Okay, go ahead.
My name is Sidney Westerfeld.
I'm the owner of this antique tavern in Mongaup Valley, New York State.
I was here when this crowd really came.
We expected 50,000 a day, and there must have been a million.
I, myself, was hungry for two days because l couldn't get any food in.
I couldn't go out to buy any food.
I was eating Corn Flakes for two days.
And the kids were wonderful. I have no kick.
It was "sir" this and "sir" that and "thank you" this and "thank you" that.
Nobody can complain about the kids. This thing was too big.
It was too big for the world. Nobody has ever seen a thing like this, and when they see this picture in the news...
Well, over the moving pictures, they'll really see something.
Mike, what's the worst part of running one of these things?
The worst part? What's the worst part about running one?
I don't know. I don't know.
Do you dig it all? Yeah.
I guess the biggest hassle is dealing with politics, you know?
Is there a lot of politics involved?
You mean with the cities? Yeah.
And you got that solved?
Well, it looks that way. Looks that way.
How long did it take you to put it together?
Two, three months?
I been working on it for about nine months.
Nine months? Full time?
Yeah.
Are you in charge of the whole thing? Yeah.
But you got backers? Partners and backers.
Yeah. Where are you gonna go from here?
I mean, you gonna do another one?
If it works.
Thank you!
You're really good tonight.
You know, this is the most outrageous spectacle I've ever witnessed, ever.
There's only one thing I wish. I sure gotta pee,
and there just ain't nowhere to go.
I believe we're gonna go up the country a little bit right now.
What do you think? Well, what could I think?
We're in the middle of the situation, and we make the best of it.
Yeah? It's about all we can do. Yeah.
What do you think about it? Well, we were standing on the curbs watching them come in last night, all the townspeople.
It was just like an army invading a town.
Really? It's hard to believe.
Do you live here? No, we're here for vacation.
Are you? Are you having one?
We did, up until last night. They kept us up for a while.
Who's "they"?
Freaks. Would I want to call them... No.
Is that what you call yourselves? Not freaks, I don't think...
Is that what you call yourself, really?
Sure. Why?
Well, 'cause that's what everybody else calls us.
Well, why do you call yourself that for?
Because we admit it. Compared to everybody else, we're freaks.
I don't think you are.
As long as you behave yourself, there's nothing wrong.
They seem to be having a good time.
I'm not putting bad connotations on the word "freak," you know. I'm just...
Well, does the word "freak" itself have a bad connotation?
Well, it's whatever you think about it.
The last time we seen anything like this was at the Rose Bowl Parade last New Year's.
That's right. Pasadena.
Like four ice cubes out of the bag, you know?
They wanted to buy four ice cubes?
Yeah, right.
How much were they?
I don't know. What can you charge them for four ice cubes, you know?
It's a great sh*t to Sullivan County, business wise. it's something we needed.
As far as whether it'll leave a favorable effect later besides money, we'll know when the festival is over.
They're beautiful people, beautiful people.
Well, is this festival affecting you in any way?
Well, it's kind of overwhelming us, put it this way.
In what way?
Well, just to try to get the people fed, I would say, is one of the main objectives we have right now.
All these young fellows here, they've got to be fed, and they're gonna get hungry, and I hope that they can bring enough supplies in for them.
That seems to be the big trouble, and traffic.
Actually, you know that yourself without me telling you.
What's it done for business for you?
Come on.
What's it done? It's increased it about, what?
As much as you can do, put it this way. And more.
I'll say one thing for the young people. They've been very nice, all of them, so far.
Very nice though.
It's really amazing, you know.
It looks like some kind of a biblical, epochal, unbelievable scene.
They're all, you know, like all...
You see these cars, they're strewn on the sides of the roads, from the helicopter, in all different angles, you know.
They look like jackstraws and stuff like that.
There's this continual flow of people just right in the street.
They're going along and it...
Jerry, it was all frozen, so this is all I could get.
Well, I mean, from a practical point of view, what do you think, how could they limit the crowd, you know?
Because they didn't want this many people here really, I don't think, but what could they do?
So you find the control points at the beginning of the highways, and those with tickets are allowed in, and those without tickets are not, and you have to have some control. Right.
You have to have some.
You know, when you have man-eating Marabunta ants coming over a hill in South America, if they want to cut them off and stop them from coming, they make a ditch, they put oil in the ditch, and they make a flame.
Now, I'm not saying they should put up flames to stop the people.
There has to be some way of stopping the influx of humanity.
About numbers, tell me, how many do you expect?
Two hundred thousand.
Two hundred thousand people here over the three days?
Right.
Where will you put them?
We have contracted for land surrounding the area, setting up campgrounds, water facilities, toilets, electric, food...
What does it cost to put one of these things together?
A fortune.
A fortune. Right.
And I suppose the returns will also be.
Yeah, we probably... I don't know if the returns will come up to what it's cost or not, but... Yeah.
Well, in round figures...
The point is that it's happening. A couple of million dollars.
The cost?
And in other words, you have to make $2 million to break even?
Well, if we are gonna break even, you know.
The point is that it's happened, and it's working, you know?
Yeah. That's enough for now.
What is it that the musicians got?
Are you a musician yourself? No.
What is it the musicians have that they can communicate so well to the kids?
Music!
I mean, they've always had music.
Music has always been a major form of communication, only now, the lyric and the type of music is a little bit more involved in society than it was.
I need something. Now, let me tell you, to kind of run as a voiceover when I'm showing this music on, and if you could tell me that I can run your voice over while this music's playing, what that music is saying, kind of, you know, what that's about.
It's about what's happening now, and if you listen to the lyric and you listen to the rhythm and what's in the music, then you'll know what's going on with the culture.
I gotta split on you.
Great, groovy. Thanks.
I'd like to just...
