It was 41 years ago today,August 18th, 1969 that the Woodstock Music and Art Fair wrapped with Jimi Hendrix’s incendiary set after more than three days of music in Bethel, New York. More than 450,000 people converged upon the small upstate town to hear rock’s biggest bands perform. Although Woodstock was neither the first nor last major festival concert, the fact that the youth of America were able to congregate in one place with no violence during one of the most turbulent years of the decade, gave birth to the notion of the “Woodstock Nation” and gave a voice — and a face — to the hippie ideal.

The first day of the festival served to ease the crowd into the music and feature folk groups. The headliner the first day was Joan Baez, who talked about her expectations during the helicopter ride to the grounds: http://blogs.wroq.com/files/2010/08/Joan…

Creedence Clearwater Revival performed on the second day of Woodstock, when the bill featured harder rock acts. CCR’s Doug Clifford recalled the feeling of the crowd at that time: http://blogs.wroq.com/files/2010/08/CCRs…

Photographer Elliott Landy was commissioned by Michael Lang, one of the festival’s organizers, to take photos of the three-day event. Chances are if you’ve seen a photo from the festival, Landy was the one who took it.

Landy said he believes that Bob Dylan had a huge influence on the transformation of the now-legendary small town in upstate New York http://blogs.wroq.com/files/2010/08/Elli…

Pete Townshend has been able to look back on the experience with the clarity that hindsight provides, and he explains what he felt then, and what he’s learned since:
 http://blogs.wroq.com/files/2010/08/cr08…

He still regards the Who’s 1969 Woodstock as a watershed event in the Who’s live career:
 http://blogs.wroq.com/files/2010/08/Pete…

Artists who performed at the legendary festival included Joan Baez, Country Joe McDonald & the Fish, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Mountain, Janis Joplin, the Who, the Band, Canned Heat, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Grateful Dead, Sly & the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Sha Na Na, John Sebastian, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Joe Cocker, and many, many more.

And Jimi Hendrix!