European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 1, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Woodstock nation continued from Page 19 band a in All 31 groups or individuals performed at Woodstock. If they weren t famous before the festival. Woodstock a the concert film and record assured that most of them would be famous for a Long time after. Few if any gave the performance of their lives at Woodstock. The grateful dead s performance became legendary As one of the band s worst afterwards the dead grumbled about bad czechoslovakian acid As Well As wet equipment that zapped them with electrical shocks a Sparks crackling like lightning on the stage a when the picked up their guitars. The British blues Rocker Alvin Lee and his band ten years after were catapulted into superstar status for their performance of i m going Home. But looking Back on it now Lee says Quot i did t All Well. I had played it better before and i be played it better it did t matter. Half the people in the audience could t even hear the music. For those who could a and for the far larger number who later saw the movie or heard the record a the sheer magic of the moment overwhelmed any technical shortcomings. But somewhere along the Way Woodstock stopped being mainly about music. As important As the music was it took More than suite Judy Blue eyes More even than Hendrix deconstructing the Star spangled Banner to Tattoo an entire generation with the name of a Rock concert. A How did it happen As big As Woodstock was it was after All Only a concert. Somehow though it came to a stand for not just an entire generation but an entire Era. Thomas Segrue teaches the history of the 1960s at the University of Pennsylvania his students were born in the mid-1970s. A their image of the 1960s is Woodstock Segrue says. A my students think about Woodstock the Way their parents might have thought about world War ii. After All the War was 25 years before a f about seeing the Woodstock movie now is seeing the faces of Young people knowing their youth is now Well behind them. So Many Are dead. And so Many it seems Safe to say have lost whatever hold they had on the common dream of the time. In the movie a Young couple sit by the Side of a Road. Talking about their lives and Hopes. Somehow the discussion turns to whether the Young Man would like to be president of the United states a metaphor really for whether he wants to succeed at All in conventional society. _. A i Don t want to make the climb Quot he says. A because there s nothing to climb for. It s All sitting right Here. You can t help but wonder does he still think so somehow it seems easy to believe that he eventually made his peace a and his compromises a with the workaday world. A my Only regret Quot says Alvin Lee a is that it seems the peace generation came together for Woodstock and then they All dispersed and went Home Lee now lives and works in Spain. These Are Happy Days for him he says but he misses the idealism of the late 60s. He was t asked to play at the Woodstock anniversary concert being held in Saugerties ., later this month. If he had been he s not sure he would have accepted. ,. A Woodstock was an Accident and it was a great event and i m quite Happy to leave it at that John Sebastian the folksinger whose gentle Sweet performance helped give Woodstock its Aura says the festival was a the beginning of the he was speaking of Large outdoor concerts but he May Well have been. Speaking of the Era As Well. Woodstock More than one person has observed marked the moment when corporate America discovered. The baby Boom generation in a big Way. If 400,000 Young people could turn out for a Rock concert who new How Many might buy Blue jeans or or _ hamburgers or Beer there has been great debate Over the anniversary concert. It is being produced by the same three men who put together the original Woodstock festival Lang John Roberts and Joel Rosenman. But with its corporate sponsors $135 ticket Price and Slickly designed facilities a the anniversary concert strikes some 60s survivors As a sellout out of tune with the sensibility of the original. Another rival concert is being put together in Bethel ., but it is Likely that neither will completely satisfy those for whom Woodstock is hallowed ground. _ a i give you my word Quot says film producer a and eight Aback then All of us would have had a roaring. Fit if someone had put a coca cola sign up. All this strikes Roberts As so much silliness the original Woodstock was very much a commercial venture a the promoters were after All attacked for charging the unheard of Price of $18 for a three Day ticket. Sure most of the concert goers go tin for free but that was t part of the plan. A there was a major corporate thrust to it that was a appropriate to the times in the sense that or commercial outlets were available to us As the producers we used Quot Roberts says. A this time the promoters want to get it. Right. If that a a Means military Scafe Security corporate 4ogos, arms pay per View television to shirt concessions and an appropriate Fleet of portable toilets Well maybe that s Progress. Is it Woodstock of course it is the promoters own the trademark.,. A Sebastian can be seen this summer in Pepsi commercials in which he jokes about Woodstock. He plans to play at the reunion concert in Bethel. He is profoundly unsentimental about the Woodstock legacy it was he says a Good for Sebastian Quot but hardly something that Young people need to study in school. Quot this was just a show he says. A i Don t know that 20-year-Olds need to have anything burned into their skulls about this a Sebastian was t on the original Hill at Woodstock. It was part of the serendipitous nature of the festival that he was More or less shoved onto the stage when the promoters needed someone Quick a to fill a Hole in the so called schedule. He proceeded to give a performance that somehow distilled the spirit of the festival and the age. A a a a at the close he summed up with a Little advice a just love everybody around you and clean up a Little garbage on the Way out and everything will be All maybe it was Abbie Hoffman who turned Woodstock into a legend. The Yippie Leader who was brusquely chased from the Woodstock stage by the who s Pete Townshend in the. Most overt clash Between politics and culture at the festival returned from Woodstock and