Mike hangs out here. I'd like to sh**t a little bit of him, just natural sound, while he's getting harassed and bugged. Okay?
Kind of like, "God damn it, I was gonna call you last week!"
That means you've got to call me, and I've got to get that thing into the air.
Now, I'm gonna order a five-passenger helicopter
'cause I'm really scared that the roads are gonna get jammed up.
If anybody wants any more room, shows up with more people than they're supposed to have, tell them they can drop back 15 yards and punt.
They've got about as much chance as a snowball in hell of getting a room closer than Middletown.
There's a Holiday lnn in Middletown, New York.
Testing. One, two, three, four, five.
Five, four, three, two, one. Testing.
That's it.
Carol, what's going on downstairs?
Can we get electricity on the stage, John?
Let's go! You.
Let's clear the road, please!
Let that honey wagon through.
Now, peel back. Peel back, now! Let her through.
- Come on, now. Let's go through. Everything's got room to flow here.
Please walk on the grass.
Please walk on the grass.
Hold it.
Walk on the sides of the road if you're gonna walk through here.
Let's go. - Five. Five, four...
Yeah, there's a signal coming through.
How is it out there?
We apologize for the noise of the choppity-choppity, but it seems there are a few cars blocking the road, so we're flying everybody in.
I almost made the worst pun in the world about high musicians, but we'll skip that.
You know Artie? Artie Kornfeld.
How you doing, man? I'm psyched. I'm glad to meet you.
Good to see you, man. Glad you could make the party.
It's gonna be wild, man. Wouldn't have it any other way, you know.
It's really together.
Look at the way... it really worked out nice, didn't it?
Looks fantastic! Yeah, man, the vibes are so beautiful.
Everybody helps everybody.
Yeah, today, it feels so great right here, you know?
Sure.
How could I ever live in the east side of Manhattan now after this scene?
Yeah, man, it smells like strawberries. Yeah, it's strawberry, right.
It's perfume. This?
There's a better one, actually. Wow, strawberries.
Just Like a Woman.
Let's Get Stoned.
We're in sync, but you can't hear a f*cking thing, man, because of the f*cking helicopters, man, so I'm gonna quit!
Because of the f*cking helicopters, I can't get a f*cking piece of dialog at all, man.
I'm hanging around blowing my brains out.
f*ck those helicopters.
We're getting it tied up. Two or three of the groups are in.
We're just trying to match up groups and equipment, and we'll be okay.
Can those of you in the back hear well?
Raise your hand, please. it's all right? Thank you.
Marijuana. Exhibit A.
Look at all those people! I know!
The Daily News, in rather large headlines, still costing 10 cents, "Traffic Uptight At Hippiefest."
See, if you show the picture in lndia, they won't believe that this is taken in America because their impression of American children and American ways is completely different.
All neatly dressed, and you should put hat and tie and sitting on the chairs.
That's not like this at all.
Wheat Germ, Holly has your bag with your medicine.
Please meet at the information booth as soon as you can, please.
Helen Savage, please call your father at the Motel Glory in Wood-Ridge.
Helen Savage, please call your father at the Motel Glory in Wood-Ridge.
The warning that I've received, you may take it with however many grains of salt you wish, that the brown acid that is circulating around us is not specifically too good.
It's suggested that you do stay away from that.
Of course, it's your own trip, so be my guest, but please be advised that there is a warning on that one, okay?
You gotta come this way.
Sam, can you get the monitors on?
Get some more guys over here. This is gonna be the heavy side.
Downstairs?
Richard Boch, get back to Eddie Kramer in the sound truck.
Richard Boch, get back to Eddie Kramer.
Lift up!
Does everybody want to get high?
Watch your fingers right up there! Hold it.
Okay! Let's get high.
Mr. Richie Havens!
A hundred million songs gonna be sung tonight.
All of them are gonna be singing about the same thing, which I hope everybody who came, came to hear, really, and it's all about you, actually, and me and everybody around this stage, and everybody that hasn't gotten here, and the people who are gonna read about you tomorrow.
Yes.
And how really groovy you were.
All over the world, if you can dig where that's at.
That's really where it's really at.
Turn the guitar up. Mike, please.
Guitar mike.
Mr. Richie Havens.
What better way to start than with the beautiful Richie Havens?
Yeah, it's worth it.
Just the...
Just to see the lights go on last night, man, and to see the people stand up, man, it makes it worth it.
I mean, you know, there will be people...
There's people out there that really don't dig it. Very few of them, but, you know, this really is to the point where it's just family here, man.
All box office people, please go to the main box office.
We don't need it anymore.
Somebody unplugged the line, man. Let's have a hot mike.
Number two, number three.
You are now giving the world's greatest three-day freebie.
Okay, there's only one way to do it. That's what it is.
No, there's a way to do it, man. There is no way.
The only way to do it is to get into a rap with... it's okay. Come here. Come here.
This is one thing that I was gonna wait a while before we talked about, but maybe we'll talk about it now so you can think about it.
It's a free concert from now on.
That doesn't mean that anything goes.
What that means is we're gonna put the music up here for free.
What it means is that the people who are backing this thing, who put up the money for it, are gonna take a bit of a bath.
A big bath. That's no hype, that's true. They're gonna get hurt, but what it means is that these people have it in their heads that your welfare is a hell of a lot more important and the music is, than a dollar.
Well, when they hook the electricity up, a great jolt runs all the way through there.
If you've got the ticket, you disconnect the circuit. Otherwise, you disintegrate.
Wendy and Maynard from Fair Lawn, please meet Jill in front of the stage.
George has a slight problem. He broke his arm.
That's on 42nd Street. Tiny Tim used to sing there.
Did you know that? No.
Under the name of Robert Love... Larry Love!
Here it comes.
Yes. Tell me, little girl, what's your name?
