WOODSTOCK AT 50
81
THE BAND
The Canadian-American group
that backed up Bob Dylan were
based in nearby West Saugerties,
N.Y., and popped over to play
Sunday night. “We played a slow,
haunting set of mountain music,”
Robbie Robertson (right) told
Rolling Stone. “We lived up there,
near Woodstock, and it seemed
kind of appropriate from our point
of view. We did songs like ‘Long
Black Veil’ and ‘The Weight,’ and
everything had a bit of reverence
to it. Even the faster songs
sounded almost religious.”CROSBY, STILLS,
NASH & YOUNG
The helicopter that brought them
to Yasgur’s farm made a hard
landing—a fair metaphor for the
band’s volatile dynamics. This was
one of only two times all four
played live together. And while
Neil Young appeared on the 1970
single “Woodstock” (written by
Graham Nash’s then-girlfriend
Joni Mitchell, who skipped the
festival to do a talk show), he
wasn’t feeling it. “Woodstock was a
bullshit gig,” Young told Jimmy
McDonough in the biography
Shakey. “Everybody’s carried away
with how cool they are.”