Michael Lang, Woodstock Organizer, Dies at 77

Hollywood Reporter ^ | JANUARY 8, 2022 | Ryan Gajewski

[Levy78]

Yes, but you’re clearly a disciplined conservative. Not an acid head hippie.

[Desparado]

Nearly all the same bands played at the Newport Jazz festival a month before Woodstock. I rode a Triumph Bonnieville there with a friend of mine from Connecticut. The whole weekend was similar to Woodstock. All the stores and restaurants sold out of everything. There were 10s of thousands of hippies there knocking down the fences and making the whole thing a free for all! When we got home we turned down an offer to go to Woodstock because we were so worn out from the Newport fiasco.

[Delta 21]

Thanks for letting us kids throw a party in your field.
Couldnt have done it with out your blessing!!

[dfwgator]

Did he take the brown acid?

[Drew68]

Biggest concert in history. 60 million baby boomers claim to have attended.

[sauropod]

Hendrix was not “spotty”.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[Freedom4US]

Well OK if you say so. Now you know why I wrote “a very few others...” Point being, quite a lot of the music there was pretty bad.

[sauropod]

Yeah, I say so.

I play guitar.

I have some idea of what it takes to put on the performance he did.

Cheers, ‘Pod

[Freedom4US]

LOL!!

Hendryx was over rated, as a lot of the folks at Woodstock were, frankly. I mean he was good - as a producer even, I believe “All Along The Watchtower” was a killer arrangement of an obscure Dylan tune. It is an all time great, for that alone. He was also technically very astute and creative and made novel use of lots of guitar effects.

I never saw Hendryx, but I’ve seen Buddy Guy up close, and he never wore any feather boas, got kicked out of the Army, nor overdosed himself to death, and I think he was better, and he wasn’t even in his natural prime. That guy can shred.

[Rebelbase]

A few friends and I organized a pig roast/beer bash at a forest campground in college. 400lbs of pig, 20 kegs and a band.

From what I was told it was a raging success even after it was crashed by a biker gang.

[1Old Pro]

Was it really THAT much of a big deal?

I'd say so.

[1Old Pro]

The most notable thing about it was the size of the crowd. I guess somewhat of a record for the time. It was later broken by other festivals. I was too young to ever contemplate attending. I did attend some festivals about a decade later. All day long music while great in some ways becomes an endurance contest at some point.

A historical event, but so were thousands of other unique events.

[Drew68]

Was it really THAT much of a big deal?

Yes, but it would be the 3+ hour long documentary film that came out the following year and that would be replayed endlessly on PBS stations that really turned it into the significant cultural event it would become.