The 1969 Woodstock Festival has gone on to become a mythological event for future
generations. Many have tried to recreate the success of the seminal concert festival,
which was immortalized on film in the 1970 documentary Woodstock. In more recent years,
many have argued that the idyllic image of the 1969 Woodstock Festival that was perpetuated by
the subsequent documentary is false. According to them, the festival was actually a pretty
miserable event for the people that were there, and for a variety of reasons! Join
Facts Verse as we take a look at everything wrong with the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
The 1969 Woodstock Festival has gone down in history for a variety of reasons,
though those that were there have since claimed that the festival might not have been
all that it was chalked up to be. While the festival is often
thought of as having been an idyllic-free love experience for attendees, many who were there
actually claim that attending the festival was like being inside of a nightmare!
There were numerous things wrong with the 1969 Woodstock Festival, with the
majority of the festival’s flaws coming down to poor planning.
Those in charge had no idea how many attendees would come out for the festival,
meaning they weren’t prepared for the event that ended up unfolding. While the outdoor concert
event certainly created some memorable footage and launched the careers of some notable musicians,
those who were actually there likely weren’t having as good of a time as some may believe.
Many will likely have heard that the 1969 Woodstock Festival was free to attend,
but that wasn’t the intention. In fact, tickets to the festival were originally
supposed to cost a little over $20 at the door, which isn’t that far of a cry from
the price of an average festival ticket nowadays once you factor in inflation.
Though the event wasn’t supposed to be free, those in charge did not plan on the massive
number of attendees that would come to the event looking for tickets. In addition to there simply
being too many attendees looking to get into the festival, matters were made worse when a group
of anarchists tore down the festival’s barriers, allowing anyone in the area free and easy entry.
Despite the organizers' intentions, the 1969 Woodstock Festival ended up being completely open
to the public. When there was no control over the number of people being let into the festival, it
led to a variety of other issues. The massive amount of festival attendees quickly consumed
all of the food and water available, leading to a shortage throughout most of the festival.
The organizers had taken the cheap route of hiring some local hippies to cook up hot dogs,
but there simply weren't enough hot dogs to go around. They tried to solve the problem by
increasing the prices of the hot dogs, but that did little to satiate the hunger of the crowd.
John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival has recalled the distaste he
felt when he arrived at the festival and saw that attendees were being charged for water,
which he thought didn’t fit with the supposed “free love” message of the festival.
Water became so sparse during the festival that the price for a glass went from being
only a couple of cents to a full dollar, which was ridiculous given the value of
a dollar in those days. Although the 1969 Woodstock Festival may have accidentally
become a free event, you needed to have some cash on you if you wanted to eat or drink.
In addition to food and water shortages, the massive crowds of people that had shown up for
the 1969 Woodstock Festival also caused traffic jams that made life a living hell for not only
the attendees but also for the people that lived in the area where the festival was taking place.
People in the area had been convinced to allow the festival to happen, thinking it might be good for
business, but they had no idea how insane things were going to become. Once the festival started,
many who lived in the area found that they were essentially forced to stay in their houses.
There were so many people at the 1969 Woodstock Festival that it has been
estimated that there was only one toilet for every 1,000 festival attendees. Of course,
it didn’t take long before people started finding other means to relieve themselves,
and one can imagine that much of the muddy waters making up the swampy area became infested with a
good deal of sewage over the course of the event. This is perhaps part of why the area where the
concert festival took place has since been labeled hazardous! If you’re enjoying this video so far,
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It should go without saying that there was rampant drug use at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. There
were hippies holding signs advertising tablets of acid for only a dollar, and those attending
claimed that it was nearly impossible to consume any food or water without accidentally getting
dosed with the drug. There were reportedly over 700 drug overdoses over the course of the event,
though there were thankfully only two deaths as a result. Still, the ideal death count for any
festival should be zero. In addition to the two deaths from drug overdoses, there was also an
incident where a sleeping festival attendee was run over by a tractor. The tractor driver was
trying to pick up the massive amounts of trash that had been left behind by attendees and had
tried his best to clear the area of people. Still, there was apparently one festival
attendee left behind. By the time that the driver realized what had happened, it was too late.
While 700 drug overdoses may seem like a ridiculous sum, there were even more foot
injuries! There were reported to have been nearly 1,000-foot injuries that had to be treated over
the course of the 1969 Woodstock Festival due to the fact that its hippie attendees refused to put
on shoes. Other notable mishaps that occurred at the festival include a handful of alleged births,
including one that was supposed to have taken place during one of the festival’s infamous
traffic jams. However, no one has ever come forward and claimed the title of being one of
the children birthed at the festival, so there has yet to be any proof that these births occurred.
While there have only been three confirmed deaths that occurred as a result of the 1969 Woodstock
Festival, there were almost many, many more! During the festival, an exposed electrical cable
had been walked over one time too many by festival attendees. By the time technicians realized what
was going on, the wire was so exposed that it could’ve sparked mass electrocution of
the audience! The people running the festival were afraid that the crowds would riot if they
turned the power off, but they thankfully were able to fix the problem before people died.
Still, it was a stroke of luck that kept the death toll from becoming a great deal larger.
Despite all of the many problems that occurred at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, one might
think that it would’ve been worth it for the musical performances alone. However,
not all of the musical performances were as great as the iconic few that were featured in the 1970
documentary Woodstock. For every hit performance, such as the one from legendary guitarist Jimi
Hendrix, there was a dud, such as the one from the Grateful Dead. Although the Grateful Dead was
certainly a skilled live band, unfortunate events related to the festival itself made
their set a disaster. Similarly, the festival found many other bands out of their element.
The Who's Pete Townsend was notoriously incredibly agitated during his time at Woodstock, and
the band was not in the best mood when they finally went on stage at five in the morning.
While the 1969 Woodstock Festival may not have been all that it was cracked up to be,
it was nowhere near the disaster that the 1999 Woodstock Festival was. In retrospect,
many feel that the idyllic and false image of the 1969 Woodstock Festival’s success
has led others to try and recreate it. The false image perpetuated by
the 1970 documentary Woodstock glossed over the fact that the festival was only kept from
being a monumental disaster by pure luck. The 1969 Woodstock Festival was no dream,
but it could’ve been much, much worse given the lack of planning and many of the dangers involved.
When the 1999 Woodstock Festival proved to be an unmitigated disaster with riots and rampant
amounts of sexual assault, people saw this as a sign that the times had changed over the 30 years
since the original iteration of the festival. However, many others felt that the disaster of
the 1999 Woodstock Festival was more emblematic of the inherent flaw of the festival’s concept.
As more recent festival disasters, such as those that occurred at the Fyre Festival and
the 2021 Astroworld Festival, have further shown,
it’s important to know what you’re doing when it comes to events that feature giant crowds!
Another iteration of the Woodstock Festival was planned in 2019 for the original festival’s 50th
anniversary and was to be dubbed Woodstock 50. However, the festival was canceled during the
planning stages because too many people involved realized that it was simply a poor concept.
The 1969 Woodstock Festival may have seemed like heaven on earth from the outside looking in,
but being there was more like being inside of a nightmare than a dream for many involved. Now it’s
time to hear from you: did you know that the 1969 Woodstock Festival was a giant mess, or did you
always assume that it had perfectly encapsulated the ideals of the hippie movement that preceded
it? As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification
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