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Written by a junior Catholic school boy for his personal geocities account. I had a blast at this show. Now festivals with big acts are common but this seemed like a complete novelty at the time. Also it was brutally hot with no shade.
It all began as most of my stupid stunts in school. I was looking through a Rolling Stone in Mass Media and was reading an article about Woodstock 99 and who was scheduled to perform. I found myself wanting to go and felt frustrated that so many people would be going that didn't even care. It was so unfair. Then I started thinking about how they got there and what was holding me back. A ride for one thing, but I had heard about bus shuttles that were leaving major cities. Then I realized how much money it would cost, tickets were $150 alone. I ran track so I didn't have time to go to work and car payments depleted my reserve funds. I started thinking of other ways to make money when the light bulb above my head lit up. I could hold a fundraiser. It worked for school events and athletic clubs, why not JAK? I needed an incentive so I began telling people if they gave me a dollar or more their name would be put on the T-shirt I wore. And the highest giver could have the front of the T-shirt and design it themselves. I knew with my stupid luck I could actually pull off this crazy thing.
The next day in art Pat and I began making posters to put up. These had great slogans like, "Don't You Hate Change?", "Don't waste your money on crack, Give it to JAK!" During art the first dollars rolled in. Everyone thought it was a joke and I had to keep repeating, "No, seriously" At lunch I grabbed a cup and made the rounds at the lunch tables. I was getting a lot more money then I planned on. By the end of the first day I had around 10 or 15 dollars. The next day I came to school with a Gatorade bottle and found it filling up fast. I was keeping track of names on separate spreadsheets. By the end of that day people started to realize I wasn't kidding for once and I had close to 30 dollars.
Everything was going great until someone asked Mr. Dewitt if he was going to give any money. Next thing I know he walks by and takes my jar. I argued and finally he said he was just giving it to Sister, our principal, to decide what to do. Next period a lot of the seniors walked up to him and asked if they wanted to take their money too. I love those guys. I had a meeting with Sister who said that the money would be going to charity and I was to stop. I told her that she would be hearing a lot of complaints if she did that. She gave the money back but told me to hand it back out and that fundraising had to be given permission.
I offered the money to everyone but found that me getting busted just wanted them to give more. My fundraising would continue, I just needed to keep it more low key. Well to speed things up a bit I ended up with Conrad and Dave battling for first finishing $33 and $32 respectively. And many track meets fast food dinners helped. I got money from several teachers and even relatives who heard about it kicked in money. I finally ended up with $255 dollars, way more then I would have ever dreamed.
At the same time the fundraising was going on I was still working on a ride. I found out that Bo and Chris were planning on taking a camper up so I hooked up with them. But when it came to getting tickets either one had the money and the other didn't or vise versa. So I started talking about going with Zack by bus. But that wasn't working to well either when I found out the bus ride was sold out. I called and talked too everyone I knew looking for a ride. It ended up coming down with two days left when I decided to take Beatrice. Chris quit his job and said he would join. And the next day Dave decided to go. So now it looked like all we had too do was get there.
Chris and Dave showed up Thursday morning at six and we loaded up Beatrice. We had 3 backpacks, 3 sleeping bags, a tent, tent poles and a cooler. We all piled in, waved goodbye and took off. Dave slept most of the way and eventually we stopped at a Wendy's near Cleveland. There we met a group of girls who were also headed to Woodstock and we began making signs to put in our windows. The closer we got, the more crazy cars we saw. Most just had signs but several were spray painted or had other insignia that seemed to signify, "Yes, I am going to Woodstock."
When we were about a half hour away we came across an amazing sight. An entire Greyhound bus engulfed in flames. Dozens of poor Woodstockers stood outside it. We considered going back and picking up a couple but we didn't. As we grew closer the number of deserted, broken down cars increased. We first went to a nearby casino to pick up our tickets. Yet another of many interesting sights. The casino had a mix of old people on vacation and young kids going to the concert. Dave who hadn't bought a ticket yet picked up a scalpers for about $100.
