Today in history! Hendrix Closes Woodstock

[Callalily]

Hendrix Closes Woodstock

August 18, 1969

When 400,000 people descended on Bethel, New York, in mid-August 1969, Woodstock was poised for disaster. The festival didn’t have enough food, water, or bathrooms for the massive crowd, and many of the bands weren’t even that well-known — at least not yet. Jimi Hendrix was the exception, and the festival had saved the best for last.

Of course, things didn’t go according to plan. Scheduled to play Sunday night, delays pushed Hendrix’s performance to the morning of August 18, and by that time, only around 40,000 attendees remained. Strapped to his white Stratocaster, Hendrix filled Woodstock with blistering renditions of his biggest hits before playing the showstopper, the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Attacking each note with the urgency of a generation in Vietnam’s shadow, Hendrix musically depicted the carnage of “the rockets red glare,” slipped in a few bars of “Taps ”— the sorrowful song of a fallen soldier — and sustained the F-note declaring “free” for a full six seconds. A few songs later, as the last notes of “Hey Joe” faded into open air, Woodstock was over. But on that Monday morning, Hendrix closed out much more than a festival — this was the curtain call of the 1960s, distilled into one musical moment.

[lastlib]

1. 400,000 people attended Woodstock....

(tht's about four million in 2021 people, right?)