- My name is Beth Riley, and what's yours? My name is Hugh.
- How do you do? My name is Sue. I'll see you around.
Here they come. Here they come!
Yeah, yeah.
My name is Hugh Romney. I'm with the Hog Farm, and I'm working on a scene. Some people call it bum trips.
I don't think there's such a thing as a bum trip.
We're working with hobo voyages.
A half an hour after we release anybody from our section, we turn them into doctors, and they care for people that were tripping like they were when they came in.
Now, people been saying that some of the acid is poisoned.
It's not poisoned. it's just bad acid. It's manufactured poorly.
If you can find out who it is...
So anybody that thinks they've taken some poison, forget it.
And if you feel like experimenting, only take half the tab, okay? Thank you.
He loves me not.
He loves me! He loves me not.
He loves me! He loves me not.
He loves me! He loves me not.
He loves me! He loves me not.
He loves me! He loves me not. He loves me! He loves me not.
He loves me not! He loves me!
He loves me. He loves me not.
He loves me. He loves me not.
He loves me. He loves me.
Yeah!
He loves me not. He loves me not.
expl*sive! expl*sive!
expl*sive! expl*sive!
expl*sive! expl*sive!
expl*sive! expl*sive!
expl*sive! expl*sive!
expl*sive! expl*sive!
You know, the Japanese made that motorcycle.
The Japanese affected that thing over there
with the yellow robes, and you know...
Or the lndian... Eastern.
It really does a lot for the music, doesn't it, that motorcycle?
My goodness.
Hey!
Play it, man!
Yeah!
Ladies and gentlemen, Canned Heat!
Who's on?
A guy named Bert Sommers. I think Timmy Hardin's going on next.
So the order of everything just went kaplooie?
You close tonight. Anyway, you're closing, so...
Okay.
Maybe there'll be a few more people here by then.
Not like the little puny gathering like this.
I'd like to sing you a song that is one of my husband, David's, favorite songs, and let me just tell you that he's fine,
and we're fine, too,
and David was just shipped from the county jail, which is very much of a drag, to a federal prison, which is kind of like a big summer camp after you've been in county jail long enough.
See, I just now got a letter, I have it with me, about the trip from the county jail with manacles on his legs and his arms manacled to his...
Two men on each side, right? Well, I mean, it's all worth writing about.
He doesn't care, you know, and the first time he felt afraid in the whole thing, was a couple of, I guess, guards or something, started talking very loudly and started talking about the last draft case that had been through, and "that m*therf*cker," and, "We'll get you, m*therf*cker," you know?
And he prayed a little bit harder.
He wouldn't do anything anyhow, but it's not a very comfortable feeling, but nothing has happened. He's fine.
Anyway, this is an organizing song, and I was happy to find out that after David had been in jail for two and a half weeks, he already had a very, very good hunger strike going with 42 federal prisoners, none of whom were draft people, so...
Amen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Who.
The word I get is that maybe the best thing for everybody to do, unless you have a tent or someplace specific to go to, is carve yourself out a piece of territory, say goodnight to your neighbor and say thank you to yourself for making this the most peaceful, most pleasant day anybody's ever had in this kind of music.
Well, music is a thing that...
Well, you're obviously not here for the girls.
That's a good... That's a basic thing, you know?
Like, there's a lot of girls here, and they're probably a lot freer than, you know, other places, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of balling.
Will you bring your own coals to Newcastle?
Are you two going together, or are you just hitching together?
No.
We've lived together for about four months, or five months and...
With a lot of other people. With a lot of other people.
Kind of what you'd call a communal thing, or somebody else would call a communal thing.
But we just live together, and so we just decided to come down together because we were coming here.
But there's nothing... You know, no definite thing about...
We're not necessarily gonna be together throughout the whole thing.
So you're not particularly jealous of him?
No.
Are you two going together?
No. No.
But you come up here together.
Yeah. Yeah.
You like that? Yeah, I like her. I love her. I enjoy her.
What do you think about all this?
Well, the way I look at it, like, I've known Jerry for what, four or five, six months now.
When he moved into the family group that I already knew for quite a while, and in that time, I got to know him real well, and I learned to love him.
Like, you know, we ball and everything, but...
Like, it's really a pretty good thing because there's plenty of freedom because, like, we're not going together, and we're not in love or anything like that, you know.
Can you communicate with your parents?
I can communicate with them on one level now that I've been away from home for two years, and at first it was very rough.
Now, you know, they're beginning to mellow about it, you know, and it's not so hard on them that I'm the way I am, but I can't really communicate to them about anything that's really important because they just could not understand it.
My mother really lives in a lot of pain 'cause she's sure I'm gonna go to hell, and there's nothing I can do to tell her that, you know, that just doesn't exist for me, you know?
So there's no communication on those levels.
My father once asked me whether I was in a communist training camp or something in the house that I lived in.
I could understand, you know, where he's coming from because when he...
Well, he's an immigrant, you know, and so he came over here to better himself economically and socially, and all that other rot.
And make it better for me, and he can't understand why I didn't play, you know...
You know, he's saying, "Why aren't you playing the game?
"Here's all this opportunity.
"Here are all these things which have so much value," but they only have value to him, and he can't understand why they don't have value to me.
But then again, he does have wisdom enough to allow me to be who I am.
I guess he has some kind of idea in his head that I will, by doing what I'm doing, learn for myself how to live, and that's what he wants me to do, anyway.
So he can't understand why I am the way I am but he very much wants me to be that way because he knows that's the only thing for me.
He started his trip when he was four years old.
Really? Yeah.
Nothing to do with dr*gs or anything?
No. No.
Me, neither.
Do you think that's a cop out or...
I don't know. I used to be into dr*gs and I almost...
I was very heavy on dr*gs, but now it seems like it's almost contrived.