We spent a good hour or more in traffic which wasn't that bad at all since we had been on the road all day and at least had stuff to look at now. From decorated cars to vans with inflatable women attached, we saw a little of everything. Even armed guards on four wheelers giving us peace signs. Everyone around us had big smiles on their faces and it was beginning to sink in that we were at Woodstock. Eventually we parked Beatrice in a large field behind the East Stage. We unloaded and I prepared her for her stay and what could be the last time I'd see her. Men selling T-shirts and Krishna books were making their rounds.
We began making what turned out to be a very long trip to the front gate. Even longer if you consider all the stuff we were carrying. We did get a nice view of the wall while it was still standing. It had been decorated with giant murals. We could hear a punk band on the West stage making fun of Woodstock and getting booed off the stage. At the gate we worked our way up in line. Up front they performed their thorough check. They opened the top of the bag, glanced down, asked if you had any drugs or weapons, and then asked if you had metal tent spikes. That was it. They also took any open beverages.
Next we needed to make a home. We started walking again with all our stuff. We had to walk nearly to the end of the campgrounds to find a spot and even then we were right next to people. It turned out to be a nearly perfect spot. In between the stages and close to the fence separating the campgrounds. It took a while to set up the tents but at least we were here. I put some balloons on top so we had a chance of finding it later. We threw everything in and we went off to see the music we had been hearing. Since this was Thursday and the show didn't officially start until Friday there weren't too many people there.
They did have music on the West stage going so we wandered over. We saw G Love and Special Sauce who were just great. We were up close and I even gained a sticker of theirs which was promptly applied to my shorts. G Love was tight, he spent all his show dancing while sitting on a stool. He turned out to be the last artist of the night on that stage. By this time we had heard rumors that George Clinton was going to be playing that night since it was his birthday. We wandered over to the third stage eventually after walking around the grounds to learn our surroundings. The third stage was in a hanger and sure enough by the time we showed up the P-Funk himself was already playing. They put on a great show and the crowd was just chilling out and dancing. It was a nice way to end a day that had been spent on the road. He pulled out all the stops playing for several hours with a constant revolving door of musicians which at times numbered twenty or more. He even had the mothership land from the rafters. I stayed until the end of the show, Chris and Dave went back to the tent to catch up on needed sleep.
When I left the show I noticed a couple people walking around with yellow Frisbees. As I kept walking I saw more and more. The I noticed them in the air. As I turned the corner around the computer village I was blown away by the sight of several thousand people and even more Frisbees. Of course I wanted some so I worked my way up. I got one and began using it to shield my face and began throwing Frisbees with my other arm. There were so many Frisbees in the air that it was impossible to tell which direction they came from or at what speed. Some would float down, others would smack you in the face. I got hit in the back of the head by people throwing behind me. It was cool though because I hit a couple people myself. There were groups of kids towing boxes full of Frisbees back to their tents and I began making trips to ours. I spent at least half an hour throwing Frisbees as fast and hard as I could. At any given time there were at least a dozen at my feet. When my arm began hurting I sat by the movie theater and simply watched the magic unfold. I wish I could convey what it was like. It was easily the most enjoyment I have ever had in my life and it alone was worth the price of admission. I found out later some kids had been snooping around and had found the stash of Frisbees which were to be given out the next day.
I spent the night walking around. I bought some food (a baked potato for $6) and sat over by the East stage where a bunch of people were sitting and just tripping. They were testing the lighting or something and had spotlights and lasers running all over. It was really calming. After a while I started looking around for something to do although I ended up going to the tent at about 4 or 5. I fell asleep quickly dreaming of Frisbees and what may happen the next day.
I woke up very early the next day. I didn't have much of a choice, once the sun came out everything became very hot and humid. I couldn't sleep even if I wanted. The tent trapped in air instead of blocking the sun. Greenhouse effect would kick in and I found myself drenched in sweat. Very disgusting experience. I found it would repeat every morning for the next several days. And I wouldn't be bathing. I did stay clean though, (a relative term at Woodstock.) I survived through baby wipes I had brought from home and brushed my teeth which was a very refreshing thing to do. Chris actually took showers each day and shaved. I don't know what he was thinking.
