Friday left the crowd exhausted, but looking for more. A motionless field was peppered with life around 8AM, hippies making friends with neighbors as they awoke, ahead of the second day of Woodstock.
According to Robert Spitz’s Barefoot in Babylon, Director of Operations Mel Lawrence, would wake the crowd up with a rousing “GGOOOOOD MOOOR-NINGGG” followed by:
Sorry about that. Let’s try that one again. Good Morning. Thank You. Listen, last night was incredible, and we just wanted to let you know that everything’s okay. No hassles. We’re going to have another groovy day today and into the night and tomorrow.
I just need your help with one small favor. We’re going to pass out these bags now so that we can keep our home clean. We’ll hand them out to those of you on this side of the bowl, and I’d appreciate it if all of you over there will toss your junk in and pass the bag on until it gets over to the other side of the field. Some of the guys from the Peace Service Corps will pick them up over there and get rid of that stuff for tyou.
We’ve gotta keep this place liveable so we can prove to the rest of the world that we can make it to together in peace and comfort. And we’re gonna do it too.
Mel Lawrence, with intermittent cheers from a quickly awoken crowd.
A day of heavy-hitters would perform on Saturday, including The Who, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Santana among them.
Santana’s appearance has always been regarded as one of the highlights of the festival. According to Spitz, with 92′ heat and 97% humidity, the bowl had turned into a sauna, and emotions, fueled by boredom from early performances from Quill, Country Joe McDonald, John Sebastian, and Keef Hartley Band, were heating up. Santana jolted the crowd to their feet, making his mark on the festival and providing an electrifying bridge to the rest of that day’s performers.
The Who would not perform until 3:30AM on Sunday, playing well into the morning. The set was famously interrupted by activist Abbie Hoffman who stormed the stage to say:
This festival is meaningless as long as John Sinclair’s rotting in prison!
Abbie Hoffman at Woodstock
Hoffman was dispatched from the stage by Pete Townshend, who used his guitar to escort Hoffman into the photographer’s pit.
Jefferson Airplane hit the stage at 8:30AM on Sunday, with a set that paralleed the exhausted corowd. Much of the audience was passed out even as the hits “Volunteers” and “Somebody to Love” rounded out the set. At 10AM on Sunday, the music would take a break, for a few hours.
Watch performances from 13 of the 14 artists who performed at Woodstock on August 15, 1969.
Quill
Country Joe McDonald
John B. Sebastian
Keef Hartley Band
Allegedly, Hartley’s manager demanded payment up front for the rights to record or film the band. Thus, they were never included in any Woodstock footage until 2019, when the full Woodstock set was released.
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