The photo below shows the Indian religious teacher, Satchidananda Saraswati, conducting the opening ceremony at the festival. In a way to set the tone of this momentous event, he was also instrumental in bringing Eastern philosophies to the West.
It was a beautiful way to open such a special event, and Saraswati inspired the hundred thousand-plus crowd to chant in unison and be captivated by his words.
Performers Had to Be Flown In Because They Couldn’t Get Past Traffic
The festival’s first scheduled performer was the band, Sweetwater, but they were stuck in traffic and didn’t make it on time. In order to get things going, Richie Havens started playing, and he played for hours. At one point, after running out of his own songs, he started to play Beatles covers and even made up a song that later became known as a sort of Woodstock anthem, called “Freedom”.
The festival organizers had to fly in performers on a helicopter in order to finally give Havens a break!
Joni Mitchell and The Rolling Stones Didn’t Attend, but Santana Did
Santana was one of the many legendary performers that attended Woodstock. However, there were many other famous musicians that the organizers tried to get to perform, but they opted out. For example, Joni Mitchell, who was a hippie movement icon of the time, was convinced by her manager not to attend because she was scheduled to perform on a TV show shortly after.
Funny enough, also attending the TV show were Stephen Stills and the late David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, who did perform at Woodstock. And for those of you asking what she based her iconic “Woodstock” song on, it was about her boyfriend’s experiences at the festival. The Rolling Stones were another huge band that didn’t make it to Woodstock. Mick Jagger was filming a movie at the time, and Keith Richards and his wife had just had a baby.
Another View
Here we have another view of just how big and expansive the crowd was at the opening ceremony. Swami Satchidananda first came to America in 1966; Yoga was mostly unknown here.
Health food stores only contained bottles of vitamin supplements and photos of bodybuilders. When people heard of the word yogi, they thought of a popular cartoon. All this changed when Swami Satchidananda arrived, and since his appearance at Woodstock, his ideas and teachings slowly seeped throughout America.
Waiting for the Bus
Like all music festivals, Woodstock showcased the younger generation wearing the new styles — from bell bottoms and crop tops to knit dresses. Here we see a group as they wait for a bus to take them to the festival grounds.
Fashions of the era represented youth, from the colorful outfits that reflected vibrant optimism and expressed a romantic yearning for an equal society.