We headed out that first day and started working our way over to the East stage to watch the opening of the show by James Brown. It was long before we started noticing one of the many distinctive characteristics to be found at Woodstock. Many topless women. These weren't just run of the mill nakey people, they had intricate airbrushed designs on their bodies. Turns out there was a stand set up that specialized in these. It was very popular to say the least. Where else could people watch others get airbrushed, tattooed or pierced. James Brown put on a good show although we left before it ended to wander the grounds.
We returned it time to see G Love fill in for Sugar Ray, (when it was announced they couldn't make it the crowd actually cheered) and dance to Jamiroquai. Then we went walking back to eat at the tent when we saw the first appearance of the mud people by the portajohns. They were flinging the mud substance at their enemies, the clean people like me. It didn't take long for Chris to join them but I was hungry and the mud seemed to close to the fecal matter to be safe. People stood on top of the portajohns throwing mud and one even fell through after which it was tipped over by his fellow mud people. I eventually did get through although I was hit once in the back.
While me and Dave ate at the tent Chris was busy with the mud people working their way to the front of the stage during Live's set. He hugged and shook hands with everyone on his way up. He can even be seen in the video released later, up in front. He eventually returned to us although he was very dirty and mud encrusted. He took another shower and ate before the three of us headed out again for the night.
While walking over to check out the Roots we noticed another one of the great things about Woodstock. We could yell for no reason and the people around us would yell followed by the people around them. This would continue for over a minute. Great fun although I guess you would have to have been there. The Roots were great, they even pulled out Erykah Badu to sing. They are easily my favorite band to see live and they didn't disappoint. The Insane Clown Posse were up next. By this time I was close enough to the stage to have been hit with the first bottle of Faygo. They also threw out giant balls that had one hundred dollar bills inside. Of course the first two land next to me and I got beaten to a pulp by guys twice my size trying to get them. Later they even had five hundred dollar money balls. ICP put on a crazy show and I had a blast. There was a constant stream of Faygo and a constant stream of topless women.
After ICP we took a short break at the tent and then went back, (which was a lot quicker now that some people had removed some of that pesky fence,) to the West stage to chill out to George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic. He played basically the same set as the night before although with the P-Funk jam sessions that doesn’t really mean anything. I saw more completely naked people there then any other band.
Eventually I headed over to the rave that was being held in the air force hanger. I got there early because Bush was the closing band that night and I never really have been a fan. Plus Moby, one of my favorite artists, was playing the rave that night. Once they opened up the gates I rushed my way up to the front row. Moby was great, he had a live band and he played a song that is the fastest song ever recorded. The crowd went nuts over it. He played until mid-morning when a DJ took over until dawn. I spent the night at the rave dancing and acting just generally stupid. I found the drugs were cheaper then the food, whip-its were being given away there for free. (2015 sidenote - I’ve never done drugs) Eventually I grabbed some food, (a burrito for $10,) and just sat and got on my cool out relax next to the rave. It was then that I witnessed the beginning of a drum circle that continued for the rest of the concert. People had started beating on garbage cans and when someone got tired some one else was more then willing to continue in there place. Very primal, very good. It is even on the video. At about five or six in the morning I went back to my tent to sleep.
After doing my usual wake up drenched and bathing in baby wipe routine we made our way out for Saturday. Trash had really accumulated by this point and all the portajohns were either full or very close. Woodstock was beginning to form a special unique smell in the sun that would permeate every pore of our bodies and attach itself to us like a leech. We stunk. Everyone else stunk too so I didn't really care. It was a nice change of pace to be as dirty as you could be and not have anyone turn their nose up at you.
We went to the East stage and saw the Tragically Hip. They are a Canadian band and their fans were in full effect. There were many flags and even a naked guy concealed only by a little red maple leaf. He made it on the cover of USA Today. They were pretty good although we were just waiting for Kid Rock to come on next.
