Woodstock '89 or "The Forgotten Woodstock" was a

rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The coin ...

that took place in August 1989 on the site of the original

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

concert of 1969 as a spontaneous celebration of the event's 20th anniversary. The event began with a single

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

guitarist, Rich Pell, who came to the site."10,000 people celebrate Woodstock spirit again". Rockland County ''Journal-News'', August 20, 1989. Pell was given permission to organize the show by Charles and June Gelish, who owned the property.Steve Israel – ''The Times Herald Record'' With the help of Will Hoppey, Pell organized all aspects of the concert from ordering water trucks to working out who would perform on the stage. Rich also emceed the festival. The whole event was spontaneous. Anyone was invited to perform regardless of skill levels, and the majority of performers were lesser-known bands.

Wavy Gravy Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. (born May 15, 1936), known as Wavy Gravy, is an American entertainer and peace activism, activist best known for his role at Woodstock, as well as for his hippie persona and counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural be ...

, the Woodstock All-Stars, and Al Hendrix, the father of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

, appeared at the concert. Wayne Thiel played a small set of Hendrix material shortly before Al Hendrix came onto the stage. The band was called "Head First". The gathering took place on the same days in August as the original festival, even though in 1989 this fell in the middle of the week. A total

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth ...

occurred during the concert on the night of August 16–17. Musicians worked the lunar eclipse into performances; one sang his own version of

Man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

's "Call Down the Moon". The actual performer "calling down the moon" was Jack Hardy in his song "The Hunter". Although the property owners briefly attempted to charge $5 for parking, and a few people had made up simple T-shirts and simple food to sell at the event, there was virtually none of the commercialism that later marked the

Woodstock '94 Woodstock '94 was an American music festival held in 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969. It was promoted as "2 More Days of Peace and Music". The poster used to promote the first concert was r ...

and

Woodstock '99 Woodstock '99 (also called Woodstock 1999) was a music festival held from July 22 to July 25, 1999, in Rome, New York. After Woodstock '94, it was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original 1969 Woodstock fe ...

concerts. The event had not been promoted other than by word of mouth, and at first it appeared there would be no stage, no lighting, and few performers until volunteers began bringing them in. Food and beverages were not sold; participants brought their own supplies and bartered with each other. By the weekend the stage and sound system had grown to accommodate the large crowd. Members of the band Ice Nine (John Gaechter & Vince Lisanti) supplied their PA system and organized people to help build a larger stage. Performers included

Melanie Safka Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (born February 3, 1947), professionally known as Melanie or Melanie Safka, is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for the 1971–72 global hit "Brand New Key", her cover of " Ruby Tuesday", her compositi ...

and

Savoy Brown Savoy Brown (originally Savoy Brown Blues Band) were an English blues rock band formed in Battersea, south west London, in 1965. Part of the late 1960s blues rock movement, Savoy Brown primarily achieved success in the United States, where they ...

, as well as many local artists including Will Hoppey, Ice Nine, Rich Pell, The Psychedelic Kitchen, Target, Billy Mitchell, and Jack Hardy. The concert was recorded by Barry Benson and was available as ''20th Anniversary Festival: A Musical Documentary of Woodstock '89''. "An estimated 150,000 people passed by, or stopped to participate in the celebration of the 1969 concert," as reported by the ''Sullivan County Democrat'' on August 22, 1989. Because participants were allowed to park vehicles next to their tents all across the site except in the main performance area, much of the field that was so densely covered by people in 1969 was filled again by this event, but this time by cars, psychedelic buses and upscale RV's as well. Santana declined to play Woodstock 89 but would resume at Woodstock 94. ABC's morning program ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' broadcast live from

Max Yasgur Max B. Yasgur (December 15, 1919 – February 9, 1973) was an American farmer who was the owner of a dairy farm in Bethel, New York, where the 1969 Woodstock musical festival was held from August 15–18, 1969. He sold his farm in 1971 and ret ...

's Farm, interviewing

and

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

References

External links

* http://stationunlimited.com/archives/3 – Pictures and 90 minutes of interviews from Woodstock '89
Woodstock Museum
{{Woodstock 1989 in the United States Rock festivals in the United States 1989 in music 1989 in New York (state) Woodstock Festival 1989 music festivals

See also

References

External links