Summer of '69 historic Woodstock festival

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


On the 43rd anniversary of the legendary Woodstock music festival, held in Bethel, New York, a series of remarkable photographs taken at the time offer a window on the landmark event celebrating music and peace.
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was staged at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskill mountains near the hamlet of White Lake from August 15 to August 18, 1969.
The festival featured a total of 32 acts, including such icons as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Santana, and The Who, making it one of the most outstanding concert lineups in history.

Peaceful masses: Overall image of the huge crowd, looking towards the large yellow tents, during the Woodstock Music & Art Fair

Living arrangements: Concert-goer sleeping on two cars at Woodstock in Bethel, New York, on August 1, 1969

Wet and wild: The rain did little to deter hundreds of thousands of young people from sticking around at the festival

Despite the rain which had turned the grounds of the farm into a giant mud bath, the festival drew an audience of some 500,000 people, many of whom camped out in tents and vans for the duration of the weekend.
Hendrix was the last act to perform at the festival, but due to the bad weather, only about 35,000 people got to hear his psychedelic rendition of the U.S national anthem in what was to become one of the defining moments of the 1960s.
The community of Bethel was not prepared for the great influx of young people from all over the country, and by August 14, much of the area had become an enormous traffic jam.

Flower children: The festival proved especially popular among members of the hippie counterculture who believed in nonviolence and coined the phrase, 'Make love, not war'

Signs of times: The event drew hundreds of thousands of young hippies and was marked by widespread drug use

While some locals were less than welcoming to the flower-adorned, bell-bottomed, mud-splattered hippies flooding the area, others embraced the visitors, supplying them with free food and water when it became apparent that Food For Love, the festival concessionaire, was not prepared to feed the massive crowd.
Beside amazing musical acts, the weekend of peace was marked by widespread use of drugs, and the organizers of the event even established a ‘freak-out tent’ for those suffering from bad ‘trips,’ according to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

Slip and slide: Despite the rain which had turned the grounds of the farm into a giant, filthy mud bath, the festival drew an audience of some 500,000 young music fans from across the country

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2190103/Peace-love-music-Amazing-photos-capture-historic-1969-Woodstock-festival-defined-generation.html#ixzz23xUFV1gI