We carried water bottles with us and took turns filling them up for each other and I volunteered to go this time unaware what a strange trip it would take me on. First thing I saw was that most of the fence had come down. What little was standing was being worked on by many bored kids. The organizers had said prior to the show that, "The gates will not come down! 6 miles of fencing built specifically for Woodstock have been put up including 3 miles of twelve foot high wooden fencing backed by steel scaffolding." From here I headed towards the closest water hole until I saw it had been taken over by the mud people already. They were on top of portajohns pegging anyone who was clean. So I had to make my way across the field that you saw in the above picture. I took that on the first day though, by now there was no grass just garbage and a fifteen foot wide river of water and portajohn run off had formed. In spots it was close to a foot deep. The mud people had gotten one of the transportation trucks stuck and were covering it and the driver when he eventually came out. Later I saw on one of the eighteen wheelers a strip show had been organized with at least twenty nakey people on top. I finally got to the water fountain and found my water supply had people bathing in it. By this point I didn't care, if it was liquid it was good. I saw many artworks formed with pizza boxes and cups on the way back. I came to some eighteen wheelers that had been parked. Many people had used them for shelter but now people had began standing on them to see the show. The mud people saw them and began throwing mud. The people started jumping from one truck to the next. I snapped a picture and before I had even lowered the camera I saw one of the jumpers fall. There hadn't been room on the other truck for him to land and he slipped and fell. I was shocked. I worked my way over and eventually caught a glimpse. His body was sitting at weird angles on the ground and huge puddle of blood was forming fast. People were running all over trying to find help and this guy wasn't moving. I worked my way back to our spot and told Chris and Dave about all I had seen. While talking we had some guy pass out and fall on our towels. His buddies were freaking out and we started pouring water on him trying to get him to come to. He eventually did and didn't believe us when we told him what he had just done. He said he was fine and started walking and then he collapsed again. This time he was gone. We poured water on him and after awhile his eyes opened although no one was there. He was a zombie, it was so crazy. He looked at all of us like he just steeped off a spaceship and was seeing humans for the first time. Eventually they left and I could here his friends telling him he has to stop before he kills himself. Only at Woodstock can all of these things happen in a fifteen minute span.
Kid Rock came out looking like a pimp. Top hat, fur coat and a cane he walked out with fireworks and Bawitdaba blaring. He got the crowd to launch all their water bottles which was cool looking although very painful. I got hit with someone's mostly empty gallon jug and many lighter objects. He put on a great show and I was really impressed. He had a 40 on stage that was taller then Joe C who was really tiny on that huge stage. Afterwards we walked around some and saw the sights. We saw a bit of Everclear and Collective Soul on the West stage.
We came back to the East stage and saw Dave Matthews Band who played great although they didn't jam as much as I had hoped. We sat down for Alanis Morissette and tried to get rest for the night. We knew the best was coming up. I liked her music and band, I just found her voice and weird twirling dance to be annoying.
I knew Limp Bizkit wanted to be this years Nine Inch Nails with a memorable performance at Woodstock. When they came out the sides of the stage were filled with other bands and famous people. I even saw Puffy. Mini-Me introduced them and the crowd went nuts. They were at the height of their popularity and everyone wanted to see them. The crowd had started climbing over the fencing surrounding the center sound tower and before long the fencing itself was gone and floating around the crowd where it was used like a surf board by the creative masses. People had worked their way to the top of the tower and had control of the lighting and soundboard and who knows what else. Fred Durst eventually got on top of one of the surf boards for "Faith" although he couldn't go any where thanks to security. He had worked the crowd into a frenzy and it definitely was a turning point at the show.
After Limp Bizkit it was announced that people were injured at the sound tower. We were told to make room for an ambulance or those people would die. I never saw an ambulance although meds must have gotten there because after a wait Rage Against The Machine came out. I was looking forward to them because they never come to my area and getting tickets is next to impossible. They were great and I was surrounded by real fans. Rage played a more mellow set then I was expecting although it was better then what I had hoped for. They ended to feedback and the backwards flag on the amp burning.
