In 1969, the world of music changed forever. In the summer of love, Woodstock was held in Bethel Woods. Hundreds of thousands of people from all across the country came to witness musical legends such as Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin perform.
Now, 50 years later, one of the founders of Woodstock is working to recapture that magic. Two separate (an unaffiliated) festivals are taking place to celebrate the anniversary – one at Bethel Woods, the other a bit further upstate at Watkins Glen.
The LiveNation produced festival, which will be at Bethel has just seen a confirmation of their first artist. It is none other than the legendary guitarist Santana. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Santana explained his decision to perform at Bethel Woods:
“They have an amphitheater there. I’m going to invite whoever is still here, whether it’s Joan Baez or members from Sly Stone, and I’m going to play Santana music. Santana is going to be the house band, but I want to be able to honor those who are still here and maybe invite rappers like Common or Kendrick Lamar. Santana’s very interested, like Miles Davis, into connecting with people from 7 years old to under 33. I don’t want to be just like a jukebox in the twilight zone, stuck in the Sixties.”
Bethel Woods has much more buying power than Watkins Glen as it is backed by Live Nation, but Michael Lang, the organizer of the Watkins Glen affair explained he already has over 40 acts booked.
