What do you remember about Woodstock?

I was a young impressionable teenager in 1969. I remember that most of the music was so different then what I was listening to ( which pretty much was the Beatles) My biggest memory was of my best friend bringing over her newly purchased Woodstock album and playing it for me in my room as loud as could be. Although we loved it, my Father did not. By the time Country Joe&the Fish came on, he’d had just about enough. He took that album right off the turntable and flung it outside just like a frisbee. I thought my friend was gonna have a stroke. Needless to say, after that, we never listened to that album at my house!

I don't remember Woodstock at all. I was only 4 years old 😉

I wasn’t allowed to go to Woodstock. Not by my parents, but by the Army, who insisted (after drafting me out of law school) that I attend Basic Training instead. So I spent those 3 days (and many others) doing soldier things in the 180° heat of Fort Gordon, GA. Surprisingly, about a year later I saw Woodstock (the movie) at a movie theater at Fort Riley, KS. I guess the Army liked good music...

In August 1969, I was 15 years old living in New Jersey.  My parents sent me to an overnight camp in New York state.  Two of my friends came too.  It was a camp for the performing arts; I was into theater at the time.  One of the planned field trips was to Woodstock!  My parents didn't have a clue what it was all about but I was totally excited.  So that's how I got there.  On a bus with chaperones and everything.  I remember nothing about chaperones once we arrived but at this point some of my memories are rather hazy.  I had a great seat in front of the tall speaker tower to the right of the stage.  I was glued there--the music was absolutely incredible.  Best music memories:  Joan Baez singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Santana because I'd never heard anything like them before; Sly & The Family Stone; Janis Joplin.  We left on the morning of the third day, having had enough of the mud and rain.  I love that I was there, treasure the memories, and feel very fortunate to have had the experience of a lifetime there.  And I'm so glad I wasn't my parents, who were terrified reading about it all in the New York Times!

We left Hartford on Thursday afternoon. Ran into a lengthy traffic jam/party.

I had my mother’s '64 Tempest convertible, with a large cooler full of beer in the back seat (very cool for 19 y/o's) 

We camped in a pasture about a mile away from the festival site, or so it seemed.

Most vivid memories are listening to Jefferson Airplane around a camp fire and Joe Cocker in the rain & the mud. There are snippets that occasionally pop up, but the rest is pretty much a haze, purple I’d guess.

I recall walking to the festival grounds Saturday morning and getting a festival printed newspaper, explaining what was going on and declaring the festival to be the 3rd largest city in New York! That would have been something to save.

My mom knew we were going to a music festival, but totally freaked watching the news about Woodstock. She would frequently mention that I took her beautiful car to Woodstock! My brother totaled it the next year.

I still have my tickets and stay in touch with the guys I went with.

I remember watching the news accounts and various film clips of the traffic jams, the rain and mud, people playing in the mud like children, people looking stoned, and others just hanging out taking it all in. It looked like they were all having fun. They were also reporting some of the difficulties that organizers were having to get performing acts in and out, sometimes shuffling schedules, but the artists were all cool about it. And then there was the Jimi Hendrix moment. That one got played a lot! 

Late July of 1969 my boyfriend and I heard about this amazing concert that was to take place in New York in mid-August.  We lived in Minneapolis so it was quite far for us.  As we discussed thoughts about going, we also were making plans for our wedding in October.  We decided we should not spend the money to attend the concert, plus getting time off work would be a problem with additional time off for our wedding.  We really wanted to attend and reflecting back it would have been amazing.  Much more fun than my wedding.  I had friends who were able to go and was able to listen to their stories about Woodstock.

While I didn't get to go to Woodstock, I remember how amazing that all these people assembled there to listen to all those great musical acts, and how there were no problems.  Remarkable because 1968, the year before Woodstock, was so tumultuous with the assassinations of RFK and Martin Luther King, as well as the Chicago 7 at the Democratic Convention later in the year.  I felt we had turned a corner and the world was looking  somewhat better!

I didn't go, and have regretted it ever since, despite the negatives that we've all heard over the years (the mud, the drugs, the fact that often one was NO WHERE NEAR the actual stage...!).  So, when it came up, I did have a chance to go-but with this big guy I'd just met. He seemed nice enough, but, no.  Didn't seem like something I'd want to do, esp. since was sure there was a price..somewhere down the line, IF you atch my drift....  Still, I wish I had gone just for that unique experience...

I wanted to go to The Woodstock Concert but my college roommate was getting married that weekend. He had gotten wounded in Vietnam Nam. So my young wife & I went to his wedding. But I loved the music from the concert so much that my wife & I moved to Woodstock, NY a year later. We also lived on a commune in Woodstock where many musicians lived. We had a great time being there!