People Share Their Wild Real Stories From Woodstock
"3 Days of Peace & Music" — what could go wrong? In the beginning, Woodstock sounded like a good idea. Better than good — revolutionary! Two years after the Summer of Love, hippies were ready to forget the real world and groove to the era's best music. Of course, what ended up happening over those three infamous days in 1969 was less about peace and music and more about chaos, confusion, and notoriously bad trips. Luckily for us, some people distinctly remember both the good and bad parts of Woodstock... and are finally sharing their psychedelic stories.
Note: Some stories have been lightly edited for clarity.
"He had to pee in a coffee can"
"My dad went, totally sober the entire time… [He] remembers watching Creedence and The Who in the middle of the night and watching Janis Joplin swaying in the dark. Never saw Hendrix as he left early Sunday. He always said it was raining, muddy, and miserable.
"[He] had to pee in a coffee can because it was so crowded. I just went to the site with him a few weeks ago and we stood on the hill exactly where he remembered being." — row_guy, Reddit
"I remember the mud"
"I remember a little bit of Cocker, and I definitely remember Hendrix's 'Star Spangled Banner.' I remember the traffic in, and the traffic out (while trying to keep my Volvo's engine from melting because of a massive oil leak).
"I remember the mud and some of the personal interactions (mostly good). Unfortunately, most of what I 'know' is from watching the movie because... drugs. Sigh." — hedronist, Reddit
"Several bushel baskets worth of daisies"
"My name's Bob, and I went to Woodstock with a friend named Dave. We were both in college in Brooklyn at the time. We took public transportation up to the George Washington Bridge and hitch-hiked from there. Just the journey to Woodstock was a trip. But that's for another time. One thing I remember was that we had a light shower on Saturday afternoon and everyone started chanting, 'No Rain, No Rain...' for a while.
"Soon the sky cleared and a helicopter flew over and started dropping what looked like several bushel baskets worth of daisies on the crowd. I might still have the book around somewhere with the daisy I pressed into it." — bobanddave, Reddit
"I still have my tickets"
"We shared food, drink, stories, and Maryjane with the people around us and had a great time. We went home on Sunday afternoon and ended up getting a ride all the way back to the Jersey side of the GW Bridge...
"[We were] riding in one of the seats from the Ferris wheel which had been dismantled and was leaving Woodstock. I still have my tickets: Saturday #H03895 and Sunday #H02397. $7.00 each day!" — bobanddave, Reddit
"I was three"
"I was there. Granted, I was three, but it still counts. My parents had just moved to the U.S. (from Ireland) and heard about this concert happening in upstate NY (we lived in western Mass.) and hopped in the car (a painted Beetle, of course) with me and my six-week-old brother (!) figuring they could get a hotel nearby. Well, of course, that didn't happen.
"It forms two of my oldest memories — a huge sea of people and a traffic jam so long we got out and had a picnic on the side of the road. Every so often, my dad got in the car and moved forward a few feet." – DiscoPopStar, Reddit
"It was the greatest moment of his life"
"My dad went when he was 17. He rode on the hood of a car for like 5 miles to get the last bit of the way. They bought tickets, but so many people showed up that the fences got pushed down, and it ended up being free. He got stoned the whole time and had a good time... He remembers waking up to music Sunday morning, and it was the greatest moment of his life.
"He is in the Woodstock documentary and is in Abbie Hoffman's Woodstock book (he said it was during Santana and he was [mesmerized]). He has tons of music stories, and he and my hippie mom should write a book of their lives." — Isaac2004, Reddit
"Eventually they just gave up"
"I was there. Drove up with a few friends from the NYC area. I had purchased the tickets for our group and one person bailed, so while parked in the traffic jam I walked up and down the cars until I found someone who needed a ticket and was able to unload the extra :) I still have mine.
"The plan was to set up entrance gates to feed the crowd in, but that hadn't been completed so we all just wandered into the field in front of the concert stage and other areas. Before things started the organizers were broadcasting over the loudspeakers for everyone to go back out to the entrance so they could collect tickets but everyone just ignored that and eventually they just gave up." — fluor_guy, Reddit
The legendary drug use "is a stereotype"
"I spent most of the concert in the open (muddy) field area in front of the stage, with forays to the port-a-potties and to wander around the tent areas where there were people selling all kinds of crafts, serving out communal food, treating bad trips, etc. Sure, there were plenty of people tripping out but the idea that everyone who was there was a stone druggie is a stereotype and false.
