Hey, gang. Mod’s impertinent commentary about Jimi Hendrix’s late career — and specifically his disdainful dismissal of Jimi’s performance at Woodstock — got me thinking about the original big ‘do at Yasgur’s Farm. A quick search on the web for basic set list information on the event led me to conclude that there was a lot of shit that went down there I had no idea about. CCR? Johnny Winter? Neil Young? Mountain? The Incredible String Band? It got me thinking.
Mainly, it got me thinking: is there a snowball’s chance in hell I would have ever braved the traffic jams, the weather, the stench, and the bad acid to check out this show? And if not: how would the show have to have been edited to get me up there?
Of course, I’m just as eager to understand your opinions on the subject. Have a look at the following set list, and let me know your thoughts.
I look forward to your responses.
HVB
Friday, August 15
The festival started at about 5 pm. There was some rain in the evening.
Richie Havens
From the Prison
Get Together
From the Prison (Reprise)
The Minstrel from Gault
I’m a Stranger Here
High Flying Bird
I Can’t Make It Anymore
With a Little Help from My Friends
Handsome Johnny
Strawberry Fields Forever > Hey Jude
Freedom (Motherless Child)
Sweetwater
Motherless Child
Look Out
For Pete’s Sake
Day Song
What’s Wrong
Crystal Spider
Two Worlds
Why Oh Why
Let the Sunshine In
Oh Happy Day
Bert Sommer
Jennifer
The Road to Travel
I Wondered Where You Be
She’s Gone
Things Are Going My Way
And When It’s Over
Jeanette
America
A Note That Read
Smile
Tim Hardin
(How Can We) Hang on to a Dream
Susan
If I Were a Carpenter
Reason to Believe
You Upset the Grace of Living When You Lie
Speak Like a Child
Snow White Lady
Blues on My Ceiling
Simple Song of Freedom
Misty Roses
Ravi Shankar
Rāga Puriya-Dhanashri (Gat In Sawarital)
Tabla Solo In Jhaptal
Rāga Manj Kmahaj
Melanie Safka
Close to It All
Momma Momma
Beautiful People
Animal Crackers
Mr. Tambourine Man
Tuning My Guitar
Birthday of the Sun
Arlo Guthrie
Coming into Los Angeles
Wheel of Fortune
Walking Down the Line
Arlo Speech: Exodus
Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep
Every Hand in the Land
Amazing Grace
Joan Baez
Oh Happy Day
The Last Thing On My Mind
I Shall Be Released
Story about how the Federal Marshalls came to take David Harris into custody
No Expectations
Joe Hill
Sweet Sir Galahad
Hickory Wind
Drug Store Truck Driving Man
I Live One Day at a Time
Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South
Let Me Wrap You in My Warm and Tender Love
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
We Shall Overcome
Saturday, August 16
The day opened at 12:15 pm, and featured some of the event’s biggest psychedelic and guitar rock headliners.
Quill
They Live the Life
That’s How I Eat
Driftin’
Waitin’ for You
Country Joe McDonald
Janis
Donovan’s Reef
Heartaches by the Number
Ring of Fire
Tennessee Stud
Rockin’ Round the World
Flying High
Seen a Rocket
“Fish” Cheer > I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag
Santana
Waiting
Evil Ways
You Just Don’t Care
Savor
Jingo
Persuasion
Soul Sacrifice
Fried Neckbones And Some Home Fries
John B. Sebastian
How Have You Been
Rainbows Over Your Blues
I Had A Dream
Darlin’ Be Home Soon
Younger Generation
Keef Hartley Band
Spanish Fly
She’s Gone
Too Much Thinkin’
Believe In You
Rock Me Baby
Medley: Sinnin’ For You (Intro) > Leaving Trunk > Just to Cry > Sinnin’ for You
The Incredible String Band
Invocation (Spoken Word)
The Letter
Gather ‘Round
This Moment
Come with Me
When You Find Out Who You Are
Canned Heat
I’m Her Man
Going Up the Country
A Change Is Gonna Come / Leaving This Town
Too Many Drivers at the Wheel
I Know My Baby
Woodstock Boogie
On the Road Again
Mountain
Blood of the Sun
Stormy Monday
Theme for an Imaginary Western
Long Red
For Yasgur’s Farm
Beside the Sea
Waiting to Take You Away
Dreams of Milk and Honey > Guitar Solo
Blind Man (???)