It's like dr*gs and revolution and a united front and all, you know, I'm a human being and that's all I wanna be.
And I don't want to...
I don't want to have a mass change because a mass change only brings around mass insanity.
I just want to be myself and find a place where I can maintain some kind of balance within myself, you know, and kind of like the Hamlet trip, you know, "To be or not to be".
Do you think you could ever communicate with a guy like Nixon or Westmoreland?
I hope so.
Yeah, but they're doing their thing, aren't they?
I don't know. It's like they're neurotic or psychotic or having fun as they say in... I don't know.
They'd say the same thing of you.
Yeah, right, but it's not true because I don't need all that power, you know, I can just sit here right on this roadside.
I don't have to become President of the United States, and I don't have to go all that way up. I don't have to make the climb
'cause there's nothing to climb for. It's all sitting right here.
Do you have tickets to this thing?
No.
How are you gonna get in?
Well, I don't really know. I wasn't thinking about it.
I figured, you know, once I got here, I'd see whatever happened and go along with it.
It's like people that are nowhere are coming here
'cause there's people that they think are somewhere, so everybody is really looking for, you know, some kind of answer where there isn't one, I think.
Because like, why would 300,000 or 120,000, 60,000, 70,000 people come to anything just because it's music?
I mean, was music all that important? I don't really think so.
People don't know. They don't know how to live, and they don't know what to do, and they think that if they can come here they can find out, you know, what it is, or how to maintain with it.
It's just like people are very lost, I think.
America leads the whole world in several ways.
Very recently, when I was in the East, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi met me and asked me, "What's happening in America?"
And I said, "America is becoming a whole.
"America is helping everybody in the material field, "but the time has come for America to help the whole world
"with spirituality, also".
Ladies and gentlemen, the Sha Na Na!
Harold, turn up the mike.
Now, very slowly, start coming back up.
Lower the lock and pull yourself back up.
And then keep breathing as fast as you can.
Then exhale.
And relax. Then just feel the energy.
These are all beginning exercises of Kundalini Yoga.
Yoga means union.
It's the same energy that dr*gs give you a force of rush on with.
Right? it's the same channels, only dr*gs do it for you, and this way you can do it yourself. You can do it when you want to and you don't have to score to be able to do it.
All you got to score is some clean air.
I learned it in Los Angeles, and there was only a couple of months of clean air when I was learning it.
That's hard, too, these days, but while there's still some clean air left, it'd be groovy to experiment with it like these guys who have been experimenting for at least 6,000 years and getting very high behind it.
The Kundalini nerve, it's called the nerve of awareness.
You can't dissect it.
It's a current that runs up the center of your spine.
I don't know if any of you have ever sat down and crossed your legs and smoked DMT and watched what happens, but what happens to me is this big thing goes...
Up my spine and flashes in my brain, right?
Well, apparently, that's what is gonna happen if I do this stuff and learn it.
It takes years, I guess, but this is the beginning of it.
These exercises are exercises to create those channels in your body and to free your body of blocks.
The major block is your solar plexus.
That's why we're doing a lot of Breath of Fire.
It loosens the solar plexus.
Then there are blocks in your spine and back and wherever you got blocks to keep that energy from flowing.
Go within yourself. Meditate on each breath.
Make each breath a complete breath, and if you do it right, you'll be flashing momentarily.
Just keep up, concentrate on your breathing and hold that position.
Roll your toes forward so they're pointing forward.
We're gonna leave you with the usual thing.
The only thing I can say, as I've said to many people, is this title just about puts it all into focus.
It's called With a Little Help from My Friends.
Remember it.
The Grease Band and myself thank you all much, indeed.
See you again. Beautiful.
Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Cocker.
Joe, Joe, look behind you. Look behind you!
It looks like we're gonna get a little bit of rain, so you better cover up.
If it does and if we should have any slight power problems, just cool it out.
We'll sit here with you. it'll be okay.
All right, everybody, just sit down, wrap yourself up.
We're gonna have to ride it out.
Hold on to your neighbor, man.
Please get off those towers. We don't need any extra weight on them.
Please move away from the towers. The lamps might give us a problem.
Everybody who is in the back, please move back.
Please move back. We have to get away from these towers.
Please move away from the towers.
Put the mike stands down on the floor. Cover all the equipment.
Let's keep it nice and cool.
We'll be back with Country Joe in just a second as soon as we can get set up.
Okay, so come on down off the towers.
Hey, if you think really hard, maybe we can stop this rain!
Yeah.
Please move away from the towers. Please move away from the towers.
Jody, get off the stage.
Get off the stage.
The wind is blowing this way. Please be on this side of the towers.
Everyone in the back, please move back. Just take it calm and easy.
I see it. Please move away from the towers.
What?
- Ask Steve. I don't know. I think the wind's blowing through it.
I think the wind's running through it. It's all right. Are they okay?
Please move away from the towers. In the back, please back up.
Give us some room. Go slowly, but move back. It'll be cool.
Just move away from those towers.
We don't want one of those lamps to be blown.
Please!
That's it. Everybody just help get away from the towers and clear them, and look up. Like Barry says, let's think hard to get rid of it, please.
No rain! No rain! No rain!
No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain!
No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain!
No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain! No rain!
Keep thinking it! Keep your eyes on those towers.
It's gotta blow through. Try and keep yourselves comfortable, and keep an eye on the towers.
Hey, cut the power off here, all right?
Where do you want it? - Where?
On stage. - All right. Cut...
We're gonna have to turn off the microphones for a minute.
Hang in there with us. God bless you. Watch those towers.
k*ll the power.
Let me get down here with the mike. Let me get down here with the mike.
Can I talk to you a minute?
Okay. Sure. What do you want to know?
Do you like the rain? Yeah. Yeah, it's nice.
