I wasn't at Woodstock, but I was at "Woodstock." So, too, can you be on this 40th anniversary of the event billed as "The Aquarian Exposition" by renting Michael Wadleigh's macrocosmic concert film headlining Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone and The Who (plus an audience of 400,000). Or by renting Tony Goldwyn's microcosmic A Walk on the Moon, an emotionally- and erotically-charged film with Diane Lane, Viggo Mortenson and Anna Paquin set in 1969 about a Generation Gap-defining mother and daughter who attend the concert, separately and surreptitiously, with their boyfriends. And I look forward to Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, due in theaters August 28.
Your favorite Woodstock performance? Movie? Defend your choice. I wasn't much of a The Who or Sly and the Family Stone back in 1969 (my tastes ran towards Baez, Hendrix and Santana), but looking at the film again for the first time in 39 years, I was overwhelmed by how much The Who ("Feel Me") and Sly ("Higher") distilled the flower power of the moment. For me, both Woodstock, made in 1969, and A Walk on the Moon, in 1999, are time capsules -- one captured at the moment, the other looking at 1969 through the kaleidoscope eyes of 1999.
Both happened long before I was born, but I always thought that the Monterey Pop Festival seemed like a better concert, and that D.A. Pennebaker's concert film "Monterey Pop" was better than "Woodstock."— AMC4232- There is a lot of overlap in the talent at both festivals: Hendrix, The Jefferson Airplane, The Who and Janis Joplin. If memory serves, "Monterey Pop" is blessedly short and "Woodstock" something of a slog. While it's probably not fair to compare a shapely event with a happening, I also like "Monterey Pop."— carrierickey
- Just saw and liked Festival Express.
- I love the sound of Crosby Stills and Nash. The announcements are just as much fun to listen to also. And I'm looking forward to Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock too!— mariopd
- It's not a performance, but the person from the Woodstock movie who stays with me is a young girl, probably about 19, working at an aid station. She's helping people who really need it, and she knows how to do her job, but the weariness in her eyes - which doesn't come simply from being on her feet a long time - let's us know she's not buying all the Utopia hoo-hah that was being promoted at that event. (I'm also a fan of "Monterey Pop," much preferring it to Woodstock" both musically and cinematically. But the real gem from the Sixties is "The T.A.M.I. Show." I'd pay a lot to have the original version on DVD.)— wwolfe
- The Tami Show (1964) is sensational -- electric performances from The Rolling Stones, James Brown, The Supremes and the amazing Marvin Gaye. Friends have told me that you can spot Teri Garr as a go-go dancer. Likewise the underknown Wattstax (1973), with Isaac Hayes, Richard Pryor and The Staples Singers.— carrierickey
- Sorry to reply so late, but as a Woodstock attendee, it's always amazed me what a selective and unrepresentative view of the festival was shown in the film. That's not exactly surprising and is the result of all sorts of factors (e.g., there was a lot to cover; business considerations such as releases from bands to use material). The split screen stuff really gets on my nerves. My favorite performance in the film was Arlo Guthrie's. My least favorite was Joan Baez's. My favorite performances at the actual festival were Canned Heat's (anyone who was there will tell you how great they were), Country Joe McDonald's solo acoustic performance (impromptu and rain-occasioned), Creedence Clearwater Revival's set. Mountain, then a new band, played while I tried to find my way back to my group from the Port-a-Sans (disgusting beyond belief) in the dark. They sounded reassuringly like Cream.— ccjroberts
- CCJ: One of the reasons that "Woodstock" is unrepresentative of Woodstock is that Warner Brothers, the studio releasing the film, pressured the filmmakers to showcase Warner/Reprise recording artists.— carrierickey
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