I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm: Woodstock’s greatest hits, 50 years on

From Janis Joplin to Jimi Hendrix, Graeme Ross collates a playlist of the best tracks from an unforgettable weekend in Bethel Woods, back in the summer of ’69

Perhaps the pinnacle of Woodstock was headliner Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ (Rex)

Exactly 50 years ago, one of the most significant cultural events of the 20th century, The Woodstock Music and Art Fair took place in Bethel, New York on 600 acres of land owned by dairy farmer Max Yasgur.

Woodstock wasn’t the first pop music festival – the Monterey International Pop Festival two years earlier can lay fair claim to that, and if truth be told Monterey was every bit as successful as Woodstock, if not more. The organisation was superior, the weather was better in sunny California than rainswept New York State as the Woodstock site became a sea of mud, and the list of performers at Monterey was just as impressive as that of Woodstock with Simon and Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, the Who, the Byrds and the Grateful Dead just some of the big hitters on board.

There were breakthrough performances from Janis Joplin and Laura ​Nyro, and a fantastic groundbreaking performance from soul king Otis Redding, one of the first examples of a major black artist crossing over to a predominately white audience, and most famously an unforgettable performance from Jimi Hendrix that proved to be his major breakthrough. As with Woodstock, there was a successful documentary film made, and there was even a No 1 single by Scott McKenzie to promote the event.

Woodstock was poorly organised and beset by awful weather, long delays between acts and technical difficulties, and the site’s infrastructure eventually collapsed. Reportedly, there were three deaths and two births and many of the acts risked electrification with the poor design of the stage. Yet, for all that, it is the legend of Woodstock, which has gained almost mythic proportions, that endures.

Why is that? Well, the sheer number of people who made their way to upstate New York for one – upwards of 400,000 souls compared to estimates of 25,000 to 90,000 at Monterey, gathered for three days of “peace, love and music”, and that’s exactly what they got, as the counterculture demonstrated to the establishment that they could enjoy a virtually trouble-free musical celebration.

Woodstock personified the hippy ideal at its peak, before the tragic events of the Altamont Festival just four months later, when Hells Angels murdered a young black man only feet from where Mick Jagger performed, destroying that dream forever. It helped that Joni Mitchell wrote a classic song about it too. And there’s the music itself of course – much of it wonderful, some... well, not so good.

Woodstock spawned an Academy Award-winning documentary and numerous musical documents, the latest of which, a mammoth 50th anniversary 10-CD box set costing an eye-watering 120 quid is surely the last word on this storied event. This playlist celebrates 50 years since Woodstock, with the original tracks by some of the significant performers from the 31 acts that appeared on the festival bill. And of course, Joni is here too.

12 Tim Hardin – If I Were a Carpenter

Soulful folkie Ritchie Havens kicked off proceedings at 5.07pm on Friday 15 August, but the highlight of the first day was troubled troubadour Tim Hardin’s understated performance. Hardin overcame stage fright and various substances to deliver a set full of songs that would soon become standards. Beautiful songs like “Reason to Believe”, “How Can We Hang On to a Dream”, “Speak Like a Child” and “If I Were a Carpenter”, all delivered in Hardin’s emotionally fractured voice. Hardin’s wasted appearance meant his performance wasn’t included in the subsequent Woodstock album and documentary and his moment had passed. A long-term heroin addict, he died of an overdose in 1980.

11 Santana – Soul Sacrifice

The pioneering Latin rock group, fronted by guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana, took the stage on the Saturday afternoon an unknown quantity to many of the onlookers, but left as stars after a reputation-making performance. The timing of the festival was perfect for the group – their superb debut album was about to be released and a superb set showcased it with aplomb. The highlight, and one of the enduring memories of the entire festival, was the 11-minute percussion-driven “Soul Sacrifice”.

10 Creedence Clearwater Revival – Proud Mary

Woodstock found Creedence at the height of one of the greatest purple patches in the history of rock, with three superb albums and half a dozen classic singles under their belt in 1969 alone as they pioneered their own particular brand of roots-rock. They were also a dynamic live band, thanks to John Fogerty’s foghorn vocals and the tight interplay of the other band members. Taking the stage after a soporific Grateful Dead, CCR rocked up a storm just after midnight on the Saturday night, a perfect hour for their glorious “chooglin’”, and in Fogerty’s words “woke everybody up in time for Janis [Joplin]”.