It gets you clean.
What are you thinking about... Is this discouraging or what?
No, definitely not. It's just a little added attraction, that's all.
Well, at least you don't have to wait for clothes to get dry.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's kind of groovy. I dig it. I dig it. Yeah, it is.
Do you think it's coming off well with all these f*ck-ups or what?
Yes. it's lots of fun.
The only hassle is the mud, that's all.
The mud's a hassle.
Does this discourage you at all?
Not at all.
Or is this all right? No, it's a drag!
It's a drag? Yeah, I can't believe it.
Man. It's a goof! it's a goof.
It's insane.
Do you feel discouraged at all, or is this all right?
It's a bummer! It's fine.
Sorry. Bite of a pretzel?
Peace, brother.
Hey, baby.
Hey, are you coming back to the concert?
Yeah. Sure. Right, later. Yeah, later?
Okay, this is the real lot.
I've got something to say.
I want to know how come the fascist pigs have been seeding the clouds?
Right, for the last hour and a half.
'Cause I've seen the airplanes going over twice with all the smoke coming out of them, seeding the clouds, and I want to know, you know, why that stuff is going down, man, and why doesn't the media report that stuff to the people, man?
You want to talk about what's happened?
I'm telling you what happened. The planes come over twice and they've seeded all the clouds.
This is the second time they did this today!
People of unknown origin were seeding the clouds over the area...
I don't know what they hope to prove, man.
...in order to create a rainfall.
What's going on here?
I don't think... Yeah, yeah.
I'm coming up here and I'm all f*cking wet.
John O'Fogarty, return home immediately.
Your father has been taken for an open-heart surgery.
Please stop at the information booth right away.
John O'Fogarty, return home immediately.
Your father has been taken in for open-heart surgery.
Please stop at the information booth immediately.
You gonna head somewhere to shelter?
I don't know, man.
There's just something inside me that's...
This is a heavy thing, man, this is a turning point, man.
This is a heavy, heavy thing, man. The first Aquarian Exposition.
There it is. There it is, man.
The forecast for this afternoon is intermittent entertainment between intermittent showers.
Somebody was saying this was the second largest city in New York.
There's been no police. There's been no trouble.
If you check the statistics out you'll find that these people have lived, three hundred-plus thousand people have lived together peacefully, loving each other, feeling for each other, needing each other and wanting to make this the experience it is.
What?
They're throwing clothes out of the helicopter.
What are they doing?
They're dropping dry... They're dropping flowers and dry clothes.
Out of a helicopter? Out of a helicopter.
You said a moment ago that this wasn't the end of this festival, that this was a beginning. What do you mean, a beginning?
Well, look at it.
This is the beginning of this kind of thing.
Of this kind of thing?
Being able to see...
This culture and this generation, away from the old culture and the older generation, you know, and you see how they function on their own.
Without cops, without g*ns, without clubs, without hassle.
Everybody pulls together and everybody helps each other and it works.
It's been working since we got here, and it's gonna continue working.
No matter what happens when they go back to the city, this thing has happened, and it proves that it can happen.
That's what it's all about, you know. That's the whole thing right there.
Mr. Kornfeld, was this a financial success from the point of view of the fellows that put it on? it's sort of a financial disaster. A financial disaster.
Why do you say that?
'Cause we just opened the gates and let everybody in. it's a free festival.
It's a free festival paid for by the people who put up the money or the people that are gonna have to pay it back.
Paid for by the people who bought the tickets.
The 200,000 people, of which, probably, I don't know how many of them even got here.
No, this was paid for by all the people that brought it...
By all the people that had the thoughts that put it to the point, to get us in a position to just be a tool, like a vehicle like everybody else. Just to get it to this point.
You're in the red?
The company? Financially?
It's hard to think on those terms when you're talking about something like this.
Financially, this is a disaster.
But you look so happy. I'm very happy.
Look what you got there, man. You couldn't buy that for anything.
Sure. This is really beautiful, man.
These people are communicating with each other.
That rarely happens anywhere anymore.
It has nothing to do with money. It has nothing to do with tangible things.
You know, you have to realize the turnabout that I've gone through in the last three days.
In the last 3 million years that I, meaning us, all of us...
What do you mean, the turnabout in the last three days?
Just to see, just to really realize, what's really important.
What's really important. The fact that if we can't all live together and be happy, if you have to be afraid to walk out in the street, if you have to be afraid to smile at somebody, right, well, what kind of a way is that to go through this life?
- Marijuana! Marijuana!
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome warmly, Country Joe & The Fish.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
We're certainly delighted to be here today.
We'd like to start off our portion of the show by giving you a taste of a little something we call rock and soul music.
- Marijuana! Marijuana!
A lot of freaks.
Folk music has come a long way hasn't it, Arlo?
It used to be the walk down the road trip, you know.
It's incredible. I heard the New York Thruway's closed.
Closed?
This morning we heard that they were backed down Route 17 with an eight-hour delay!
Right. Well, the New York State Thruway is closed. it's incredible! Isn't that far out?
I don't know how many of you can dig how many people there are, man.
Like I was rapping to the fuzz. Right, can you dig it?
Man, there's supposed to be 1 .5 million people here by tonight!
Can you dig that? New York State Thruway is closed, man!
Yeah, it's far out, man.
Hey, man, I just gotta say that you people have gotta be the strongest bunch of people I ever saw.
Three days, man, three days! We just love you.
We just love you.
Tell them who we are.
They'll know if you just sing.
Hello! Test. 49, 65. Hike!
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome with us, Crosby, Stills & Nash.
A little less bottom end on the guitar, please.
All right.
- Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you. We needed that.
This is our second gig.
This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man.
We're scared shitless.
That's near enough for jazz. I'd like to say thank you again to you.
