known as “Black Woodstock”) just before their iconic upstate Woodstock performance are gone. In past years I had “Sing A Simple Song,” "“You Can Make It If You Try,” and “I Want To Take You Higher.”
This looks like footage from the HCF set to the studio version of this song. “Everyday People.”
From March 1969 on The Ed Sullivan Show, “Love City,”
From October 1969 on Music Scene, 9 minutes of SATFS live on a sound stage performing ““Hot Fun In The Summertime,”Don't Call Me Nigger Whitey,” “I Want To Take You Higher,” “Everyday People,” “Dance To The Music,”
Going back to 1968, live on Kraft Music Hall, Sly and the Family Stone at the beginning! It’s a 10+ minute set of “Life,” “Dance To The Music,” and “Hey Music Lover.”
Here’s a television clip in 1968 of this remarkable band giving us a medley of their greatest, including “Everyday People” and “Dance To The Music.” (Last year’s clip also included “Hey Music Lover” and “I Want To Take You Higher” but it’s disappeared.)
This year I found a classic show from the Fillmore in October 1968 when they were streaking to the top of the charts! We have the audio of 34 tunes! Sly and the Family Stone Live at the Fillmore – October 1968
We’ll finish our tribute to Sly and the Family Stone with a live performancee on Soul Train cranking out a performance of “ “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”
Back to Woodstock 1969! We close out day two of the original Woodstock performances with the Who! We’ll begin their video set with a 28 minute video clip of “all officially released footage” of this awesome group at Woodstock. For your amazement, the Who at their peak performing three from Tommy, and three classics! “Sparks,” “Pinball Wizard,” “We’re Not Going To Take It,” “Summertime Blues,” “My Generation,” and “Naked Eye.” (This footage includes Pete’s confrontation with Abby Hoffman and their spectacular finish with a “little” instrument destruction.)
As I had these last year, here they are again. “Sparks” and “Pinball Wizard.”
Same with these awesome single video clips! “See Me Feel Me Touch Me Heal Me,” which we’ll follow with their kinetic powerhouse “Summertime Blues” and the iconic 7+ minute “My Generation.” Their set closed with “Naked Eye.”
This year we’ll close their Woodstock set with audio-only versions of two from Tommy, “I’m Free,” and this live performance from just a few weeks after Woodstock in the Netherlands of ”The Acid Queen.” We’ll close their Woodstock set with their pounding rocker, “Shakin’ All Over.”
For their entire set, here’s an audio-only clip that captures the whole thing. This one’s got most of the set! The Who at Woodstock 1969
As I told you yesterday, there’s nothing out there with the entire second day’s soundtrack. Maybe next year.
I’ll close our tribute today with the song that captured everything and made it into pop history!
Woodstock
By Joni Mitchell
I came upon a child of God He was walking along the road
And I asked him, "Where are you going?" And this he told me...
I'm going on down to Yasgur's Farm, I'm going to join in a rock and roll band.
I'm going to camp out on the land. I'm going to try an’ get my soul free.
We are stardust. We are golden.
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Then can I walk beside you? I have come here to lose the smog,
And I feel to be a cog in something turning.
Well maybe it is just the time of year, Or maybe it's the time of man.
I don't know who I am, But you know life is for learning.
We are stardust. We are golden.
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
By the time we got to Woodstock, We were half a million strong
And Everywhere there was song and celebration.
And I dreamed I saw the bombers Riding shotgun in the sky,
And they were turning into butterflies Above our nation.
We are stardust. Billion year old carbon.
We are golden. Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Song © Siquomb Publishing Company
Article © Copyright 2022 Robert Wilkinson
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