Before Metallica came out it was announced by the National Weather Service that a storm was coming this way that may hit Woodstock. We were told that it may start hailing and Metallica would try to play through it. They dropped the backdrops on the stage so the wind wouldn't tear it to shreds. They came out and rocked. It was my first time seeing them and I was really impressed. All their songs were relatively long and they played all night. As they started into "Turn the Page" a chill came and we could see the storm approaching fast. It began raining very hard and it became very cold out. The wind had picked up and dust kept finding it's way into my eyes. The rain didn't sting us for long in about fifteen minutes everything returned to normal although I was a little colder and wetter. They played encore after encore and we stayed until we heard "Enter Sandman."
I was dead tired so I took a quick snack break at the tent.
Afterwards I headed over to the rave where Fatboy Slim was spinning tonight. The closer I got the louder the music got. It would wake me up and the bass gave me energy to make it through the night. The raves were so much fun, it was like a party with several thousand people. Anything goes and no one would care what you did. I loved watching some of the kids break dance with glow sticks. Fatboy Slim was great he played all night. I eventually went to bed at about six in the morning.
I woke up Sunday at about seven or eight drenched in sweat as usual. I took my Woodstock shower and went out to fill our water bottles. After waiting in line and watching nakey people bathe in my water I filled them and started heading back. On the way back I began noticing people with cereal boxes. Eventually I came to a magical place where free food was being given out. I filled my pockets and arms and ran back to get Chris and Dave. We all went back and loaded up again. I think we each grabbed at least 10. These were a very good substitute to my daily meals of powerbars.
We headed out and went to a giant tarp on the fence that had been set up by ICQ for people to sign. While writing my name I overheard someone say, "That's great keep it up." I turned around and found a camera in my face. Some TV station was filming. I finished it and we headed out to the East stage. We saw Willie Nelson who was a lot better than what I was expecting. I was sitting next to some lady who was a really old, fat hardcore, Nelson fan in tights. Not a pretty sight. Next we saw Brian Setzer and all the fans swing dancing in the mud or nude. Today I was just dazed, it was the last day we would ever see Woodstock and I knew I was going to miss it.
We saw Everlast who we were all looking forward to. He was terrible, I don't know if he just doesn’t play live well or if it was a bad day but we left halfway through. The final straw was when he played "Jump Around" as a rock song. You just don't mess with a classic song like that. We went over to the West stage and saw Rusted Root who were very good and a great band to chill out to. We just sat on towels far away from the stage and watched people walk by. I saw some guy who took a TV and turned it into a helmet, he was really weird.
Next we saw Sevendust. It began storming and people began building shelters out of fencing or anything they could find. There were miniature garbage tornadoes from the winds and Woodstock was starting to fall apart before us. I knew that it was coming to a close. Sevendust at one point showed us a rainbow that had formed behind us which was pretty cool. Those guys rocked, the lead singer passed a joint to the crowd which was the first time I had ever seen that happen. I began complaining about chapped lips and decided to go back to the tent for some chapstick. We all went back which was odd because getting us all to go anywhere after getting settled was usually work. It was a good thing we did.
On the way back we noticed a lot of the fence had been set up next to a giant flag pole and set ablaze. When we got back to our tent we found many people getting a little crazy. Their were at least forty people on opposite sides of a fence throwing stuff at each other and the fence. This included garbage, trashcans and even tents. When the fence came down they went nuts. The tent next to ours had been set on fire. The trees had been decorated with toilet paper and tents. We decided right then that we wouldn't be sleeping in our tent that night and it was time to pack up. While packing some kids had stolen a golf cart from a security guard who had came to try to calm things down. The kid was running over tents and at people. The guard finally caught the kid but before he could do anything some reporter came rushing up saying if he didn't let the kid go he would report him. We finished packing up as quick as we could and started our long walk back to Beatrice.
I was curious as to what Beatrice’s state would be, if anything had happened I probably would have cried like school girl which as anyone who knows me would be very odd because I feel very little emotion except laughter. While on the way we saw many people sleeping or sitting in lawn chairs on their cars. We picked up pieces of the wall to keep and I found Beatrice looking the same, besides being filthy. We planned on sleeping in the movie theater for the last night. I hadn't spent too much time there but it was massive and there was plenty of room to lay down. One movie had been shown in Odor-rama complete with scratch off cards.