"There were plenty of others like me who were drawn by the times and the music. What an event — Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Country Joe and the Fish, the Dead, Creedence, Janis, Sly, the Who, etc. etc. It was indeed memorable." — fluor_guy, Reddit
"My mother never attended another concert"
"My parents went. They said that they watched people jump on the bumpers of semis and try to get rides at first while the drivers tried to get them off. They said that as more and more people arrived traffic stopped as people abandoned cars in the roadway. My mom commented on how by the third day people were giving drugs out for free but fighting over food and water.
"She said that she spent a lot of time in a makeshift hospital tent because my dad's best friend took a crazy combination of pills and started having seizures. My mom dragged him to the tent and one of the 'doctors' begged her to stay and help because she was one of the extremely few sober people… This was her first concert and my mother never attended another concert." — Former Redditor
"I'll never forget hearing Santana play"
"My old general manager went, he was in his late teens and snuck there with two of his friends, got stuck in the heavy traffic, left the car, and walked two miles to get to the concert a day after it started.
"Could hardly see the stage from where they were but said, 'Even though those days are a little fuzzy and I can't remember much, I'll never forget hearing Santana play.' Dude is super cool and laid back, truly a genuine dude." — atabditslow, Reddit
"So close to Woodstock"
"So my dad used to be a mechanic/engineer for Chrysler and spent a lot of time traveling. I guess there was one time he was driving and got stuck in a very long line of traffic and spent hours waiting to get through. He didn't get why there were so many people waiting to get into this field and was just annoyed that he was going to be delayed.
"Well, he finally made it through and continued to his next destination. He later found out that he was in line to get into Woodstock but never made the turn with everyone else. So close to Woodstock but not cool enough to know." — thundering_hobo, Reddit
"He was responsible for guarding the beer tent"
"My friend Billy went as a worker. He built the stage and then was responsible for guarding the beer tent for the musicians while the show was on.
"He said they never paid him, but gave him free tickets before the show to sell for money. I have an unused mint condition three-day ticket framed on my wall." — joecooool418, Reddit
"Saw people bathing naked in the creek"
"My wife and her sister went. My wife was still in her pre-senior year of high school (16 at the time), got separated from the people she went with, and spent most of the time fairly miserable in the rain and knee-deep mud, but remembers hearing Joan Baez, whom she adored. Also heard Swami Satchitananda do the opening invocation and do a meditation session.
"[She] saw people bathing naked in the creek and doing naked yoga on a hilltop. Saw an acid freak-out take his clothes off and climb one of the lighting towers." — theDalaiSputnik, Reddit
"They went as a family vacation"
"My high school English teacher went. It was her, her husband, and her kids. They went on a family vacation to a music festival in upstate New York.
"They packed the station wagon for a few days of camping and music. In other words, they didn't expect a whole bunch of hippies to storm the place without sufficient supplies or facilities." — pyr8bwoy, Reddit
"They got busted"
"A woman I know went when she was 15 years old. At the time she told her mother she would be sleeping at a friend's house for the weekend, and her friend told her own parents the same story.
"They got busted a few weeks later when their parents noticed her on the cover of Time magazine. She was grounded." — le_django, Reddit
"He... acted like the hippie he was"
"My dad [went]. He was one of the people who actually bought tickets, he lost them for years and years and actually just found them still in pretty decent condition in a plastic bag just lying around in the basement. He was up near the stage for much of it, including for Hendrix...
"[Y]ou can actually see him for a split second in the video of Hendrix playing the national anthem. He was 19 at the time. He did lots of drugs, probably drank a lot, enjoyed the music, and acted like the hippie that he was. Good stuff." — entenduintransit, Reddit
"She smoked with Ritchie Havens"
"My nana went. She said she was visiting her cousins in New York and they asked her if she wanted to go to 'some small festival' upstate. Little did she know that it'd be what it was.