Dirty Shoes Blues (???)
Southbound Train
The Grateful Dead
St. Stephen
Mama Tried
Dark Star
High Time
Turn On Your Lovelight
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Born on the Bayou
Green River
Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)
Commotion
Bootleg
Bad Moon Rising
Proud Mary
I Put a Spell on You
The Night Time Is the Right Time
Keep on Chooglin’
Suzy Q
Janis Joplin
Raise Your Hand
As Good as You’ve Been to This World
To Love Somebody
Summertime
Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)
Kozmic Blues
Can’t Turn You Loose
Work Me, Lord
Piece of My Heart
Ball and Chain
Sly & The Family Stone
M’Lady
Sing A Simple Song
You Can Make It If You Try
Everyday People
Dance To The Music
Music Lover
I Want To Take You Higher
Love City
Stand!
The Who
Heaven and Hell
I Can’t Explain
It’s a Boy
1921
Amazing Journey
Sparks
Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)
Christmas
Acid Queen
Pinball Wizard
The Abbie Hoffman Incident
Do You Think It’s Alright?
Fiddle About
There’s a Doctor
Go to the Mirror
Smash the Mirror
I’m Free
Tommy’s Holiday Camp
We’re Not Gonna Take It
See Me, Feel Me
Summertime Blues
Shakin’ All Over
My Generation
Naked Eye
Jefferson Airplane
The Other Side of This Life
Somebody to Love
3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds
Won’t You Try / Saturday Afternoon
Eskimo Blue Day
Plastic Fantastic Lover
Wooden Ships
Uncle Sam Blues
Volunteers
The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil
Come Back Baby
White Rabbit
The House at Pooneil Corners
Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18
Sunday started at about 2 pm. This was the day with the heavy thunderstorm the Woodstock crowd had to endure. The shows were delayed and the bands played in the middle of the night or even next day in the morning. The headliner of the last day (and of the festival in general), Jimi Hendrix, stepped on stage at 9 am on Monday morning.
Joe Cocker
Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring (without Joe Cocker)
40,000 Headmen (without Joe Cocker)
Dear Landlord
Something’s Coming On
Do I Still Figure in Your Life
Feelin’ Alright
Just Like a Woman
Let’s Go Get Stoned
I Don’t Need No Doctor
I Shall Be Released
Hitchcock Railway
Something to Say
With a Little Help from My Friends
Country Joe & The Fish
Rock & Soul Music
(Thing Called) Love
Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine
Sing, Sing, Sing
Summer Dresses
Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife
Silver and Gold
Maria
The Love Machine
Ever Since You Told Me That You Love Me (I’m a Nut)
Short Jam (instrumental)
Crystal Blues
Rock & Soul Music (Reprise)
“Fish” Cheer > I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag
Ten Years After
Spoonful
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Hobbit
I Can’t Keep from Crying Sometimes
Help Me
I’m Going Home
The Band
Chest Fever
Don’t Do It
Tears of Rage
We Can Talk
Long Black Veil
Don’t You Tell Henry
Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos
This Wheel’s on Fire
I Shall Be Released
The Weight
Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
Johnny Winter
Mama, Talk to Your Daughter
Leland Mississippi Blues
Mean Town Blues
You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now > Mean Mistreater
I Can’t Stand It (with Edgar Winter)
Tobacco Road (with Edgar Winter)
Tell the Truth (with Edgar Winter)
Johnny B. Goode
Blood, Sweat & Tears
More and More
Just One Smile
Something’s Coming on
More Than You’ll Ever Know
Spinning Wheel
Sometimes in Winter
Smiling Phases
God Bless the Child
And When I Die
You’ve Made Me So Very Happy
Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) — Acoustic Set
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Blackbird
Helplessly Hoping
Guinnevere
Marrakesh Express
4 + 20
Mr. Soul
I’m Wonderin’
You Don’t Have to Cry
Electric Set
Pre-Road Downs
Long Time Gone
Bluebird Revisited
Sea of Madness
Wooden Ships
Acoustic Encores Edit
Find the Cost of Freedom
49 Bye-Byes
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Born Under a Bad Sign
No Amount of Loving
Driftin’ and Driftin’
Morning Sunrise
All in a Day
Love March
Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
Sha Na Na
Get A Job
Come Go With Me
Silhuettes
Teen Angel
Jailhouse Rock (???)