We came back in and found Creed playing. They were great when they brought out the Door's guitarist for Roadhouse Women. We sat and watched people just flying out of the mosh pit getting all kinds of neat injuries. We were by MTV's spot and could see Kurt Loder who went on to later Woodstock bash in articles and on TV.
I was curious if the Red Hot Chili Peppers were going to do something crazy like the light bulb outfits from Woodstock 94. Flea came out buck naked, it was great to hear thousands of people laugh at once. The Peppers were amazing although I didn't get to hear "Higher Ground." Partway through their show we noticed that near us a fire had started up. As time progressed we saw more and more spring up through out the crowd. We found out from our neighbors that while we were packing Beatrice, PAX was handing out candles and matches to the crowd as a sign of peace. Stupid! Let's give fire to a bunch of tired, drunk, high kids who are going to have nothing to look forward too after the show. And to think that later they wanted to blame the music. The Peppers played "Light My Fire" as an encore. The whole show ended with an incredible Jimi Hendrix laser show.
I could tell things were about to go nuts and I knew that if I stayed I wouldn't get any sleep. I would be out all night afraid that I was going to miss something. So much to my dismay I decided to say goodbye and hit the road. Chris and Dave were so tired I don't think they minded at all. In the parking lot I saw a couple cars that had been flipped over. I became paranoid once again about Beatrice's well being. She was fine though. We piled into her and headed out on the road. Traffic was bad leaving but not nearly as bad as when we arrived. As we left we could see many fires burning and many security vehicles moving in.
We went into a pizza place to eat some real food for once. The place was packed. We talked to others about what was going on. One kid had been a worker. Several minutes after he had left his stand it had been set on fire. He had worked just so he could go so he didn't care. He told us that several people had overdosed and one guy had a heart attack. We left after eating and I drove to the next rest stop where we pulled out the sleeping bags, locked the car and spent the night sleeping. It was my first night sleeping with her and here I was sharing her with two other guys.
Waking up the next day in my car was really strange. For some reason I expected a crowd formed around the car watching us like we were an exhibit. I got up and looked at my watch, it was about seven or eight. I went into the McDonalds to use the facilities and just generally walk around and get my bearings. When I got back Chris had waken up and after a bit we decided to head back that day.
On the way back while looking at the map we noticed we would be really close to Niagara Falls. I had never been there so we decided to make a side trip. After all it was only an extra inch or so according to the map. We changed into our Woodstock shirts and tried to make ourselves look halfway decent. While inside we got many stairs while we grubbed on what was left of our precious cereal boxes. We looked at the falls which were neat and walked around which was even better. Dave stole a ride from one of the trams and I bought the same postcard that had been sent to me several weeks earlier by my friend Beth. Then we bid Canada farewell and found ourselves on the road again.
We stopped for gas and food near Cleveland I think. For lunch I had a carton of Ben and Jerry's Phish food. I had to get a spoon from the attached restaurant to eat. The waitress felt sorry for me because I went to Woodstock. After that we drove straight back and I dropped them off at Dave's. Then I drove home not knowing what to expect because my phone card hadn't worked so I can just imagine what my parents thought especially with the media blowing Woodstock up.
Fortunately no one was there. I dropped my bags and headed straight for the bathroom. First time I had bathed in almost a week of heat. Greatest shower of my life. I looked and felt completely different. Clean and shaven without my hair feeling more like a hat I barely recognized myself. I missed Woodstock already.
I spent the next several weeks telling the same stories and relating everything anyone said to my experience. I'm sure I got annoying to anyone who spent any time around me. I was like the girl on American Pie who is always talking about band camp. "This one time at Woodstock I stuck a flute up my..."
Several months later I was put on the Sadie's dance court. The theme this year- Woodstock. I had fun and went with my friend Mollie. It was my first dance. I wore the T-shirts I had made for Woodstock and even wore my bracelet. It made a good final ending for my Woodstock journey. One of my greatest memories.
See ya, JAK
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