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The Sixties: Woodstock & Other Festivals

This guide covers the decade 1960 - 1970

Introduction

1969. In August, 500,000 gathered in upstate New York to celebrate the countercultural philosophy of love and peace. There was  rain and mud. But there was also the music and the peace and love the attendees had longed for. Once the documentary was released in 1970, it was considered a success. Unfortunately the year ended with a disaster during a concert at Altamont Speedway in California. It had one person stabbed and three accidental deaths. It was a terrible end to a year that had a number of successes, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's walk on the moon. And it seemed to be the end of the counterculture's dream of peace and love. The music could only go so far to making that happen.

Memorable Concerts

And other live events.

  • June 20, 1965. The Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.) with Johnny Carson emcee. St. Louis
  • July 25, 1965. Bob Dylan electrifies the Newport Folk Festival. Newport, RI.
  • Aug. 15, 1965. The Beatles at Shea Stadium. New York City. 56,000 people.
  • Jan. 14, 1967. "Human Be-In", Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. 30,000 people.
  • June 29 - Aug. 24, 1969. The "Black Woodstock" (The Harlem Cultural Festival). Harlem. 300,000 people.
  • July 5, 1969. Rolling Stones salute the late Brian Jones. Hyde Park, London. 300,000. people.
  • July 31, 1969. Elvis' first concert since 1961. International Hotel, Las Vegas.
  • Aug. 30 - 31, 1969. Isle of Wight Festival. United Kingdom. 150,000 people.
  • Aug. 17, 1970. First broadcast of Don Cornelius' Soul Train.

Woodstock August 15 - 18, 1969

Altamonte December 6, 1969

Performers in the Woodstock Documentary

  • Going Up the Country, Canned Heat
  • Freedom / Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Richie Havens
  • Joe Hill, Joan Baez
  • We're Not Gonna Take It / See Me, Feel Me, The Who
  • At the Hop, Sha-Na-Na
  • With a Little Help from My Friends, Joe Cocker
  • Coming into Los Angeles, Arlo Guthrie
  • Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Crosby Stills & Nash
  • I'm Going Home, Ten Years After
  • Saturday Afternoon / Won't You Try, Jefferson Airplane
  • FISH Cheer / Feel-Like-I'm-Fixing-to-Die-Rag, Country Joe & the Fish
  • Soul Sacrifice, Santana
  •  Dance to the Music / I Want to Take You Higher, Sly & the Family Stone
  • Work Me Lord, Janis Joplin
  • Star Spangled Banner, Jimi Hendrix
  • Woodstock / Find the Cost of Freedom, Crosby Stills & Nash

Songs found on Spotify
Musicians found on allmusic.com

The Black Woodstock

Black Woodstock Summer 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival
Author: Gind2005

NPR: Remembering Harlem's 'Black Woodstock'
Smithsonian Magazine Story

Perfomers in the documentary Summer of Soul documentary

  • Uptown, Chambers Brothers
  • Why I Sing the Blues, B.B. King
  • Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' To Ya, The 5th Dimension
  • Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, The 5th Dimension
  • My Girl, David Ruffin
  • Oh Happy Day, The Edwin Hawkins Singers
  • It's Been a Change, The Staple Singers
  • Precious Lord,Take My Hand, The Operation Breadbasket Orchestra & Choir
  • I Heard It Through the Grapeevine, Gladys Knight & the Pips
  • Watermelon Man, Mongo Santamaria
  • Together, Ray Barretto
  • Hold On, I'm Comin', Herbie Mann
  • Sing a Simple Song, Sly & the Family Stone
  • Everyday People, Sly & the Family Stone
  • Africa, Abbey Lincoln & Max Roach
  • Backlash Blues, Nina Simone
  • Are You Ready, Nina Simone

Songs found on Spotify
Musicians found on allmusic.com

Concept Albums

Concept albums did not begin with the Beatles and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Woody Guthrie's 1940 album, "Dust Bowl Ballads," seems to be the first to adopt the theme of a unified concept for an album of songs. Frank Sinatra picked up the idea and followed "The Voice of Frank Sinatra" (1946), "In the Wee Small Hours" (1955) and "Frank Sinatra Sings For Only the Lonely" (1958).

  • Days of Future Past, The Moody Blues (1967)
  • John Wesley Harding, Bob Dylan (1967)
  • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (1967)
  • The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society , The Kinks (1968)
  • Present the Battle of the Bands, The Turtles (1968)
  • Watertown, Frank Sinatra (1970)
  • What's Going On, Marvin Gaye (1971)
  • The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie (1972)
  • Thick As A Brick, Jethro Tull (1972)
  • School's Out, Alice Cooper (1972)
  • Berlin, Lou Reed (1973)
  • Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd (1973)
  • Quadrophenia, The Who (1973
  •  Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John (1974)
  • The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Genesis (1974)
  • Mothership Connection, Parliament (1975)
  • Red-Headed Stranger, Willie Nelson (1975)

Albums found on Spotify
Musicians found on allmusic.com

Additional References

Crampton, L., & Rees, D. (2003). Rock & roll year by year. Dorling Kindersley.
Covach, J. R., & Flory, A. (2015). What's that sound?: An introduction to rock and its history. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
McCleary, J. B., & McCleary, J. J. (n.d.). The hippie dictionary: a cultural encyclopedia (and phraseicon) of the 1960s and 1970s. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.
Stodder, C., & Phillips, M. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool: A Celebration of the Grooviest People, Events, and Artifacts of the 1960s[Kindle]. Retrieved from Amazon. com.
Ward, E. (2019). History of Rock and Roll, Volume 2: 1964-1977: the Beatles, the Stones, and the Rise of Classic Rock. New York: Flatiron Books.