The Dead’s Saturday night set is long and noodly, which I reckon is what Deadheads like. I’ve always heard that the band didn’t think too much of it, though, and that’s why […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: The Grateful Dead
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: Mountain
Mountain was a big band named for their big guitarist, Leslie West. Sometimes considered precursors to heavy metal, the band was hard and bluesy. It’s a damned shame that their entire catalog […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: Canned Heat
Canned Heat has always been a part of the Woodstock legend. Their studio version of “Back to the Country” features prominently in Michael Wadleigh’s documentary; however, the band’s performance didn’t make the […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: The Incredible String Band
The Incredible String Band was a psychedelic folk band from Scotland who blended traditional instruments, poetry, and performance art. It doesn’t get much more hippie than that. Unfortunately Woodstock didn’t work out […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: Keef Hartley Band
Keef Hartley is an interesting footnote in rock history. He became the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes after their drummer left to join The Beatles. Oh, Ringo — what a […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: John Sebastian
Woodstock wasn’t the best organized event, to say the least. Woe unto the poor musician who found himself standing around backstage during a lull. That’s how Richie Havens came to open the […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: Santana
Music follows trends, and the prevailing trends at Woodstock were blues-oriented rock and folk/folk rock. Only four acts didn’t fit into one of those buckets. On day one Ravi Shankar laid down […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: Country Joe McDonald
Northern California’s own Country Joe McDonald is the only Woodstock musician to perform two complete distinct sets. Like Richie Havens and John Sebastian, McDonald was in the wrong place at the wrong […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: Quill
The crowd enjoyed ten hours of rainy silence between Joan Baez closing day one, the “folk” day at Woodstock, and Quill opening the more rock-oriented Saturday performances. They kicked off a day […]
The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: Joan Baez
When Joan Baez stepped onto the stage at one a.m. Saturday morning she was six months pregnant and her draft protester husband was on his way to federal prison. Her set was […]
