Hygiene is Overrated

To most people who don’t understand the hippie movement, hippies are nothing but lazy and dirty kids who don’t want to have a job. Naturally, the counter-culture youth of the ’60s was nothing like that. They just didn’t share the values of the preceding generation.

Staying clean all day is fairly easy when you’re living comfortably at home. But when you’re a freedom-loving youngster camping at an overcrowded festival site, getting rid of the dirt underneath your feet is hardly a priority. Still, festival-goers did their best to keep nice and clean, and this improvised hose happened to be very helpful.

Can’t Get Any More Cooler Than This

The conversation between these two remains a mystery. Yet, this picture shows just how cool some of the Woodstock attendees were. This young couple could be starring in a modern-day Bonnie & Clyde with their cool bike, black boots, and leather jackets.

Part of what made Woodstock so fascinating was the youth culture of the ’60s. Whether you’re 60 years old or about to celebrate your 13th birthday, the men and women at Woodstock look as cool as ice. We will never know what these two were plotting, but there’s a solid chance it was something rad and inspiring.

Long-lasting Trends

Although hippie fashion is extremely recognizable, there were different sets of hippie trends and styles during the ’60s. This stylish young woman is making a fashion statement with her all-black attire. It even features a couple of leather accessories and the bell pants that would become a trademark of the ’70s.

The toned-down style of this woman, as well as most of the ’60s fashion trends, would later be revived by the fashion industry. Large belts, beam necklaces, and bell pants have all enjoyed a comeback over the last 1 or 2 decades. This proves that fashion is cyclical and that the ’60s were a great source of inspiration for the designers.

A Place For Everyone

Unlike most music festivals, Woodstock was a place for everyone. Although the festival was centered around rock & roll music and hippie culture, people of all ages and cultures joined to attend the massive celebration. Even children were given a chance to experience Woodstock.

In this picture, a teenage boy and a young girl dance with their eyes closed amidst the crowd. While many outsiders have criticized the festival at the time, Woodstock stood out as more than just a symbol of the ’60s counter-culture youth movement. It was a generation-bending celebration for the entire humanity to enjoy.

Loved By An Interesting Crowd

In this Woodstock photograph, a small crowd waits for the next concert while relaxing in a lounge-like area. For three days, the American youth adventurously gathered to camp at the Bethel farm site. Most people traveled to the festival by car. Some even used the classic hippie-styled Volkswagen trucks of the ’60s.

Free space was a rarity at Woodstock, but the crowd was always able to find a place to lay down and get some rest. The number of Woodstock attendees surpassed all of the organizers’ expectations. Yet, the event miraculously ran quite smoothly.

A Bright Future Ahead

The ’60s was a time of spiritual reconnection. It was influenced by the popularization of old philosophical practices coming from the Orient. America’s youth from those days antagonized the materialistic views that characterized the previous decade. Remember all those fridge and car commercials from the ’50s?

The hippie movement couldn’t care less about having possessions and living a normal suburban life. In this picture, two young women use a chopped tree as a table to engage in a tarot card reading. While psychic reading is considered pseudo-science by most, it played a great part in influencing the hippie generation of the ’60s.

Engaging In A Family-Like Event

The Woodstock youngsters were the sons and daughters of an American generation tainted by the fear of war. They were nothing like their parents. They didn’t believe in the concept of individual possession, and they loved to share all sorts of goods with friends and strangers.

In this picture, a group of festival well-doers gathered inside a Woodstock tent to cook a meal for the rest of the Woodstock community. Over half-a-million people attended the festival, but it was still pretty much a family-like event. After all, everybody could be considered a friend.

Making Use Of Whatever Nature Gives You

Waiting in line is an unavoidable part of any music festival. But while today’s festival-goers line up in front of the bar, in Woodstock, the main attraction was the surrounding nature. A dairy farm cow can produce around 4 liters of milk per day, and these hungry teenagers cannot wait to have a chance of tasting it!

In the end, the Woodstock festival was about connecting people with nature. While today’s youth would probably never look at a cow as a way of quenching their thirst, the hippies knew all about how important (and delicious) nature can be.

Family Album

Looking at the family album is still one of the best ways to recollect the almost-forgotten times of our childhood. But while most people have to make the most out of an old wedding photo or family barbecue picture, these two boys have a way more impressive story to recollect.

Their hat-wearing dad was enjoying a cold one in front of his psychedelic-painted truck, in a picture that illustrates perfectly how broadly influential Woodstock was. Countless American kids grew up accompanying their adventurous hippie parents during the ’60s, and the luckiest amongst them were even given a chance to witness the spirit of Woodstock in that legendary Summer of ’69.

