performed just five songs: “St. Stephen,”
“Mama Tried,” “Dark Star,” “High Time,”
and “Turn On Your Lovelight,” a finale
that turned into a 40-minute jam. The
band—most of whom were high when
they went on stage—knew they’d essen-
tially bombed and requested that their
set be excluded from the Woodstock
album and film. “Jeez, we were awful—
we were plumb atrocious,” Garcia
remembered. “Some built their career
at Woodstock,” Weir said. “We spent a
decade trying to forget it.”
AFTER WOODSTOCK: Their shabby
outing at the festival did nothing to
dim the Dead’s reputation as an iconic
rock band. Singer and keyboard-
ist McKernan, who tended to eschew
drugs but drank so heavily that it
destroyed his health, died at 27 in 1973.
Cofounder Garcia, certainly the pub-
lic face and guiding spirit of the group,
died of a heart attack at 53 in 1995 after
a long period of physical decline. The
group then disbanded, though surviv-
ing bandmates have reunited occasion-
ally and continue to perform.
Creedence Clearwater
Revival
1–1:50 AM
With hits like “Proud Mary,” “Bad
Moon Rising,” and “Green River,” the
bluesy pop-rockers from San Francisco
(not the Bayou) were one of the nation’s
hottest acts in 1969 and perhaps the
most hotly anticipated name on the
Woodstock bill. But it sure didn’t seem
that way when, CCR—John Fogerty
(lead vocals, guitar, and composer);
his rhythm guitarist brother Tom;
bassist Stu Cook; and drummer Doug
Clifford—began their 11-song set at
one a.m., a few hours after the Grateful
Dead had left the stage. “I’m rocking
and screaming,” John Fogerty recalled,
“and about three songs into the set, I
look out past the floodlights, and I see
about five rows of bodies intertwined—
they’re all asleep! I just looked out there
and I said, ‘Well, we’re up here having
a great time. I hope some of you are,
too.. .’ It was sort of like a painting of a
Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all
intertwined and asleep. And this is the
moment I will never forget as long asI live: a quarter mile away in the dark-
ness... there was some guy flicking his
Bic [lighter], and in the night I hear,
‘Don’t worry about it, John. We’re with
you.’ I played the rest of the show for
that guy.” After 10 songs, the crowd had
come alive, demanding an encore—the
rockabilly standard “Suzie Q.”AFTER WOODSTOCK: CCR kept banging
out hits, but internal conflicts broke up
the band in 1972. Things got especially
acrimonious between the Fogerty
brothers, who had come to a tenuous
reconciliation by the time 48-year-old
Tom died in 1990 of complications from
AIDS due to a tainted blood transfusion
during back surgery. A successful solo
performer for decades, John still tours
and records at 74.Janis Joplin
2:30–3:30 AM
The voice—raucous, gutsy, blues-
tinged—is unmistakable, the broad
face and wild, russet locks instantly
recognizable. Janis Joplin was a born
rebel, a Texas twister who roared into58 LIFE WOODSTOCK