Woodstock, 1969

Il festival di Woodstock si svolse a Bethel, una piccola città rurale nello stato di New York, dal 15 agosto al 18 agosto del 1969, all'apice della diffusione della cultura hippy, che voleva riunire con 3 Days Of Peace And Music.

Prese il nome dalla città di Woodstock nella contea di Ulster, conosciuta per le sue attività artistiche (vi si organizzano festival d'arte) e fu l'ultima grande manifestazione del movimento che da allora si diffuse peraltro sempre più pure fuori dagli Stati Uniti, dove era nato, pur senza la coesione e l'originalità che avevano permesso negli anni sessanta eventi come il Monterey Pop festival, la Summer of Love a San Francisco e, appunto, il festival di Woodstock.

I promotori del festival di Woodstock furono Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman e Artie Kornfeld.

WOODSTOCK, con i suoi cinquecentomila partecipanti, fu il primo, grande, leggendario concerto della storia del rock, ma fu anche molto di più. La realizzazione del sogno hippy, la celebrazione della controcultura, la “culla” di un’intera generazione di musicisti rock, la nascita di una “nazione” giovanile. La fine di un’epoca nella quale il mondo è davvero cambiato. 
  

We can be Heroes, just for one day  - David Bowie

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be Heroes, just for one day






















And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that 

Janis Joplin

Joe Cocker

Jimi Hendrix

Though nothing, will keep us together
We could steal time,
just for one day
We can be Heroes, for ever and ever
What d'you say?

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing,
nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes,
just for one day



















I, I will be king 
And you, you will be queen 
Though nothing will drive them away We can be Heroes, just for one day We can be us, just for one day 

I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns shot above our heads
(over our heads)

And we kissed, 

as though nothing could fall 

(nothing could fall) 

And the shame was on the other side 

Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever 

Then we could be Heroes, 

just for one day 

                                                        

We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes

 

We'r nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying,
then you better not stay 

But we could be safer, 
just for one day 

Oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh,
just for one day

"We were ready to rock out and we waited and waited and finally it was our turn ... there were a half million people asleep. These people were out. It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud...

...and this is the moment I will never forget as long as I live: a quarter mile away in the darkness, on the other edge of this bowl, there was some guy flicking his Bic, and in the night I hear, "Don't worry about it John. We're with you." I played the rest of the show for that guy." 

John Fogerty regarding Creedence Clearwater Revival's 3 a.m. start time at Woodstock