Janis Joplin’s Final Great Performance

An all-round hippie hero, Janis Joplin performed one of the most impressive shows of her career at Woodstock. Approximately one year after the iconic gig, substance abuse took its toll on the talented singer. At the young age of 27, Janis passed away.

For her final great performance, the singer was paid $7,500 and graced the festival-goers with emotional hit songs like Piece of My Heart, Summertime, and Kozmic Blues. She played on the second day of the festival, and she was a favorite amongst the crowd of around 500,000 people.

Keeping the Party Alive

Government officials wearing ties and medical people carrying boxes around is not your regular Woodstock trademark photo. But the medical support coming via helicopter was essential to keep the party alive and to ensure the safety of the massive number of festival attendants.

Working on the sidelines as understated heroes, brave medical and officials crews have done everything they could to make Woodstock a safe place for everyone. Impressively, they did all of that out of good-will, since the medical assistance was not being paid by the festival’s organizers. It’s believed these professionals played a huge part in making Woodstock a victim-free event.

Alternative Stage

Nothing screams hippie culture like an improvised musical jam. In this picture, a large crowd is settled around a group of musicians who have had enough of sitting in front of the main stage. They decided to take their instruments to the Woodstock field and please the surrounding festival-goers with a classic ’60s jam.

Woodstock’s line-up included some of the best-known musicians of the time. Still, the vibe of the festival’s crowd was more important than the group of major rock & roll musicians playing. They were surely a crucial part of the experience, but the real music of Woodstock was being played on the outskirts of the main stage.

Waking Up To Wet Mornings

Anyone who has ever camped at a music festival knows that the rain is fun’s greatest enemy. During Woodstock, a couple of instances of heavy rainfall could have messed up the experience for some of the least-protected campers. But as you’re probably guessing, the inventive youth of the ’60s was able to find a way around it.

This loving couple is actually enjoying their little bit of privacy, hiding from the rain underneath a large piece of plastic. Heavy rain can ruin a lot of good things, but it certainly wasn’t going to ruin a life-changing event like Woodstock.

The Disastrous Media Lounge

Decades before journalism was made easy by technologies like the Internet and Social Media, professionals of the press were subject to some harsh conditions. At Woodstock, the journalists were placed in a poorly equipped site that looked more like a chicken coup than a media lounge.

Here, they were able to use landline phones to connect with their employers and newspapers outside. The Woodstock festival got a lot of attention in almost all sorts of media in the U.S., but the hardworking professionals covering the story surely had a hard time reporting the event.

All Festival Trends Started Here

Today, attending a music festival is synonymous with tons of Instagram stories, social media pictures, and associated trends like face gems and bubble makers. But before all of the festival clichès were invented, Woodstock was paving the way for every upcoming music festival out there.

In this picture, a young woman named Jackie Barg is sitting peacefully amongst the crowd with her bubble maker. This Woodstock snap remains one of the best-known photos of the festival. It’s considered to be a perfect representation of the event’s vibe. That’s how a world without phones looked like!

Happiness Is A Man-made Concept

How much the outside world can interfere with your humor is up to you and only you. If you think it’s hard to keep smiling when everything around you is falling apart, take a look at this cute Woodstock couple.

Stranded in a pit of mud with nothing but dirty and soaking wet clothes, these two have not stopped having fun for a second. Instead of crying about the rain and hiding in their tent, they are doing their best to get their stuff as dry as possible. There’s no need to worry or complain, it’s just a little bit of dirt and water.

How To Show Off In An Educated Manner

According to the Urban Dictionary, a showoffer is someone who likes to show off a lot. We’re not sure if this young man is just a resilient fan of books and heights, but he sure looks like a textbook showoffer! Still, we get it. It’s easy to get inspired and carried away when you’re experiencing something as special as Woodstock.

Our main questions have to be: How did he get up there? And how did he come down safely? Also, what book was he reading? It’s showoffers like this lad who have helped make Woodstock into such an interesting and unpredictable celebration of life.

Art & Artists Everywhere

Decades before the trance festival was invented, Woodstock attendants were already working on beautifully ornate tents made out of simple materials like wood and cloth. A gathering of artists and inspired young men and women, Woodstock was a site where wondrous do-it-yourself art could be found.

The festival-goers were imbued in all of these inspiring art pieces and interesting people. At that, the small dairy farm of Bethel soon became a place of magic properties. It turned into a provisional land of freedom in which free-thinking and sheer creation were a part of everyday life. It makes us wish we were there.

