On this day, August 15 in 1969, hundreds of thousands of people descended upon the Bethel area of New York for Woodstock, a 3 day festival that would change the world. Here are some of our favorite performances as well as the amount some of the band’s on the bill were paid.
For those who are curious, the following are numbers what the bands were paid in 1969 and the 2017 equivalents in parentheses:
- Jimi Hendrix – $18,000 ($114,000)
- Creedence Clearwater Revival – $10,000 ($63,680.38)
- The Band – $7,500 ($47,760.29)
- Janis Joplin – $7,500 ($47,760.29)
- Jefferson Airplane – $7,500 ($47,760.29)
- Sly and the Family Stone – $7,000 ($44,576.27)
- Canned Heat – $6,500 ($41,392.25)
- The Who – $6,250 ($39,800.24)
- Grateful Dead – $2,500 ($15,920)
- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – $5,000 ($31,840)
- Joe Cocker – $1,375 (8,7650)
- Santana – $750 ($4,776.03)
Here are some of the most defining musical moments of Woodstock from Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker & Richie Havens.
Jefferson Airplane woke up the crowd on Sunday morning with a groovy and intense version of ‘Somebody To Love’
Crosby, Stills & Nash played in front of people for one of the first times ever. They were quite scared when they took the stage at 3am.
Santana electrified the crowd with their performance of ‘Soul Sacrifice’.
‘Armed’ with an acoustic guitar, a percussionist and 1 other guitar player, Richie Havens kicked things off Friday afternoon and made a huge name for himself with an inspired performance.
Jimi Hendrix closed Woodstock at 9am on Monday. He did this iconic version of our national anthem during his set.
Joe Cocker boosted his own popularity as well as the popularity for this Beatles song with his rendition of ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’