"Funny enough she smoked with Ritchie Havens when she saw Jimi Hendrix at Cafe Wha in New York before he left for England. She said it was surreal seeing them again." — koalaokala, Reddit
"This was the [same] place I used to go hunting and fishing"
"Some background: I am a 66-year-old musician who spent many summers in the Catskill Mountains with my family as a young boy. I became friendly with... one friend's father who was friends with the local game warden, who used to take us to that friend's farm to go hunting and fishing. The game warden's name was Max Yasgur.
"When I turned 21, I heard about a concert that was being held in the area where I spent my summers and decided to go with two of my good friends. We... went to check out the concert location in Bethel NY. That was right in the area where I spent so many endless summers. When we got to the site I realized that this was the place I used to go hunting and fishing." — daytop, Reddit
"We still had no idea what this place would turn into"
"We purchased tickets and actually helped some of the organizers with getting back and forth to some of the outlying towns (since we knew a bunch of back roads) to get supplies. We still had no idea what this place would turn into. We went back to Monticello, NY, where we used to hang out and I proceeded to call a friend and tell her I just bought tickets for some concert and would love for her to come...
"She actually made it just before the NY State Thruway was closed. Anyway, I remember very little, but did manage to get out by the time the rain came and spent the rest of the weekend in a hotel room with my beautiful new girlfriend." — daytop, Reddit
"Loving feelings developed during Jimi Hendrix"
"Met a really cool lady at a bar once and we started chatting. She had an unusual name. I asked her about it. She told me that when her mom was 15 she went to Woodstock with some friends. Supreme drugs ensued.
"Some hippie guy grabbed her mom and they started dancing. Loving feelings developed during Jimi Hendrix's playtime. Nine months later, the 15-year-old birthed this lady I was talking to. Her name? Hendrix." — B52Bombsell, Reddit
"It was a great time to be young"
"I was at Woodstock (66 years old now), and there was no dark side for me. I had an amazing time, with amazing music, and almost a million people there feeling the same way. It did rain, and the mud had a really strange and unpleasant smell, and the portable toilets were beyond what you can imagine, but I can't really call any of that a dark side."
"It was a great time to be young. We were filled with optimism. We thought we were creating a new world. Maybe we gave it a little good direction for a time." — Brookwood38, Reddit
"Swimming in an ocean of people"
"Of the bands that we saw, The Who sticks in my mind — not because they were my favorite, but because they had a strong visual/theatrical presence that carried well and bridged the distance to the stage. They played their hits and introduced material from Tommy.
"Being there was like swimming in an ocean of people. And the surprising thing was that I somehow managed to cross paths with everyone I knew that was there from my hometown." — MagicTwanger, Reddit
"Just being there constituted sensory overload"
"In one of the early edits of the film, I showed up walking along a chain link fence, running my can along the links. In any case, I didn't mind not getting high because just being there constituted sensory overload... What brought me there was the advertising that offered a pastoral weekend with music and the arts.
"Maybe foremost in my mind, and a lot of others, was the expectation that Bob Dylan would be there. It was well known that he lived in the area." — MagicTwanger, Reddit
"One of his friends ended up on the album cover"
"My dad actually bought tickets in advance because he wanted to go for the concert. He and his friends got there so early that they got a seat up near the stage and one of his friends ended up on the album cover.
"He says if he’d known what it was actually going to be, he wouldn’t have gone. In his words, 'It should have been 3 days of peace, love, and music — there was lots of music, but little love and no peace to be had.'" — latingal, Reddit
"Most of the music was sub-par"
"I was there... Didn't walk far, we parked really close by. Got there just as Richie Havens started and left before Hendrix. Had tickets, never handed them in, now they're framed on my wall. Must say, most of the music was sub-par for me. I went because I knew it was an EVENT, and I was right.
"I had no respect for the Dead, Canned Heat, the Who, the Airplane, Santana (though the drummer was great), Country Joe, etc etc. I still don't. Never heard of Mountain, Ten Years After (who I thought really sucked), and many others. I'm fairly picky about music, so there's that." — RogerZell, Reddit
"I was very uncomfortable"
"I was very uncomfortable, but only because I couldn't sleep at night cause of the rain (no tent)... Fell asleep during the Band, which was bad because I thought they were great, but no sleep the night before... I didn't party with anyone, didn't really interact with strangers. This is one of those instances where I can't remember what I did all day besides listen.
