It’s hard to believe that it’s been 50 years since the Woodstock Music and Art Fair took place. I’m old enough to remember the images being broadcast about it. Today it’s possible to relive the music and the artists who performed there through Woodstock tribute acts.
My primary reference for discussion about the original Woodstock Music and Art Fair comes from Woodstock.com.
What has been described as the greatest music experience of all time took place on a 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel New York. That’s right. It wasn’t in Woodstock. Organizers couldn’t find a suitable place in Woodstock to hold the event. No matter; an estimated half million people came to see 32 acts over what turned out to be 4 days in August,1969 instead of the planned 3-day event.
The 32 acts included some of the biggest names of the time such as Jimi Hendrix as well as emerging artists such as Joe Cocker. Most of the acts that performed are still well known to this day.
THE FULL WOODSTOCK ’69 LINEUP
DAY ONE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 –
- Richie Havens
- Sweetwater
- Bert Sommer
- Ravi Shankar
- Tim Hardin
- Melanie Safka
- Arlo Guthrie
- Joan Baez
DAY TWO: SATURDAY, AUGUST 16 –
- Quill
- Country Joe McDonald
- Santana
- John B. Sebastian
- Keef Hartley Band
- The Incredible String Band
- Canned Heat
- Mountain
- The Grateful Dead
- Creedence Clearwater Revival
DAY THREE: SUNDAY, AUGUST 17 –
- The Who
- Jefferson Airplane
- Joe Cocker
- Janis Joplin
- Ten Years After
- The Band
- Johnny Winter
- Sly & The Family Stone
- Blood, Sweat & Tears
- Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)
- Paul Butterfield Blues Band
- Jimi Hendrix
In the end, 30 acts performed. Two bands were unable to make the festival. The Jeff Beck Group broke up a few weeks before Woodstock and Iron Butterfly were stuck at LaGuardia airport. Many others were stuck in traffic, so Ritchie Havens substituted for the opening acts and played every song he knew and even made up a new song “Freedom” on the spot as he stalled for time.
Over 100,000 tickets were presold for the festival event. Taking tickets was impossible as a mass of people descended on the field to be part of the one-of-a-kind music happening. Four days of music… half a million people… rain, no reported incidents of violence, and the rest is history.
Woodstock Tribute Acts on TSE Entertainment’s Roster Available for Booking
Santana
Santana brought the Latin Rock Fusion to Woodstock. They started at 2:00 pm on Saturday, the 16th. Relatively unknown for the audience, Santana hit the nerve of the party crowd quite well. Their debut album Santana was released in the same month. The band had just played local gigs in the San Francisco area, so they were relatively unknown. Their set was powerful and magical at the same time. Santana used to have a massive percussion section at that time and drummer Michael Shrieve added his personal note, especially during the drum solo of “Soul Sacrifice”. Their set included:
- “Waiting”
- “Evil Ways”
- “You Just Don’t Care”
- “Savor”
- “Jingo”
- “Persuasion”
- “Soul Sacrifice”
- “Fried Neckbones and Some Home Fries”
TSE Roster Woodstock Tribute Acts – Santana Tribute: Soul Sacrifice is quickly gathering a reputation as one of the best and most sought-after Santana tributes bands in the country.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s catchy music was one of the true highlights of the whole festival. Though they started late in the night from Saturday to Sunday (around 12.30) their blend of R&B, Folk- and Country-Rock didn’t fail to impress. However, John Fogerty complained that the long set of The Grateful Dead delayed their set so most of the audience went to bed when CCR performed in the middle of the night. Their set included:
- 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
TSE Roster Woodstock Tribute Acts – Creedence Clearwater Revival Tribute will bowl you over and singing along with this authentic tribute to CCR.
The Who
The Who were scheduled as the second to last act (before Jefferson Airplane) to play on Saturday, August 16th. When they actually started playing it was already Sunday morning around 5:00. They played their exceptional Tommy album, a Rock Opera dealing with the struggle of a deaf, dumb and blind boy who later finds a cure and gains stardom with his messianic movement. The finale of this performance took place during sunrise which occurred at 6:05 am. Their set included:
- 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
TSE Roster Woodstock Tribute Artists – Who Tribute: The Who Invasion bring the full live experience of one of rock’s greatest acts.
Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker was the first officially scheduled act on Sunday. He went on stage at about 2.00 pm. Though Cocker was in the music business for quite a while he was hardly known. But after his triumphal success at Woodstock the man with the soulful voice became famous everywhere. Especially well received was the Beatles’ cover song “With a Little Help from My Friends” which was already the second performance after Richie Havens’ version on the first day. Cocker’s backing band at that time was the superb Grease Band – a formation that lasted only two years.
Shortly after Cocker’s gig a heavy thunderstorm washed over the festival and everything was brought to stop for several hours. His set included:
- 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
TSE Roster Woodstock Tribute Acts – Joe Cocker Tribute: Mad Dogs and the Englishmen delivers the incredible musicality of a Joe Cocker show.
Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin and her former band Big Brother & the Holding Company gained stardom at the Monterey International Pop Festival 1967. Unfortunately, in late 1968 she left the band to move on to a solo career. Of course, Janis ended up in Woodstock together with a full ensemble of musicians. She played in the night of Saturday to Sunday at about 2:00AM. The show was still strong, but it lacked somewhat of Janis Joplin’s power and improvisation of her backing band. Nevertheless, this gig is a worthwhile document of time. Her set included:
- 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
TSE Roster Woodstock Tribute Acts – Janis Joplin Tribute: Jennifer B is Janis reincarnated with her incredible vibrato and passion unmatched until now
The Band
One of the most appreciated bands, The Band, started on Sunday, the 17th at ca. 10.00 pm. They were known for excellent Folk-Rock, almost better than most US-based Folk bands, succeeding their mentor and former employer Bob Dylan. What can be said about this set? This is the renaissance of Folk-Rock performed at this historic musical event. “I Shall Be Released” is played so sweet that even Mr. Dylan would have smiled. The Band had only one album by hand so far: The cult album Music From Big Pink, released in 1968. But their music didn’t fall short. In fact they had been around for many years. They played seven of the eleven songs from that album, taking a careful try at Bob Dylan, too but not as excessive as for instance The Byrds. “The Weight” is their last song (before the encore), a song that was already made famous by the biker movie Easy Rider. Their set included:
- 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
TSE Roster Woodstock Tribute Acts – the Band Tribute: The Jack of Hearts Band authentically replicates the Band and its American folk-rock music like no others.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix and his band were known under several names. But besides his backing band, it was just Jimi Hendrix playing. The band was scheduled as the last performance of the festival, Sunday night. Due to several delays, they eventually played on Monday morning, 9:00AM, when most of the audience had already left. His set included:
- 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
- Hey Joe
TSE Roster Woodstock Tribute Act – Jimi Hendrix Tribute: Randy Hansen shows us that, while the world can never again experience Jimi Hendrix, Randy Hanse is the next best thing.
If you would like to relive the days of the 60’s and 70’s and those acts that performed at the greatest of all music festival, consider booking Woodstock tribute acts on TSE’s Roster of Tribute Acts. Give us a call at 800-765-8203 or email us: tsebooking@tseentertainment.com.
