The famous rock festival Woodstock 1969

• The famous rock festival Woodstock 1969

The famous Woodstock rock festival, held in August 1969 on a farm town of Bethel, New York, USA, has collected about half a million viewers and a half thousand of whom were journalists.

They came to the festival and two press photographer of the magazine Life John Dominis (John Dominis) and Bill Eppridzh (Bill Eppridge), their pictures we see today. Here they are, the end of "the era of hippies" and the beginning of the sexual revolution.

the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair (English Woodstock Music & Art Fair, colloquially Woodstock.) - one of the most famous rock festivals.

He held August 15-18, 1969 at the campus of one of the farms in the countryside Bethel, NY, USA.

The number of visitors - about 500 thousand, of them 1,500 journalists.

The festival has become a symbol of the end of "the era of hippies."

At the festival were such singers, singers, musicians and groups such as The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Ravi Shankar, Carlos Santana and many others.

In his opening speech Max Yasgur (. Eng), owner of the farm, which was held on the territory of the festival, said: "I am a farmer, I can not speak to the audience, in front of such a large gathering of people like this. This is the largest group of people ever assembled in one place. But other than that, the important thing is that you have proven to the world - is that half a million children - and I call you kids because I have children who are older than you - half a million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music, and have nothing but fun and music, and God bless you for it! "

The festival called "Woodstock" because it was originally planned to be held in the City of Woodstock (New York) (Eng.), Ulster County; but the city did not have a suitable area for such an event, because of concerns that will come more than a million spectators.

Place in town to find Uollkill.

The event nearly slipped, but Sam Yasgur (Eng.) Persuaded his father, Max, let the concert at the family-owned field, located in Sullivan County, about 40 miles south-west of Woodstock.

Although the show was planned based on the 200,000 visitors arrived more than 500,000, most of them without tickets.

Highway towards the venue of the festival were overcrowded.

People abandoned their cars and walked several miles to get to the show.

During the festival, 3 people died: one from a heroin overdose, the second was hit by a tractor, a third down from the high structures; 2 was confirmed fake birth.

Also, soon after the festival was born 200 000 children out of wedlock.

The festival marked several significant events - the end of the era of hippies, the beginning of the sexual revolution and the movement "Sixties".

Among the stars invited to Woodstock were group The Who and Jimi Hendrix.

Due to disagreements with the organizers on the issue of payment The Who did not rise on the scene until 4 am.

One of the most memorable performances of The Who was performing the song "See Me, Feel Me": the sun came up, as soon as a soloist Roger Daltrey began to sing.

Also, while on stage group political activist Abbie Hoffman, taking advantage of a brief interruption in the speech, shouted into the microphone: "What we did we sit and listen to this shit, while John Sinclair rots in prison ..?", But was expelled from the scenes leader of the group, Pete Townsend.

At the end of set Townsend broke the guitar on stage and threw it into the crowd. This time contributed to the emergence of superstars like The Who and helped their album "Tommy" to become a multi-platinum.

Jimi Hendrix made a huge impact, including an alternate version of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The song was something incredible, was at the height of the Vietnam War, and sound effects that are extracted from Hendrix guitar called parallels with the sounds of violence and conflict.

Fans of these two execution found the greatest in the history of rock music.

In 1970 the documentary "Woodstock, was released. Three Days of Peace & Music ", won the 1971" Oscar ".

It is curious that one of the editors of the documentaries was Martin Scorsese.

Also in 2009 came the fortieth anniversary edition, which included several additions.

Subsequently, the jubilee festivals to mark the anniversary of the Woodstock festival in 1969: Woodstock 79 Woodstock 89, Woodstock 94 (25 th anniversary) Woodstock 99

Organization of the past sharply criticized (high prices for drinks and food and the prohibition to bring food itself, the lack of a proper level of care).

In 2009, another Woodstock was to take place, but due to problems with the budget the show did not take place, but it was a lot of things, to mark the anniversary of the festival.

In mid-August the 69th, no one knew that later, endless rows of cultural studies christened festival "Woodstock" one of the greatest moments in history that changed the image of the modern culture.

The organizers were the young people who have received permission for the event just two weeks before the meeting, but they were 2, 5 million dollars - a fortune at the time. The most expensive Hollywood blockbuster worth then a million or two.

It was planned that meet 100-150 thousand people, was not expected to sell 250,000 tickets, and, moreover, no one thought that the field without any tickets get through as many more.

By the way, the cost of tickets for the planned 3 days was only $ 18. When compared to the "Woodstock - 89" - the price was $ 150.

Exactly two days before the festival of film studio "Warner Brothers" has paid 100 thousand dollars for a film that has become a cult.

Most well-known artists gathered in the "Woodstock". Refused only "Led Zeppelin" and "Jet Rotall". Groups "Moody Blues", "Doors" and Bob Dylan agreed, but for various reasons have not reached. The Beatles were at the stage of disintegration - McCartney refused, Lennon wanted to come with Yoko Ono, but he was denied.

Average top artist of the fee at the time was somewhere in the 12-13 thousand dollars, even the famous team of "The Who" agreed on the price, they are just at the beginning of the summer festival published a memorable rock opera "Tommy."