Editorial

Maybe we can’t go back to the garden

Posted 8/7/19

We’ve already romanticized about the magical summer of 1969 and its many pleasant diversions from the harsh realities of a nation divided by the Vietnam War. We were thrilled by the moon …

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Editorial

Maybe we can’t go back to the garden

Posted

We’ve already romanticized about the magical summer of 1969 and its many pleasant diversions from the harsh realities of a nation divided by the Vietnam War. We were thrilled by the moon landing and cheered some astoundingly improbable achievements by two of New York’s professional sports teams: the Jets pulled off a stunning upset in the Super Bowl and the Amazing Mets won the World Series.

The most symbolic moment of the era occurred not far from here in a rolling farm in Sullivan County. Woodstock defined a generation: the youth of America coming together for three days of peace, love and free music. In reality, it was three days of rain and mud and clogged roads that led to a venue that was, in the words of one music critic, “overwhelmed and underprepared.” It wasn’t supposed to be a free concert, but there was no way that the concert promoters were going to be able to collect tickets once the perimeter fences were knocked down, so they stopped trying.

“And as hundreds of thousands of people continued to arrive, the music and mythologizing began,” wrote Jon Pareles, music critic for the New York Times, “along with the rain, the mud, the giddy sensation of being part of an unexpected multitude….. the sheer implausibility of the whole event.”

In the 50 years that passed, we’ve come to realize that “Woodstock Nation,” a phrase coined by political activist Abbie Hoffman, was not a political movement, it was merely a moment in time. Subsequent attempts to recreate the event in 1994 and again in 1999 were not successful, and subsequent large-scale music festivals like Altamont, a few months later, were a disaster. And it was announced just last week, that Woodstock 50 with a contemporary lineup that included Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, and Imagine Dragons would be cancelled after promoter Michael Lang had run into financial difficulties and failed to secure a venue. Those are recurring issues that have always threatened the Woodstock brand. This time they were too much to overcome.

It’s just as well. The currents that met in Bethel NY in the summer of 1969 are now light years removed from that time and place. Today’s concertgoers are a different breed, willing to pay a hefty price for a concert ticket in a venue that has running water and concession stands.

For the sentimental music lovers among us, it’s worth noting that Santana will be playing in Bethel Woods – site of the original festival – on August 17, exactly 50 years to the day after his memorable performance that was one of the highlights of the Woodstock movie. Ticket prices range from $80 for lawn seats to $227 for covered. It seems that nothing is free anymore.