Woodstock is the most iconic music festival of all time, and the festival that arguably modeled the formula for every music festival to come after it. There are a plethora of reasons as to why this is the most famous music festival of all time, but when you break it down to the nuts and bolts, there is one reason: the lineup.
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The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Santana, Janis Joplin, and Joan Baez are just a few of the musicians who played the festival. Thanks to the acts that graced the stage over four days, Woodstock has been revered throughout the years. However, imagine how iconic it would be if these three major acts made their way up onto the festival’s stage.
The Doors
Jim Morrison and The Doors were at the height of their powers in the late 1960s. That being said, it seems their inclusion in Woodstock would be a given. Well, it was, as they were invited to perform at the festival. According to Ray Manzarek, they turned it down because they didn’t believe in the festival’s potential.
Regarding their decision to opt out of the festival, The Doors’ keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, stated in 1996, “We never played at Woodstock because we were stupid and turned it down. We thought it would be a second-class repeat of Monterey Pop Festival,” via CBS.
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell intended to play Woodstock, but her manager encouraged her to opt out for The Dick Cavett Show. Given the time frame in which both events transpired, Mitchell’s manager reportedly deemed it logistically implausible to do both. Evidently, Mitchell agreed to the appearance and appeared on the show on the day after Woodstock on August 19, 1969.
Even though Mitchell did not perform at Woodstock, she entrenched herself in the festival’s lore by writing the song “Woodstock”. The song would go on to become a classic for not only Mitchell, but also for Crosby, Stills, & Nash.
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin at Woodstock? Why in the world did that not happen? Well, it didn’t happen because Led Zeppelin’s manager, Peter Grant, turned down the offer as he believed the band would just be another band in the lineup. Jimmy Page attested to this on Jimmy Fallon in 2010, as he stated, “Our management thought we would be typecast.”
Grant’s reasoning is fairly valid, as Led Zeppelin were on the come-up in the States, and to play Woodstock would potentially pigeonhole them into a certain demographic. Regardless, that weekend, Led Zeppelin didn’t play too far away from Bethel, New York, as they played a show at the Asbury Park Convention Hall in New Jersey.
Photo by Edmund Teske/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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