Danielle Farver

A.P. United States History

Mr. Livingston
30 May, 2014
Woodstock
Half a million kids can get together for fun and music and have only fun and music.Max Yugsar. Woodstock was developed as a way to make money, about 50,000 people were
expected, but 500,000 people showed up. The counterculture as well as anti-war sentiments
were strengthened here. More outdoor music festivals were attempted after this, but none have
been as successful as Woodstock.
The idea of Woodstock was first formulated by John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie
Kornfeld, and Mike Lang as a means of making money. On April 13 (just two days before the
festival) there was already a crowd of about 50,000 camping out near the stage. Most had snuck
in past the gate or simply climbed over the fence guarding the area. After this, the organizers had
no choice but to make it a free concert because there was no way to make 50,000 people pay.
The price of the tickets were eighteen dollars if they were bought in advance and twenty four
dollars if they were bought at the gate. Not one ticket was sold at the gate. The festival was only
supposed to last for three days but it slipped into a fourth day. There were only two recorded
deaths at Woodstock. One was a teen who was run over by a tractor while sleeping (it was most
likely a drug-induced sleep) and the other died in a local hospital from a drug-induced fall.
There was only one instance of violence when an audience member climbed onto the stage and
started making political rants while The Who was performing, the lead singer hit her in the
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neck with the head of his guitar. There are also claims of children being born at Woodstock, but
there are no truly credible claims,although many children were conceived at the festival. After
the festival was over the organizers had lost nearly one million dollars and seventy lawsuits were
filed against them, luckily a movie was made about Woodstock which covered for most of the
costs, by the time everything was paid off they were still about one hundred thousand dollars in
debt.
Woodstock contributed to the counterculture and anti-war sentiments of the time.
Woodstock was symboled as the counterculture and protests, the festival was billed as three
days of peace and love which was in contrast to the war and hatred in Vietnam. The organizers
had pointed out that anyone who bought a ticket was contributing to a united front against the
Vietnam war. Scored of acts played and made anti-war speeches, including country Joe saying
if you want to stop this war youll have to sing louder than that. Many hippies were more
political than people thought at the time, hippies were usually seen as apolitical and hippies saw
the political youth as bureaucratic and uptight. Music was an integral part of the counterculture
movement, it was seen as a way to protest war and embrace a different way of life.
Other outdoor music festivals have been attempted after Woodstock but none have been
as successful. The idea of outdoor concerts were very popular but unfortunately due to rowdy
fans, poor organization, and casual attitudes towards drugs and alcohol ruined many attempts
after Woodstock. One example would be the Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969 were
the organizers hired as security and were paid five hundred dollars worth of beer. Later at The
Who Concert in Cincinnati in 1979, eleven fans were crushed to death because of a crowd
stampede in front of the stadium. Woodstock 1999 tarnished the legacy of peace and love
because the weather conditions were unbearable and many people were treated for heat

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exhaustion as well as reports of rape and violence that occurred during Limp Bizkits song
Break Stuff when audience members ripped planks and pieces of plywood off of the walls.
Woodstock was the biggest outdoor music festival in history, it was topped off with
strengthening of the counterculture and anti-war sentiments and another outdoor concert has
never topped Woodstock. Some festival attendees looked on their Woodstock experience as an
adventure that changed their lives, but others saw it as a muddy, disorganized debacle. No matter
what their opinions were, Woodstock was definitely an unforgettable event.

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Works Cited

10 Rock Concerts that resulted in Bloodshed. http://www.socialsciencecareers.org/10-rockconcerts-which-resulted-in-bloodshed/. October 19, 2012. Web.
20th Century History. http://history1900s.about.com/od/plwoodstock.htm. 2009. Web.
http://www.bethelwoods.org/the-museum/the-sixties. 2014. Web.
http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/summeroflove.asp. Web.