This is a thing called I'm Going Home.
(SINGING I'M GOING HOME
Ten Years After.
Please, a warm thank you for Ten Years After.
All right, friends, you have seen the heavy groups.
Now you will see morning maniac music.
Believe me, yeah.
It's a new dawn.
Yeah, the regular guys and Nicky Hopkins.
Good morning, people.
Do you usually get a dial tone on this?
Yeah, there are some toilets up around here, some of those rolling outhouses like they had in Newport at the other festivals.
You ask for somebody that doesn't exist, and then they don't accept the charges and they know you're okay.
You cheat the telephone company.
Are you okay? Yeah. I'm fine, man.
We don't take the car. We walk.
Yeah, it's the only way to get there.
What are you calling for?
Why? Because my mother wants to make sure I'm all right.
Yeah.
I'm gonna call my mother and father because they think this is gonna be like another Chicago, like I'm gonna get my head beaten in. They're terrified.
So I'm gonna call and tell them, "I fooled you. I'm alive".
You don't even have to bother bringing your tickets or anything
'cause they aren't gonna collect them.
There's no way they can.
They've got a fence that's, like, half up, and there are people just sitting in that field.
It's really beautiful.
I'll try. That's all I can say, really. You don't know how crowded it is here.
It's just swarming! What?
Out on the ground.
Yeah. it was nice. We got wet.
Yeah. All I miss is the bathtub.
Okay. Bye.
I didn't even finish dialing and they did it...
You have a two-way... it's so great in some ways and so lousy in others.
Look at the people you're meeting. Everybody is here for one purpose.
And there's no trouble or anything, but like, forget it, man.
Look at us, it's ridiculous.
It's getting worse every time.
There is no water. They said on the radio, no water, no food and no medical supplies.
Why don't we pray for rain?
They're telling everybody to go home.
They called it a disaster area.
Well, that's wrong. They called it a disaster?
They should be here... Everybody's happy!
We called it a disaster area last night. it was really terrible.
I'm fine. Me? My mother.
Hello.
Somebody may have noticed, or all of you may have noticed our familiar-colored helicopter over there.
The United States Army has lent us some medical teams
and giving us a hand.
They're with us, man. They are not against us.
They are with us. They're here to give us all a hand and help us, and for that they deserve it.
There are 45 doctors or more.
I know of at least 45 who are here without pay because they dig what this is into.
A lot of kids on acid and sh*t like that. One kid d*ed, heroin overdose.
Yeah, another guy d*ed. He was run over, I believe.
The Army's really done a great job, you know.
People out in the stands are calling them pigs and sh*t like that, and it's not right, you know.
They've done a good job.
Dr. Jack Maitland, please, with full suturing equipment, your presence is requested.
You've got a delivery to make.
Donkey!
Marilyn Cohen. Wherever you are, Marilyn Cohen, Greg wants you to meet him at the information booth
'cause he wants to marry you.
There goes Marilyn!
About how long does it take to get out, to free from where the traffic is?
Well, before it was backed up eight hours, and they've been working at it and there are still some cats that think they can come here for Sunday, you know, and they're stopping them in Monticello and all that, you know, so, like, it's really getting to be a mess.
So, you know what I'd do? I'd wait because there's no gas in the gas stations.
'Cause this is the third largest city in the world.
So I would wait, you know?
Till when? Till this traffic starts clearing up.
You know, like Monday morning. It'll be clear.
I was supposed to be in North Carolina Monday morning.
Wow. Why? Job? Work. Work, yeah.
Well, like, look, this has been declared a disaster area, 'cause I called long distance to Buffalo and asked some cats there, and they said it definitely has been declared a disaster area, so I don't think... ls there any way to get out? They're trying to evacuate it today.
They're trying to evacuate it today. How?
So maybe late tonight, you know. You know, like 1:00.
How are they gonna evacuate by 1:00?
We're not sure. I think they're trying to get all the cats in the cars and just direct the cars to get out. I mean, you can try it.
I mean, like, it's all up to you, man.
You know, but if your car gets, you know... if you're out of gas somewhere, there's no gas in the stations, we're screwed.
Yeah, I mean, like you'd be even more stuck on the highway than you are here 'cause at least here there's a lot of other cats.
I have to get out of here because there's just too many people, and I can't leave because my friends will be lost, and I can't stay here anymore. It's just too crowded!
We're only taking drastic emergencies.
You don't have any money?
Nobody up here has any money. You could eat and live here for a week without any money, so don't worry about it. I know, but I got to go back to California. You can get a ride to California, too.
You know, everybody here is in the same thing as you are, you know, and you just have to dig it and live with it.
About 30 hours, at least. Thirty hours straight?
No naps? No naps.
Are you on speed? No, I'm not on anything.
Blind Faith, right? Blind Faith is a groovy group.
Like, wow. You wouldn't believe some of the kids that come in here.
They're really spaced out. Last night, this cat comes in and he goes, "if anger is red and envy is green, what color is jealousy?"
And, I mean, he's really spaced out, and you don't go around f*cking people's heads up when they're spaced out.
So I go, like, "Black, right? 'Cause jealousy's poison," and he goes, "Yeah, but it's gotta be something else than that," and I go, "Green, because after all, jealousy is like envy. Right?
"Except that envy is over things and jealousy over people, "and a lot of people treat other people as things," and he goes, "Wow. Groovy," and he walks off, and I never saw the cat.
Another cat comes up and he asks me to tell him about his wild eyes.
His wild eyes?
Did he have wild eyes? Yeah, he was speeding.
It was really groovy, and all the people that come up here are asking, you know, if we can page their freaked-out friends.
I mean, like right now, I'm missing my sister.
I lost her. She was on mesc, and I lost her during Richie Haven's performance.
I got her tickets home. I haven't seen her since.