Wipe Out
Blue Moon
(Who Wrote) The Book of Love
Little Darling
At The Hop
Duke Of Earl
Get A Job (Reprise)
Jimi Hendrix
Introduction
Message to Love
Getting My Heart Back Together Again > Hear My Train a-Comin’
Spanish Castle Magic
Red House
Mastermind
Lover Man
Foxy Lady
Beginning > Jam Back at the House
Izabella
Gypsy Woman
Fire
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Stepping Stone
Star Spangled Banner
Purple Haze
Woodstock Improvisation
Villanova Junction
This is a worthwhile effort, HVB. Your inability to embrace hippie ideology and scents is well known (see: https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/my-case-against-the-hippies-part-one-the/). You are, however, a complete cornball at heart, with an undeniable taste for da blooz, and I bet I can pick the cornball-studded turds from among the heaping mounds of hippie shit that you would have no chance of digging, not even if someone slipped you the good acid and the sweetest hippie woman on the farm set her leavened loaves in front of your face.
Following is my edited Woodstock set, a set that – combined with some half-decent weather and the assumption that the sound system would deliver the tastiest guitar tones in upstate New York – would be worth your while.
Richie Havens
High Flying Bird
Freedom (Motherless Child)
Tim Hardin
If I Were a Carpenter
Santana
Waiting
Evil Ways
Soul Sacrifice
Fried Neckbones And Some Home Fries
John Sebastian
Younger Generation
Canned Heat
Going Up the Country
Woodstock Boogie
On the Road Again
Mountain
Theme for an Imaginary Western
Dreams of Milk and Honey > Guitar Solo
The Grateful Dead
St. Stephen
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Born on the Bayou
Green River
Commotion
Bad Moon Rising
Proud Mary
I Put a Spell on You
The Night Time Is the Right Time
Keep on Chooglin’
Suzy Q
Janis Joplin
Kozmic Blues
Sly & The Family Stone
M’Lady
Sing A Simple Song
You Can Make It If You Try
Everyday People
Dance To The Music
Music Lover
I Want To Take You Higher
Love City
Stand!
The Who
Heaven and Hell
I Can’t Explain
It’s a Boy
1921
Amazing Journey
Sparks
Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)
Christmas
Acid Queen
Pinball Wizard
The Abbie Hoffman Incident
Do You Think It’s Alright?