Space-confined Dreams

Not everything was sweet and peachy during Woodstock. The massive crowd of half-a-million people was way too much for the small Bethel farm to handle. As the days went by, the need for space became evident.

Those who were not lucky enough to have a place to camp were forced to improvise when it came to rest. This young man is making the most out of his bike (at least we hope it’s his bike). He somehow proved that sleeping comfortably at Woodstock is possible with the help of a little bit of creative unscrambling.

Woodstock At The Center Of It All

Humans love symbols. Symbols help us to make sense of our collective history and to get to know a lot more about ourselves. In the Summer of ’69, the Woodstock festival became the ever-lasting symbol of one of the most controversial American generations of the 20th century.

But what was it symbolizing? More than peace & love, it represented freedom. The freedom to live according to your own choices, regardless of how good or bad the society around you views those same choices. The Woodstock festival became the echoing scream of those who wanted to live their authentic truth.

No Scaredy-cats And Superstitious Campers Allowed

The race for an empty camping spot at Woodstock was wild. Those who were not affected by superstitious belief and fear of the dead were able to set up their tents in one of Bethel’s prime camping locations: the graveyard.

The experience of camping right next to the dead helps to set the far-out tone of the music festival. However, it’s not advisable for the easily-frightened. In their defense, we must admit that this neatly treated graveyard is perfect for camping. It has a smooth ground and nothing but a lot of very quiet neighbors around. Sweet dreams, kids!

When You Live in Nature, You Look Like Nature

At the center of the ’60s hippie movement, the Woodstock site was filled with nature-loving couples like the one shown above. Exhibiting the fashion trends of the time, these two happy festival-goers look stylish and fashionable without even making an effort.

Today, there’s a belief that one needs to suffer and work hard to look good (just look at make-up tutorials online). But back then, hippie couples living in harmony with the surrounding nature were proving that looking Instagram-worthy could be an effortless task. Simple and colorful clothes, natural hair, beam necklaces, bare feet? Looking natural is something that will never go out of style.

The Celestial Message From The East

The Eastern philosophies associated with yoga were so popular in the West during the ’60s. The Woodstock festival organizers even hired an Indian spiritual guru to deliver the opening speech at the main stage! They booked Satchidananda Saraswati, a religious teacher who was very popular in the U.S. at the time.

In his opening speech, Saraswati addressed the more than half-a-million festival attendees with words praising the celestial power of music. After all, it’s a form of art that’s able to inspire both change and remembrance. Considering Woodstock’s cultural impact, his speech was on point.

Jimi Takes The Stage

There’s no denying the fact that Woodstock was more than just a music festival. Still, rock & roll music was at the center of the event, and the main stage received some of the best musicians of the time. One such musician was Jimi Hendrix, considered to be one of the most influential guitar players of all time.

Hendrix delivered a compelling and historical performance, but the show was half-improvised. While attending Woodstock, Hendrix was accompanied by the Gypsy Suns and Rainbows, a backing with whom he’d never played live before.

An Ocean Of People

When the Woodstock organizers decided to make the festival, they were hoping at least 50,000 people would attend the event. It was an appropriate estimate by the standards of the time. However, it proved to be so disconnected from reality that the festival’s staff and venue were constantly forced to improvise.

When you plan a party for 50,000 and half-a-million people end up showing up, you have a recipe for disaster! But the Woodstock festival was a peaceful event without any major accidents. Somehow, the festival’s good vibes and the crowd of nice people have resisted all the safety hazards.

Don’t Stop The Music

Catching a break from the main stage, a group of youngsters settles around an ensemble of improvised percussion instruments to ensure the music continues. Out-of-nowhere music jams were common at Woodstock, but these fellows proved you don’t even need real instruments to get a party started.

In the typical way of the ’60s generation, young men and women were more focused on making the most out of the few stuff they had than in trying to buy things and find comfort. It was anti-materialism at his height, and by the looks of it, it meant lots of fun!

Simply Grateful For Being There

The Summer of ’69 wasn’t always kind on the Woodstock festival-goers, especially when it came to the weather. During the 3 days of the festival, meteorological conditions were unpredictable. The sky just went from clear and sunny to grey and rainy.

In today’s world, a fair share of the festival-goers would’ve simply given up and went back home—but not in Woodstock. Instead of complaining about the rain, these four party-goers are enjoying the occasion to get to know each other a little better. They may even be sharing one or two jokes about the muddy surroundings.