declared himself a new Man from a new nation. _ _ the Woodstock nation. A that s very useful rhetorical baggage which he cooped Quot says Jacob Cohen a professor of history at Brandeis University who specializes in the 1.960s. Cohen sees Hoffman s use of the term As a cynical a and Brilliant a attempt to turn an essentially cultural event into a political one. Then again maybe it was Joni Mitchell. A her song Woodstock written shortly after the concert captured the sense of innocence and idealism that became its trademark and spoke to the dreams of a generation a we Are stardust we Are Golden and we a a have got to get ourselves Back to the _ or maybe Michael Wadleigh director of the Woodstock movie. This was the Woodstock most Young americans attended and it was a much More carefully crafted More intentionally ideological creation than the actual event. A Wadleigh in turn credits the festival s promoters with setting the right tone from the outset with the emphasis on Quot peace and music Quot and their insistence that the concert be held outdoors in the country. A we talked even before the event about Woodstock being a Pilgrim s Progress or a Canterbury tales. I Don t want to compare ourselves with Chaucer but i la bet this film 1,000 years from now will have a real David Crosby Stephen stills and Graham Crosby who performed at the original Woodstock Are among the handful of entertainers who will be Back for an encore at the new one. Woodstock 94 commercialism replaces idealism these Are different times. One of the poignant things Max Yasgur right the Farmer who allowed his grounds to be used for the Woodstock festival is joined by neighbors As he looks Oyer the scene. By ijav1d Bauder _ the associated press p Paradise revisited or a Rock n Roll prison Camp. It All depends on your Point of View. Twenty five years after the concert that defined a generation promoters planning the sequel Are both blessed and burdened by the Woodstock mystique. A memories of the 1969 festival have so much cachet that this year s show on a farm two hours North of new York City promises to be the biggest Rock event since live Aid. The music starts at noon on Friday aug. 12, and probably won t end until Early monday morning. The diverse lineup includes the country Folk of Johnny Cash and the angry noise of nine Inch nails with just. About everything in Between a reggae rap and Dylan. V but promoters have faced complaints about expensive tickets a lineup Short of Star Power and limitations on ticket holders. _ _ _ _ and in an area that takes its 1960s values seriously there s endless grumbling that a lust for profits has eroded that undefinable mystique. _ a it s almost As if people have this impression that Woodstock was born that morning a on Friday a morning and everything sort of appeared in a Field Quot sighed Michael Lang partner in Woodstock ventures who helped organize both shows. The show at Saugerties ., of several musical o tributes to Woodstock in the crowded catskills Mountain a Region. A v. A a a a. A a a a a Quot a nostalgia concert featuring several of the Origina Woodstock performers is planned for the Bethel ., a Field where the 1969 festival took place. Promoters Hope to sell 50,000 tickets. An informal group that has been marking the Woodstock anniversary every year with an Impromptu a. Party said it will hold a free concert also in Bethel which will stretch Over a 10-Day period. But Woodstock 94, about an hour away from Bethel on country Back roads is the big event. A scheduled performers Appeal mostly to an Early 20s audience although Woodstock originals Joe Cocker Santana and Crosby stills and Nash will return. Bob Dylan the voice of the 60s who missed the first Woodstock is coming to the reunion. Metallica Aero Smith and the red hot Chili peppers Are All Strong Sellers and Green Day May be the country s hottest Young Woodstock lacks a huge drawing card. U2 is currently on hiatus. . Has t toured in years. Pearl Jam is locked in a Battle with ticketmaster the Agency Selling Woodstock tickets. The grateful dead did t like t the first Wood Stock and say they re not coming Back. The rolling stones Are performing in new York City that weekend but have said they re not interested in Woodstock. ,. A it does t look like they booked their Talent to reach a particular Market Quot said Ray Ploutz a 38-year-old music fan from Shokan A it sort of looks like they tried to Appeal to everyone and May wind up appealing to the ticket Price is $135 a relative bargain for a three Day show considering that the eagles Are charging More than $100 for a three hour performance. But fans wanting to come by car must buy tickets in blocks of four and get one parking pass which makes it a Tough sell. They la find far More than the Muddy Field of 1969, _ with the meticulous plans showing How much the Rock n Roll business has changed in 25 years. _ in addition to two concert stages operating simultaneously fans can visit a Quot surreal Field Quot filled with r interactive games and an a eco Village Quot with n environmental and political activism Booths. _ everything from condoms to Corn on the cob will be on Sale. There also will be automatic Teller machines conveniently located for people who run out of Money. A a a a. Fans Are being asked not to bring in their own food and alcohol is prohibited. They willbe allowed to leave Quot the festival grounds Only once. These and other restrictions have angered some people. Many have been venting complaints to Woodstock. Online a computer network for anniversary news said Lenore Benefield one of its operators. One person posted a message comparing Woodstock to a Rock w Roll prison Camp a complaint echoed by a Woodstock resident. Quot people from All Over the world will think they re walking into some Miracle happening of 1969,&Quot said John Godsey a landscaper from Woodstock. A but what they re walking into is some sort of compound situation a a prison . Promoters also appear weary of criticism that they Are no longer True to the Woodstock spirit. A they re looking at this through a 60s mentality Quot Lang said. A that s Fine but you re living in a 1990s reality. Either you have the show or you Don t. You can weigh it Down with these perceptions or you can just enjoy the fact that it s Here and not worry so much about having an Thi stars and strips Thi stars and strips monday Augustt 1994