She's all right. Sure she is.
It's just that I'd like to see her so I can get home in time, 'cause, like, she's got to be back Monday for court.
Otherwise, you know, I wouldn't care.
Otherwise, I'd probably let her hitch home.
City McGee, please come immediately to backstage right.
I understand your wife is having a baby. Congratulations.
John Sebastian.
Boy.
This is really a mind fucker of all times, man.
I've never seen anything like this, man.
I mean, you know, there was Newport, right? But they owned it.
It was something else.
Wow. Just love everybody all around you, and clean up a little garbage on your way out and everything gonna be all right.
Yeah, man, and Chip, my man, Chip, you're doing so well, man.
He says to look out for the fence, too, man.
You have to look after the fence.
The press can only say bad things unless there ain't no f*ck-ups, and it's looking like there ain't gonna be no f*ck-ups.
This is gonna work.
I'd like you to hear a tune about, I guess about those discussions that I was talking about that I seem to have had in so many small circles of friends around living rooms, around pipes, when they weren't selling no papers on the street, and we weren't walking around this beautiful green place smoking and not being afraid.
There's a cat, and I really don't even know his name, but I remember that Chip said that
his old lady just had a baby, and that made me think, "Wow, it really is a city here".
But this is for you and your old lady, man,
and that kid's gonna be far out.
Help me.
No, it's not true because we're doing it. I love you. Goodbye.
Ladies and gentlemen, John Sebastian.
Give me an "F!"
F!
- Give me a "U!" U!
- Give me a "C!" C!
- Give me a "K!" K!
- What's that spell? f*ck!
- What's that spell? f*ck!
- What's that spell? f*ck!
- What's that spell? f*ck!
- What's that spell? f*ck!
Sing it!
Louder!
All right!
All right!
Ladies and gentlemen, Country Joe McDonald!
Volume, please.
Sir? Do you live here? Yeah?
I sure as hell do.
Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?
Yes, sir, I'm right here to answer them.
Great. Have you been affected by this festival at all? In any way?
What? We lost all of our milk. First of all, where are you folks...
Do you represent...
We're trying to put together a film to show what the whole picture was like.
From all sides, not only...
We're here to see how you feel about it.
Do you want me to explain it in plain English?
A shitty mess. Turn around and tell me. In what way?
No bathrooms.
Our 150 acres are all... No bathrooms.
And we didn't rent to them. They all trespassed, every one.
Ma'am.
Clarence, first tell me where you want this to go.
Can I ask y'all a question? Yes.
Is it okay if we use your telephone?
We have none. it went out.
This is a disaster area. We don't even have a phone.
It's been out since yesterday morning.
Do you have any water? Yes, water I can give you, and I'm sorry the phone has been out. I have emergency calls to make.
It's a disgraceful mess, if you want to know the answer.
What, specifically, has happened to you?
My fields are all cut up. Our second cutting of hay is gone.
Our cows, the milk truck couldn't get here. The milk had to be thrown out.
May I ask you how much money you made on this four days of...
I have no conception of...
- Did you make $5,000? I have no idea how much money.
Is that too private a question?
It's not only too private, I didn't even have a chance to total up the amount of purchases we made, the amount of money we took in.
We just haphazardly sent it to our home and had it locked up until we had a chance to sit down and count it, which would probably be in about two to three days.
Yeah? Would you like to see it again next...
- I'd love to see it again. Give me some singles.
You'd love to see it, though?
Well, I can't say the farmers would.
Well, it's a matter of opinion.
What about all this garbage here?
What are your feelings about the garbage?
Where there's people, there's garbage.
You can't stop progress.
Saturday night we got word over at WVOS that a lot of kids in town didn't have anything to eat.
Word went out that everybody should contribute food.
We went over to the park and the village permitted them to camp there.
A police car went up the street here with a loudspeaker and told the kids to come up there.
We fed them Saturday night, all day Sunday.
Excess stuff was taken over to the school and they flew it to the site.
How do you feel about them now?
Very good. I have a 19-year-old myself.
He's out on the coast, and I felt that we've got to give them a fair shake here.
If kids are hungry, you've got to feed them. I don't know...
They're all on pot. Maybe we ought to put everybody on pot.
I'm on 17 B, and these kids were all happy. They were all on pot.
Well, whatever it is... it never should have happened.
If pot makes them happy and no trouble, maybe we ought to put all the adults on pot. How about the morals?
You want a 15-year-old girl sleeping in the field in a tent?
What are you, out of your mind? It never should have happened.
Do you feel bad about the kids who were k*lled in Vietnam?
This has nothing to do with Vietnam. That's the same thing.
Nothing at all to do with it. There's no comparison.
People got more excited about the kids in Monticello than they do about... it never should have happened. Why not?
Fifteen-year-old kids sleeping in the field?
They wanted to sleep there, that's all. They're all high on pot.
Look, if pot made them peaceful, maybe we all should take pot.
I was giving them water all along the road here, right up on the bridge, and they were not on pot.
Very lovely children, believe me.
There was enough stuff there. There's no doubt about it.
They had hundreds of kids in the hospital there.
If you have 450,000 kids and you've got two or 300, and somebody was...
They were selling these... My kid with blue acid tablets, which are bad, and they were selling them.
True, but figure the law of averages.
If you took 500 adults and brought them together and had plenty of booze, you know what would have happened?
You didn't see any drunks? That's right.
There was no fighting. Nobody stealing.
We had to feed them. What the hell else was there to do?
There was nothing else to do.
Having a good time?
Very nice.
The water's nice. Hmm.
We were all sitting on a tree stump over there.
The more people go on it, the lower it goes.
About a year ago, I wouldn't have believed this was the way to swim, but this is the way to swim.
It's the way to go all the time, actually.
Think that's gonna happen?