9 Janis Joplin – Piece of My Heart

Joplin was no stranger to the new phenomenon of the music festival, having shot to fame with her performance at Monterey Pop two years earlier. However, by the time she took the stage at Woodstock, the festival was running 10 hours late, and a nervous Joplin had freely indulged in alcohol and drugs. So her performance wasn’t prime Joplin, and she was another who was left off the original documentary and album. However, her performance of “Piece of My Heart” when she encouraged audience members to join her on stage, summed up the feel-good vibe of the festival.

8 Sly and the Family Stone – I Want to Take You Higher

For many, the highlight of the festival was the sensational set by Sly Stone’s psychedelic soul pioneers, with many in the audience obeying his command to “Dance to the Music” to the letter. Sly’s call and response with the audience on the 10-minute “I Want to Take You Higher” at 4am on the Sunday morning immediately entered the annals of great moments in pop history, and set the bar impossibly high for the majority of acts who followed.

Townshend didn’t appreciate a stage invader during the Who’s early-morning set (Rex)

7 The Who – Pinball Wizard

The Who’s performance at the Monterey Festival in 1967 had helped break them in America and they used Woodstock as a showcase for recently released rock opera Tommy, interspersed with early classics such as “My Generation” and “I Can’t Explain”. The Who’s performance witnessed the only real hint of trouble of the entire event when radical activist Abbie Hoffman invaded the stage, grabbing a microphone, much to the displeasure of Pete Townshend who thumped him with his guitar yelling: “F**k off my f*****g stage!” Well, it was 5.30am and the band had just finished a typically energetic and faithful “Pinball Wizard”.

6 Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit

More veterans of Monterey followed the Who on the Sunday morning with their 100 minutes on stage reflecting the Airplane’s status as rock royalty of the era and part of the counterculture elite. Much too long of course, but their performance of Alice in Wonderland-inspired “White Rabbit” aptly summed up the lysergic mood of the hippy era and the festival itself.

Gravel-voiced Sheffield singer Cocker described the festival as ‘like an eclipse ... it was a very special day’ (AP)

5 Joe Cocker – With a Little Help From My Friends

Literally, a show-stopping performance from Cocker, as no sooner had he finished his set with his unforgettable rendition of the Beatles’ cover that had launched him to stardom, then a downpour of biblical performances interrupted proceedings. But by then, Cocker’s stunning Sunday afternoon performance had galvanised the crowd and sealed his star status.

4 The Band – The Weight

The list of acts who passed on Woodstock is almost as long as the acts who did appear, with the town of Woodstock’s most famous resident Bob Dylan at the very top. However, Woodstock’s other famous musical residents the Band did participate. With one classic album (Music From Big Pink) already released, another in the can, and their status as Dylan’s most trusted collaborators assured, the Band made for a no-brainer choice for a Sunday night slot and didn’t disappoint. Their unique, down-home Americana may have been at odds with most of the other acts on show, and again, their performance wasn’t included on the original album and documentary, but you only have to watch their performance of “The Weight” on YouTube to get a feel for how great they were on the night.

3 Crosby Stills & Nash – Wooden Ships

After the success of the original threesome’s debut album, Crosby, Stills and Nash were augmented by Neil Young, with Woodstock just the quartet’s second ever gig. The ever contrary Young only participated in half the group’s set and refused to allow himself to be filmed, and while it wasn’t their finest hour, the exposure certainly boosted CSN&Y’s profile. Soon, they would be called “the American Beatles” and their egos grew accordingly. The apocalyptic “Wooden Ships” is from that superb debut album and remains the highlight of their Woodstock performance.

2 Jimi Hendrix – The Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze

With the bad weather and technical problems, the festival had overrun so much that it was 9am on the Monday by the time Hendrix took the stage to close the event. By many accounts, the near half a million spectators had dwindled to fewer than 40,000 – not that it phased Hendrix. Just as he had stolen the show at Monterey when he set fire to his guitar before smashing it to pieces, Hendrix owned the lasting image of Woodstock and sealed his fame forever with his evisceration of America’s national anthem as part of a 30-minute medley that also included what was to become a posthumous No 1, “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”, and an incendiary “Purple Haze”.

A no-show – but the Canadian artist ended up writing the festival’s anthem (Getty)

1 Joni Mitchell – Woodstock

Famously, Joni didn’t appear at the festival, but watching on television she was so struck by its impact that she eulogised the event in song. There has been many cover versions of the ultimate hippie anthem – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded a rocked-up version and Matthews Southern Comfort had a surprise No 1 in the UK with their version, but it is the composer’s original that endures and best captures the idealistic optimism of a generation seeking to “get ourselves back to the garden”.