about it: In the middle of a dairy farm-
er’s field at four in the morning, this
pioneering, multiracial, funk-soul-
rock-psychedelic band led by a spec-
tacularly charismatic singer and
multi-instrumentalist, all decked out
in spangles and fringes, was whipping
hundreds of thousands of people into a
frenzy. Hugely successful, thanks to hits
like “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday
People,” and “I Want to Take You
Higher,” Sylvester “Sly” Stone and his
Family did not disappoint. Far from it,
many considered their set the apex of
Woodstock. “I got to witness the peak
of the festival, which was Sly Stone,”
Carlos Santana said. “I don’t think he
ever played that good again—steam
was literally coming out of his Afro.”
The highlight was a call-and-response
during “I Want to Take You Higher.”
Stone would shout “Higher!” into the
crowd, and the attendees, as journalist
Ellen Sander wrote, “boomed back with
the force of half a million voices at their
loudest... joyously, desperately, armsSan Francisco, made her name with
the psychedelic band Big Brother &
the Holding Company, and emerged
as a breakout performer of the 1967
Monterey Pop Festival. By the time she
got to Woodstock, Joplin had achieved
superstar status, but she was also
bedeviled by addiction to heroin (and
by her notorious trademark guzzling
of Southern Comfort). Those excesses
likely marred her gig at Woodstock—
believing she’d be on earlier, Joplin had
spent hours drinking and drugging
before she and her Kozmic Blues Band
unleashed a 10-song set at 2:30 a.m., and
the singer likely wasn’t at her best. “I
was a little disappointed,” Michael
Lang wrote. “Of course, Janis’s voice
was as amazing as ever, but she kept
turning around to give directions to
the other musicians.” The pumped
concertgoers didn’t seem to mind,
though, as Joplin belted out songs such
as Gershwin’s “Summertime,” and Otis
Redding’s “I Can’t Turn You Loose,”
during which she kicked off her shoes
and danced barefoot while saxophon-
ist Cornelius “Snooky” Flowers took
the lead. Lang wrote, “Her devastat-
ing testifying on ‘Try (Just a Little Bit
Harder)’ and ‘Work Me Lord’ crushed
the audience, and they begged her not
to stop.”AFTER WOODSTOCK: Joplin’s mete-
oric life and career came to a crashing
end scarcely more than a year after
Woodstock; on October 4, 1970, she
was found dead of an accidental heroin
overdose (maybe impacted by alcohol).
Joplin was just 27, the same age as Jimi
Hendrix, who had died just a couple of
weeks earlier. Her biggest hit, a cover
of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby
McGee,” was released posthumously in
1971—and her legacy endures both as a
towering and influential talent and a
tragic, cautionary tale.Sly and the Family Stone
4–5 AM
There was something otherworldly