Yes, it's got to. It's gotta happen.
You go walking down the street where all the cars were coming in, and it's just the first day, and it was just beautiful.
Everybody's free. Everybody's talking.
Everybody's really nude.
I don't think people come here to get uptight.
They come here to dig what's going on, and even if they don't get into the festival, it's just a groove being with all the people.
You know, you realize all over the country, they're coming together.
You realize that you're not the only people in your city who are doing the things you are, that they're everywhere.
We're taking over.
I think the body is beautiful.
I think skinny-dipping is just beautiful if you want to do it, if you can do it.
But some people can't because their environment made them, you know, feel that it's wrong.
Even though they know in their subconscious that it's right.
You know, it's good and normal and natural, but we've been made to feel that it's wrong.
Row, row, row, row, row. Row, row, row, row, row.
All right, just stop. Let's sing them a song.
All right. You ready?
I want a middle position.
Well, I don't want a front one.
Where is it?
No, I haven't done this too often before.
Get it pointed in the right direction.
Where did I miss? Any big spots?
Your cheekbone. Here?
Why don't you tell me something really interesting?
I can't when you're standing there with the microphone.
Don't worry about it.
Don't let it intimidate. It's just a microphone.
I know, but it's very intimidating.
Just tell me something that you'd like anybody to hear.
Wow. I don't know.
What did you think about the kids?
From what I've heard from the outside sources for many years, I was very, very much surprised, and I'm very happy to say we think the people of this country should be proud of these kids.
Notwithstanding the way they dress or the way they wear their hair, that's their own personal business.
But their inner workings, their inner selves, their self-demeanor cannot be questioned.
They can't be questioned as good American citizens.
That's kind of surprising coming from a cop.
- I'm not a cop. I'm a Chief of Police. Thank you.
We've got one more tune for you.
It's called Soul Sacrifice.
Just keep that going.
Ladies and gentlemen, Santana!
What we would like to do is sing a song together.
Now, you see, what usually happens is you get a group of people that might sing, and for some reasons that are not unknown anymore, they won't do it.
Most of us need approval.
Most of us need to get approval from our neighbors before we can actually let it all hang down, you see?
But what is happening here is we're gonna try to do a sing-along.
Now, a lot of people don't like to do it because they feel that it might be old-fashioned, but you must dig that it is not a fashion in the first place.
It is a feeling, and if it was good in the past, it's still good.
We would like to sing a song called Higher, and if we could get everybody to join in, we'd appreciate it.
Everybody's grooving and can...
What I'd like you to do, is say "higher" and throw the peace sign up.
It'll do you no harm.
Still again, some people feel that they shouldn't because there are situations where you need approval to get in on something that could do you some good.
Now, if you throw the peace sign up and say "higher," get everybody to do it.
There's a whole lot of people here, and a whole lot of people might not want to do it because if they can somehow get around it they feel there are enough people to make up for it, and on and on, et cetera, et cetera.
We're going to try Higher again, and if we get everybody to join in, we'd appreciate it. it'll do you no harm.
Way up on the hill, let's try it one time, y'all
How are you all... I mean, how are you out there? Are you mellow, are you okay?
You're not...
You're staying stoned, and you've got enough water, and you've got a place to sleep, and everything?
It doesn't turn me off, man
Good morning.
What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000.
Now, it's not gonna be steak and eggs or anything, but it's going to be good food, and we're gonna get it to you.
It's not just the Hog Farm, either.
It's like the Ohio mountain family and the Pranksters, and everybody else that has volunteered and put in their time into the free kitchens. In fact, it's everybody.
We're all feeding each other.
We must be in heaven, man!
There's always a little bit of heaven in a disaster area.
So, if you want to make it back to your campsites, we'll try and get the food to you, or if you're staying here, we'll try and get the food to you.
Now, there's a guy up there, some hamburger guy, that had his stand b*rned down last night, but he's still got a little stuff left, and for you people that still believe that capitalism isn't that weird, you might help him out and buy a couple of hamburgers.
Okay.
Okay, here it comes. Mess call.
Good morning.
There's the left side of the audience, stage right here, that wants to be fed, has got to slowly move it through the forest to the Hog Farm where we've got about 17 lines going to serve with, and if you start some lines going through the forest, you'll wind up going into a line that'll take you right to where all the food is being served.
Ellen Hayman, to the front.
Jim McLean, please go to the pink and white tent hospital as soon as possible.
And kissing builds up your mouth.
Richard Moss and Barbara, meet us at the information booth.
Cort Ritcher or Greg Hollander, go to the Ferris wheel at 12:00.
Greg's sister has his medicine.
Okay, Gayle, wow, S-I-R-I-N-C-I-O-N-E, meet your daddy-o at the first aid station near the security office.
Gayle Sirincione.
If you got food, feed other people.
Bugsy, to the pink and white tent. Keep feeding each other, and if you're too tired to chew, pass it on.
We have a gentleman with us.
It's the gentleman upon whose farm we are, Mr. Max Yasgur.
Is this on?
I'm a farmer. I don't know...
I don't know how to speak to 20 people at one time, let alone a crowd like this,
but I think you people have proven something to the world.
Not only to the town of Bethel or Sullivan County or New York State, you've proven something to the world.
This is the largest group of people ever assembled in one place.
We have had no idea that there would be this size group, and because of that, you had quite a few inconveniences as far as water and food and so forth.
Your producers have done a mammoth job to see that you're taken care of.
They'd enjoy a vote of thanks.
But above that, the important thing that you've proven to the world is that a half a million kids, and I call you kids because I have children that are older than you are, a half a million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music, and have nothing but fun and music, and God bless you for it!
Jimi, I love you!
I see that we meet again.
Yeah, all right, all right.
Thank you.
Woodstock (1970)
Moderator: Maskath3