Here we have another view of just how big and expansive the crowd was at the opening ceremony. Swami Satchidananda first came to America in 1966; Yoga was mostly unknown here.
Health food stores only contained bottles of vitamin supplements and photos of bodybuilders. When people heard of the word yogi, they thought of a popular cartoon. All this changed when Swami Satchidananda arrived, and since his appearance at Woodstock, his ideas and teachings slowly seeped throughout America.
Joni Mitchell and The Rolling Stones Didn’t Attend, but Santana Did
Santana was one of the many legendary performers that attended Woodstock. However, there were many other famous musicians that the organizers tried to get to perform, but they opted out. For example, Joni Mitchell, who was a hippie movement icon of the time, was convinced by her manager not to attend because she was scheduled to perform on a TV show shortly after.
Funny enough, also attending the TV show were Stephen Stills and the late David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, who did perform at Woodstock. And for those of you asking what she based her iconic “Woodstock” song on, it was about her boyfriend’s experiences at the festival. The Rolling Stones were another huge band that didn’t make it to Woodstock. Mick Jagger was filming a movie at the time, and Keith Richards and his wife had just had a baby.
A Spiritual Opening Ceremony
The photo below shows the Indian religious teacher, Satchidananda Saraswati, conducting the opening ceremony at the festival. In a way to set the tone of this momentous event, he was also instrumental in bringing Eastern philosophies to the West.
It was a beautiful way to open such a special event, and Saraswati inspired the hundred thousand-plus crowd to chant in unison and be captivated by his words.
Waiting for the Bus
Like all music festivals, Woodstock showcased the younger generation wearing the new styles — from bell bottoms and crop tops to knit dresses. Here we see a group as they wait for a bus to take them to the festival grounds.
Fashions of the era represented youth, from the colorful outfits that reflected vibrant optimism and expressed a romantic yearning for an equal society.
Traffic Jams
On August 13, two days before the festival's start, there were already traffic jams caused by the exodus of people making their way to the festival grounds in an attempt to get there early and grab a spot before it gets too crowded.
Woodstock's organizers had prepared for a crowd of 150,000, but by the second day of the festival, somewhere between 400,000 to 500,000 had already descended upon Max Yasgur's dairy farm.