W
what if the beatles had played Woodstock?
Legend has it that they were asked to headline the
show but turned it down because John Lennon
insisted on a spot for Yoko Ono’s band. Others
blamed Lennon’s inability to get a visa because of
a drug arrest. The more likely reason was that the
band was mired in the Abbey Road sessions and
had sworn off playing live three years earlier. Still,
when it was all over, Lennon marveled, “ It was the
biggest mass of people ever gathered together for
anything other than war. Nobody had that big an
army.” Indeed, the peaceful gathering of more than
400,000 on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the upstate
town of Bethel, N.Y., were treated to 32 acts—in-
cluding Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin and
the Grateful Dead. For more than three days they
were surrounded by electrifying music, torrential
rain and astonishing amounts of mud. But where
physical discomfort (not to mention some bad
acid trips) could have led to mayhem, by many
accounts the promised “3 Days of Peace & Music”
delivered. “People down to one sandwich would
see the guy next to them with no sandwich and
split it,” recalled David Crosby, who played with
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. “Woodstock pulled
the very best out of us.” And when Hendrix fi nally
took the stage 12 hours late at 9 a.m. on Monday
morning to bring things to a close with a blistering
two-hour set, his searing, electric version of “The
Star-Spangled Banner” felt like a benediction.
76 THE BEATLES 1969 PEOPLE
Only 40,000 fans remained
when Hendrix took the stage
at 9 a.m. Monday to play an
18-song set that included an
incendiary version of the
national anthem. His death
13 months later made him a
psychedelic saint; this
performance made him an
icon. “That single guitar, so
piercing and pure,”
Woodstock photographer
Henry Diltz told Today.
“Huge speakers bouncing
sound off the hillsides,” then
“an eerie, misty silence.”
