Woodstock 1969: High Times
Related Content
Due to weather-related days and a desire to have the crowd exit in an orderly fashion, Sunday’s show was extended into Monday morning. By the time Jimi Hendrix appeared, most of the attendees were on their way home. Hendrix—wearing jeans, a white leather jacket with heavyduty fringe, and a pinkish red scarf, wrapped around his carefully coiffed Afro—stepped onto the stage and introduced his ensemble, an untested band assembled just weeks before and about to make its first-ever performance.
BILLY COX [Hendrix] got in touch with me and told me he needed my help very desperately. I just dropped everything here in Nashville and I went to New York and we got together. We did some other small jobs down in the Village and some other places. But otherwise we constantly stayed in the recording studio, coming up with ideas for songs.
We found out that there was this festival that was fixing to happen in Woodstock. We just thought it was going to be an ordinary event; we didn’t realize how astronomical it was going to be. We rehearsed in Chopin, New York, which is maybe 15 minutes away. We got together with Larry Lee, a guitar player who was a friend from years gone by, Mitch Mitchell, Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez on congas, and Jimi and myself.
The band played a dozen songs that morning, including “Message to Love,” “Spanish Castle Magic,” “Foxey Lady,” and “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).” Although the crowd had thinned to about 30,000, according to one estimate, Hendrix played as if the festival was at its peak. In a sense it was, thanks to his incendiary show, which culminated in Woodstock’s high point: his solo performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
COX I remember specifically when he did “The Star-Spangled Banner.” If you listen to the first five or six notes, I’m playing with him, and then I said, “Wait a minute, I better get out of this—we didn’t rehearse this.” And what a performance! What a solo! I’ve never heard another to compete with it. We did not have a set list; we just followed Jimi’s lead. We never rehearsed that at all. I will never forget that, and that will always stay with me and be on my mind.
Three songs later, Hendrix was done, and Woodstock was history, immortalized in not only its albums and film but, more significantly, the empowerment of a generation and the transformation of society.
Related
You Might Also Like...
davegs
December 16, 2009 at 8:23am
Hendrix on the original woodstock cds is awesome. I'm getting the new documentary soon about the concert. They had some guys on tv recently talking about how they organized and filmed it with plans to release a video back then. It was really interesting to see and hear some of the funny stories that took place during and after woodstock, especially about the farmers suing those guys because their cows didn't produce milk for a while after. I can only imagine what those cows were given.
elliew
November 27, 2009 at 1:20am
If I'm just as popular as these great stars, I could have paid all my debt with my money from gigs. Debt consolidation is a well known management strategy that combines existing debts into a new single loan called a consolidation loan. Many debtors secure consolidation loans from banks or credit unions. Most consolidation loans have a fixed term, generally 3 to 5 years. While consolidation loans do have advantages, note that new debts you incur after getting one will not be included in your consolidation loan payments.
jameandrew
November 18, 2009 at 3:55am
I agree tibler os full of lies and you cannot trust him.i have gone through many articles on him but i didnt find anyone to believed but some person thinks other way round.
regards Jame Tulsa Oklahoma
Little Rock Patio Furniture
capitanes
October 06, 2009 at 10:33pm
come get some fretty!!@!!
and please explain to us why you invest so much time and interests in trolling the internet and posting these types of comments on nearly all new articles about woodstock. Do they pay you that well? Or perhaps eliott pays you by other means??there is a reason why tiber is not mentioned in the vast majority of credible articles (at least befor teh hollywood lie). it is because this guy is as full of bs as yasgurs farm was back in the good ol days.
capitanes
October 06, 2009 at 10:25pm
fretblaster1972 obviously works for Eliott tiber. I have read many articles on woodstock and this guy is everywhere, adding to the propaganda surrounding the music festival. "Truth" be told, Artie Kornfeld found Yasgur's farm, and if you ask any of the woodstock co-founders, Tiber is full of lies and is trying to capitolize on everything. Taking Woodstock was a Hollywood story and is in no way factual in any means of the sense of "truth". Maybe fretblaster1972 simply does not know the truth, or maybe he just doesnt want to know the truth.
fretblaster1972
September 16, 2009 at 10:37am
While I loved Mr. Fornatale's new book on Woodstock BACK TO THE GARDEN (although the b&w photos were not very high-quality), I feel it must be pointed out that an important part of the Woodstock '69 story is missing in this article. Woodstock would not have happened if not for Elliot Tiber - the Bethel Chamber of Commerce President who called Mike Lang and the others with an offer to use his concert permit after the town of Wallkill was looking to throw Woodstock Ventures off their land. Fornatale mentions Tiber in his book and outlines his involvement in helping to secure Yasgur's Farm as the site - and Woodstock Ventures wound up setting up offices at the El Monaco hotel (an admittedly broken-down and failing motel off Route 17B that Tiber owned with his parents). Elliot Tiber's story is told in Ang Lee's new film TAKING WOODSTOCK (based on Tiber's book of the same name) . . . and those who want an even richer sense of the beautiful vibes that Woodstock brought to a little town named White Lake near Bethel would do well to learn about Tiber's story.
Latest News
-
1 hour 31 min ago
-
1 hour 44 min ago
-
1 hour 53 min ago
-
2 hours 37 sec ago
-
2 hours 14 min ago
-
2 hours 44 min ago
-
4 hours 17 min ago
Connect with Guitar World
Featured Content
In the Magazine
