Graham Nash shares his Woodstock experience: 'It was both primeval and futuristic' JimmyDean 50thAnniversary
Graham Nash and David Crosby of the group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young performs on stage at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival, Bethel, New York, August 17, 1969.We were in New York City with Joni Mitchell, and Elliot Roberts [who managed both CSNY and Mitchell] decided that Joni shouldn’t go toon TV. It’s one of the great credits to her as an artist that she was able to write the song “Woodstock” without having been there.
I thought we did a lousy set. When you consider playing acoustic guitars to 400,000 people and trying to reach to the back of the crowd with songs like “Guinnevere,” it was absurd. But we certainly gave it our best shot. Sure, the “Suite” was a little out of tune, but so what? The next day, back in New York, it was like, “Did that really happen? Was it just a giant acid flash or a hallucination?” It was only later that I began putting it into perspective. It was a coming of age, a flowering of a generation of kids who decided they could take responsibility for their own lives and affect their destiny, that they could coexist with a few hundred thousand other people and not get into violent scenes and have a great time.
A lot of us in the years since have shied away from the Woodstock myth. It’s like, if you were at Woodstock and you’re enthused about it, then you’re a ’69 hippie, you’re to be discounted. But there’ll never be anything as good as Woodstock, because it was the first and the best. I don’t think you can re-create that. There was a certain glow about the Sixties, a certain naiveté and exploration, an excitement for the future that doesn’t exist anymore.
A version of this story was originally published in the August 24th, 1989 print edition of Rolling Stone.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ava DuVernay, Niecy Nash Celebrate ‘When They See Us’ Emmy Nominations at J.J. Abrams-Hosted ScreeningAva DuVernay and the cast of her most recent project “When They See Us” celebrated their Emmy nominations with a special screening of the limited series Sunday night. The four-part Netf…
Read more »
Emmys: Mandy Moore and Niecy Nash on Maternal Roles, Multiple Time Periods and Feeling Seen by the IndustryThis Emmy season Mandy Moore is seeing her first-ever nomination — for her role of matriarch Rebecca of the Pearson brood on NBC’s family ensemble “This Is Us.” Meanwhile, N…
Read more »
Ava DuVernay, Niecy Nash Celebrate ‘When They See Us’ Emmy Nominations at J.J. Abrams-Hosted ScreeningAva DuVernay and the cast of her most recent project “When They See Us” celebrated their Emmy nominations with a special screening of the limited series Sunday night. The four-part Netf…
Read more »
No Chaos This Time as Woodstock Concert Site Preps for 50th AnniversaryWoodstock will be celebrated on its 50th anniversary, but it won’t be your hippie uncle’s trample-the-fences concert.
Read more »
Woodstock Remembered: Baron Wolman on Photographing the Legendary FestOur first chief photographer Baron Wolman discusses Woodstock's highlights and photographing the legendary fest JimmyDean 50thAnniversary
Read more »
Original Woodstock Site Restricted on Anniversary WeekendThe site of the original Woodstock festival, which is now Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, was deemed too small for the ill-fated 50th anniversary festival, which went down in flames last month af…
Read more »