Woodstock: the myth, the legend

Local man reflects on attending Woodstock From CTV Kitchener's Daryl Morris: In 1969, Mike Gentile and his future wife took a road trip that would become the trip of a lifetime.

It was on Aug. 13 1969 just after 5:00 p.m. that Woodstock began in Bethel, New York.

The most celebrated festival in music history has captured the minds and hearts of music lovers ever since.

The magic of Woodstock came from the fact that there had never been anything like it.

“It was this thing that happened in the summer of 1969, and at the height of the Vietnam War protest movements, at the height of the hippie movements,” said Alan Cross, music historian and host of The Ongoing History of New Music.

The timing and the political landscape contributed to the buy-in from festival goers, but that wasn’t the only thing that lent to its success.

“When you look back at the quality of the performers that were there, and you look back at the legend of 600,000 people showing up at Max Yasgur’s farm… it just became part of rock history,” he said.

Attempts to recreate the success and reverence of Woodstock have been made over the years.

Part of what makes Woodstock so great, however, is that the memory is so fond.

“The thing about Woodstock is that the myth is bigger than the actual truth,” Cross said.

Rain and mud, water and bathroom issues and traffic jams caused a scene that is often overlooked when considering the standing of the great rock festival.