The 1969 Woodstock Festival
Summary

1. Introduction

2. The genesis

3. The spirit’s festival

4. The festival

5. Woodstock today

6. Conclusion

Intro

Woodstock Music&Art Fair was a music festival held in the town of Bethel, in the state of New York. It took place during 4 days, from 15 to 18 august 1969.
The festival welcomed the thirty-two acts performed outdoors by folk, rock, blues and soul music groups.
It’s widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in popular music history and was listed amongst Rolling Stone's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.

The genesis

A commercial idea is at the origin of Woodstock festival.
Michael Lang, a young hippy having previously organized Miami Pop festival, which gathered 400 000 persons, wanted to pull of the recipe of a new festival the sufficient funds in order to purchase its own recording studio, Media Sounds, in Woodstock.
So, the festival was initiated through the efforts of Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld. It was Roberts and Rosenman who had the finances. They placed the following advertisement in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal under the name of Challenge International, Ltd.: “Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions.”

The concert was originally scheduled to take place in the town of Wallkill and to welcome approximately 50 000 spectators, but Town residents immediately opposed the project. Max Yasgur, a farmer, finally rented them his domain, White Lake in Bethel, for 50 000 dollars.

Even if the festival was held in Bethel, 69 km southwest of the town of Woodstock, the organizers decided to keep the name of Woodstock festival. They once again told Bethel authorities that they expected no more than 50,000 people.

The spirit festival

The late change in venue did not give the festival organizers enough time to