Fiddle About
There’s a Doctor
Go to the Mirror
Smash the Mirror
I’m Free
Tommy’s Holiday Camp
We’re Not Gonna Take It
See Me, Feel Me
Summertime Blues
Shakin’ All Over
My Generation
Naked Eye
Jefferson Airplane
The House at Pooneil Corners
Joe Cocker
Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring (without Joe Cocker)
Ten Years After
I’m Going Home
The Band
We Can Talk
Johnny Winter
Mama, Talk to Your Daughter
Leland Mississippi Blues
Mean Town Blues
You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now > Mean Mistreater
I Can’t Stand It (with Edgar Winter)
Tobacco Road (with Edgar Winter)
Tell the Truth (with Edgar Winter)
Johnny B. Goode
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Spinning Wheel
Smiling Phases
And When I Die
You’ve Made Me So Very Happy
Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) — Acoustic Set
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Blackbird
Helplessly Hoping
Guinnevere
Marrakesh Express
4 + 20
Mr. Soul
I’m Wonderin’
You Don’t Have to Cry
Electric Set
Pre-Road Downs
Long Time Gone
Bluebird Revisited
Sea of Madness
Wooden Ships
Acoustic Encores Edit
Find the Cost of Freedom
49 Bye-Byes
Sha Na Na
Get A Job
Come Go With Me
Silhouettes
Teen Angel
Jailhouse Rock (???)
Wipe Out
Blue Moon
(Who Wrote) The Book of Love
Little Darling
At The Hop
Duke Of Earl
Get A Job (Reprise)
Jimi Hendrix
Introduction
Fire
Star Spangled Banner
Saturday seems like the best day out of the weekend, although I must admit my ignorance with the Keef Hartley Band. Considering all the rain and lack of food or washrooms my 20 year old self would be content with showing up late into Friday evening and leaving just after Jefferson Airplane (who actually played early Sunday morning). After that I would’ve booked it before the rains arrived knowing I would miss Jimi, Joe Cocker and The Band.
When you look at the actual timeline of the event, it doesn’t jive with the movie. Until recently I had no idea Sha Na Na was the penultimate band. In the movie they are somewhere in the middle, but I heard Jimi was huge fan and there presence at the festival was not as jarring as it would seem after all these years.
Friday was a little too folky for me.
Is there a particular reason Country Joe played twice?
Is it true Joni Mitchell was stuck in traffic?
At best, I’m showing up on Saturday in time for Creedence and praying that after the Who that one of the lighting towers falls on me and kills me before Jefferson Airplane.
Why did Country Joe play twice?
Um, ’cause he’s so awesome, obviously!
This list make a pretty good argument that the DISTILLED version of Woodstock (The Movie version) MADE legends out of (most) of the bands that were featured. There is no way a 3-day festival could be broken down into anything musically relevant (culturally, yes) without the movie to form a “bite-sized” version.
The most important music movie ever made – yes. The most important movie ever made for people who love “rock and roll” music? I think the movie had a bigger impact than the event itself.
The Who – Hendrix – The Band – Dead – CSN- CCR – JA – Havens -Janice and Sly went on to define the generation that came after The Beatles.
I want to like JA, I just….don’t
Wow, what a dud of a show. I’d have liked a nice Saturday afternoon/evening show of:
Mountain
CCR
Janis
The Who (though I wish they had a less Tommy setlist)
The Band
Johnny Winter
Jimi
I’d have liked to take my mom to see Sha Na Na the next Sunday afternoon.
I wouoldn’t have sat through a thunderstorm even for most of the bands I’d have liked to see.
I’m not sure I would have braved the traffic, weather, hippies, stench, and being surrounded by stoned people (seriously, is there anything more irritating?) for any of this. Even in time traveler mode. Okay, maybe for the chance to see Hendrix live.
But setting all that aside, and imagining I could have been whisked in and out of the farm in a helicopter, or simply bulldozed my way in with an M-1 Abrams tank, cutting a swath through the unwashed multitude until arriving at the front of the stage… (POP-CLANG goes the hatch atop the gun turret, up comes my smiling face, partially hidden behind goggles and padded leather helmet. “That’s enough of that!,” I shout at Country Joe)….
Anyway, assuming all that, I’d amend the set list as follows:
Johnny Winter
CCR
The Band
Santana
The Who — but not the Tommy rock opera performance, please
Hendrix
Sly & tFS
…in that order.
“Jefferson Airplane
The House at Pooneil Corners”
That’s funny!