"But the crowd was so BIG, it was wild to sit among them all. No, I wasn't stoned, didn't use acid, and had no weed. In hindsight, I should have walked around more... instead, I just sat in one place, far from the stage. I didn't skinny dip, I wasn't in the movie. In fact, I've never seen myself in any of the photos. But I was there." — RogerZell, Reddit
"We were a middle-class family"
"We were a middle-class family. My mom bought tickets and wanted to go... I don't recall enjoying or paying any attention to the music at all. I do remember sitting in traffic on the way in and my father, who was not a hippie, getting angry and shooing away hippies who had decided to jump on our car for a free ride on the way in. I remember having to walk a very long way and through corn fields to get to where we ultimately put down our blanket.
"Sadly, I don't recall any of the music at all. My only memory of watching the stage was when Mom pulled me over to sit on her lap to get my attention... I later learned this was when Joan Baez came on (Mom was very much into Joan Baez)." — train_lover, Reddit
"We tease them all the time"
"Two of my aunts went to Woodstock. One of my aunts has always worn pantsuits and is very modest, well-spoken (English professor), and dignified. My other aunt is the same sans pantsuits and teaching job. Someone saw them outside the fence and, assuming they were very important people who needed to do important things, quickly ushered them inside. Then they were at Woodstock.
"One of my aunts still has her shirt. We also tease them all the time about being one of the naked mud people. Haha. They are awesome aunts. I like being like them. Maybe then I can be ushered into something insanely cool one day." — missbeast16, Reddit
"They were called the Hog Farm"
"The concession stands ran out of food after about an hour! By day two, my boyfriend and I started walking to town (we had hitchhiked to Woodstock so no car). On the way, we met an enterprising guy selling ham and cheese and loaves of bread out of a truck. So that’s what we ate. Also, there was a commune that had set up a large tent. They were called the Hog Farm.
"Somehow, they fed anyone that was hungry with some sort of oatmeal/granola concoction. Amazing people, I don’t know how they afforded it or had the supplies to feed tens of thousands, but they did. I’m 70 now, and I married that boyfriend." — ArchieMedoggie, Reddit
"No one had ever seen anything like it"
"We left the car, probably 3 or 4 miles from the venue. We started to walk and as we got closer more and more young people joined the trek. You could not get lost, just follow the crowd. It was probably around midnight when the sound of rock music drifted over the road, the music was from quite a distance and echoed off the hills...
"Eventually, we found the top of the amphitheater. Sitting below us were probably 400,000+ people listening to music, and at the bottom of the hill was the stage with the musicians. The distance was such that you could see the drummer strike a drum and the sound would reach you a second or so later. It was that far and every inch was covered with people. No one had ever seen anything like it." — Frank Asbury, Quora
"Naked hippies, bikers, many Vietnam vets"
"Around dawn, we left to hike to our friends' campsite. Like New York, it was a city that did not sleep and there were many sights along the way. One of my friends pointed to a combination hay bale/tent hut and said reverently, 'That’s the Pranksters.' Nearby was the campsite and free kitchen of the Hog Farm.
"There were buses, mysterious campsites with roaring parties going on, hippies of all shapes and sizes including naked hippies, bikers, many Vietnam vets, Christmas lights strung in the trees, and road signs with corny names like 'Hippie Way.' We arrived at our friends' tents and cars and somehow I slept without blankets or any gear. August nights in upstate New York are warm." — Frank Asbury, Quora
"I was a subtly changed person"
"The next morning, we returned to our spot overlooking the stage and listened to more music. Then the rains came. Bone-soaking thundershowers. Interestingly, I don’t have any recollection of discomfort, not cold, not wet. Just an intense interest in all that was going on around me. It was a people-watching paradise. Nor do I recall eating anything, there was no food, but I don’t remember being hungry.
"When I got home I remember that my parents did not mention anything about their 16-year-old son disappearing for a few days. I just walked in and went to bed. Favorite band? Sly and the Family Stone. They went on stage really late, like 3:30 a.m., and just rocked that place. Like everyone who was, there I was a subtly changed person." — Frank Asbury, Quora