As the Bible says To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose underHeaven. Woodstock 1969, it was a time for love .
.. and hate. In a country with raceriots and the Vietnam war a single dove perched on a guitar neck changed America forever and brought a new light to the world in just 72 hours. Dubbed three days of peaceand love the legacy of Woodstock spawned a sequel..
.Woodstock 1999. To go into allthe differences between Woodstock 69 and Woodstock 99 is a task that couldnt becompleted by Woodstock 2004(which is already in the works). From psychedelic fieldsto Wall Street; materialistic movers and shakers of the 1980s and 90s; are our parentsreally the long hairs of love and peace , half stoned music lovers of the sixties? Whendid it all change when did they change? Woodstock and what happened there afterpresents the changes in the views of society in a microcosm. The love and peace in 69 toa aggressive show of teenage angst in 99; what has the legacy of Woodstock reallybeen Free love and communal sharing to the hyper merchandising and materialism;Idealism to Disillusionment. How we have changed.
..can we ever make our way backto the garden?In comparing these two event one must realize the decades which separates themand more importantly what has taken place in the world since 1969. The people who werein attendance in 69. were not part of the instant access world.
computers were forscientist not a tool for spanning the glob to speak about everything from the latest music tosex with your cyber friends in Australia. America was the still unquestionable thechampions of the world coming out of World War II and Korea. Every child couldlook forward to doing as well or better than his or her parents. In other words Americawas riding high in a golden age with only one major pitfall; Vietnam. How does ageneration tell the last generation of warrior that they dont want to fight. The warstarted by the older generation is not their war.
They ban together or they come togetherin what can only be described as a happening the proportions of which no one couldhave predicted. The peaceful shock waves of which were heard around the world, theharmony and love of which we have been trying to recapture since.The two events started the same way producers and promoters getting talent forthe show and figuring how much to charge and how much they would make. The securitywas minor at Woodstock 69 who was going to storm the gates and fences installed, littledid they know. They hiked rides they walked they came from all across the country anddown came the fences.
This wasnt going to happen in 99 they knew word was outsecurity was tight. No one would get in without tickets. the attendance, Woodstock 69,expected attendance 150,000 actual attendance 450,000, 99 350,000 actual 350,000.One of the most common comparisons made between Woodstock 69 andWoodstock 99 is that in 69 peace reined and violence was gone, in 99 the media madeit seem like there were all out terrorist acts being committed and teenage angst was thecause of fires and pillaging of concession stands. This is not entirely true. The onlyreason the events at 99 seemed so terrible was because the media was to busy comparing99 to 69.
The original Woodstock was a music festival for peace love and music. It wasduring the time that the Vietnam war was going on. Mothers were sending there childrenoff to war. On the news you would see stories of women being raped and men beingkilled.
The war was away from home, there were clear sides...the good guys and the badguys (strawberryfaygo,3). People know who and what to fear.
Now today the war is athome, its everywhere you look.No longer can we be sure of who to trust and where issafe, the lines are blurred(strawberryfaygo,2). We commonly see people opening fire oninnocent people in schools, businesses, and churches. And the sad thing is it isntparanoia, its reality. This is what caused the angst, this is what caused the fear, this iswhat caused the hate.
Considering the world we live in today, Woodstock 99, as horribleas the media made it, was a more fitting Woodstock for our times.If Woodstock 69 was about peace and love and it just grew out of the need of theteens of the time to get together, then it is fitting to say that it can never be duplicatedthere came a point ,(when it became a free concert) that it burst forth as a one time event.Woodstock 99 was about profits the groups were there just for the money and photo-ops.Everything at Woodstock 99 seemed contrived , less then genuine. Whetherit was the security guards with Peace Patrol on their shirts or the girls who took offtheir tops every time the Pay-Per-View cameras went passed.
Now instead of a peacefuldove resting on a guitar neck, a vulture seems more appropriated(Bederka,11).Woodstock 99 was all for profit. A 3 day ticket for Woodstock 69 was $150 as apposedto $18 for a 3 day ticket in 69, or you could stay at home and pay $135 dollars to see thewhole event on Pay-Per-View. In 99 advertisers invaded Woodstock. There where over150 concession stands. There was everything from Taco Bells to Cinabons.
One of thebiggest advertisers was Pepsi cola. Its logo was on every cup. At Woodstock 69 therewas a shortage of food and people starved for 3 days but stayed because they were drivenby the need to commune. At Woodstock 99 it seems that the people were starvingbecause the prices were so outrageous.
A bottle of water was between $5-$10. Thegoing rate for food was about 4 dollars. No matter what it was 4 dollars was the goingprice for popcorn, hot dogs, churros, etc.The world has turned, times and the economy has changed, but most of all thepeople are cynical and it is that cynicism which has made it and will always make itimpossible to recapture all that is embodied by Woodstock 69. Vietnam is passed thesoldiers returned, but, this time they did not receive a heros welcomes. The war was notwon; the war effort had not been supported by the people or the government; our bravefighter who had fought and died for the first time in our history were betrayed.
This eventwas perhaps the greatest blow our country has ever receive, and it came from within. Wewere with this fragmented into those who were for, those who were against, those whofought and those who ran. We became the society of whats in it for me and with thatwe lost something great. With this loss we lost idealism. The government lies, we sawthis the first time as a people in Water Gate, another show and this time on national T.
V.of how everybody is out for them selves. Drugs, kill! Maybe its not news but it is nowcommon place, you didnt hear about it so much in the sixties. Drugs were mostlyorganic not cooked up in someone's kitchen. Dealers prey on anyone down to theyoungest and kids are even dealing. My piece of the pie? Does this sound cynical? Itreaches us all.
This is why the innocents, communalism, feeling of oneness that wasWoodstock can never happen again. It is also why Woodstock 99 is only a name. The useof the name itself shows an effort to get cover the pure money making goal of its backers.Its all money and getting my piece of it.
Killer concert yes, truly Woodstock, neveragain. Can we ever find our way back to the garden? Hasnt happened since Adam andEve, but keep hope there are a few of us true believers still out here
