The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was held August 15-18, 1969, not in Woodstock but in Bethel, New York, 40 miles away. Woodstock was supposed to host the festival, but when rumors spread that attendance could reach a million people, the city backed out. Farmer Max Yasgur saved the concert by hosting the more than 500,000 attendees in his alfalfa field.

sly & the family stone
Sly & the Family Stone's music, which combined
soul, funk, and psychedelia, became popular
after their performance at Woodstock.

With the huge crowd, there were shortages of food, water, and restrooms,
but most revelers still enjoyed some of the best musical acts of
the era. Here's the lineup from that fateful weekend.

1. Richie Havens

Richie Havens, a Greenwich Village folksinger, got the concert started around 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 15. He played eight songs, including the memorable "Motherless Child," which he ended with the word "freedom" sung over and over. After Woodstock, Havens continued to tour and release albums, and in 1993 he performed at the inauguration ceremonies for President Bill Clinton.

2. Country Joe McDonald

Country Joe McDonald made an unscheduled appearance at Woodstock on Friday evening without his band, The Fish. McDonald's solo set included "I Find Myself Missing You," "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," and the "Fish Cheer," a song where he usually spelled out the word fish with the audience, but at Woodstock he spelled another four-letter f-word instead.

3. John Sebastian

John Sebastian is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Sebastian wasn't scheduled to appear at the festival, but he played five songs, including "I Had a Dream" and "Rainbows Over Your Blues." In 1976, he had a number-one single with the TV theme song Welcome Back, Kotter. Sebastian continues to record and tour and promotes a collection of the 1960s greatest hits via infomercial.

4. Sweetwater

After three solo artists, Sweetwater -- who pioneered the psychedelic rock/classical fusion style later picked up by Jefferson Airplane -- was the first band to perform at the festival. They played eight songs, including "What's Wrong," "My Crystal Spider," and "Why Oh Why." After Woodstock, Sweetwater disbanded when lead singer Nansi Nevins was badly injured in a car accident.

5. The Incredible String Band

The Incredible String Band was a Scottish acoustic band that formed in the early 1960s and later switched to psychedelic folk music. Their set of four songs included "The Letter" and "This Moment." The Incredible String Band broke up in 1974, reunited in 2003, and broke up again in 2006.

On the next page, you will find more bands that performed at Woodstock, including Bert Sommer and Tim Hardin.

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