Woodstock Festival example essay topic

The Woodstock of 1969 was a revolution in itself and responsible for redefining the point of view, respect, and attitude of the so-called 'counter-cultured' youth of the late sixties. The attendants of the festival were youths from around the United States in ages ranging from 17 to 26. The overall mood of the festival was very relaxed and happy. Although there was a minimal amount of violence at Woodstock, there were financial problems, drugs, nudity, and traffic jams that seemed to go for miles down the old country roads surrounding Max Yasgur's dairy farm. Woodstock was a symbol of the rebellious society of the time. The youths that went were looking to vent out frustrations that their parents had forced upon them.

For most youths, the '3 Days of Peace, Love, and Music's eem ed to be just the place to balance their thoughts, relax with friends, and meet new people that hated their parents as much as they did. Two-hundred thousand people were expected to show for the Woodstock festival, and instead an overwhelming '400,000 youngsters turned up to hear big-name bands play in a field near the village of Bethel, New York state in what has become the largest rock concert of the decade'. The attendants and the mood of the Woodstock festival in Bethel, New York was that of the counter-cultured young society of the late sixties. Max Yasgur's farm was transformed from a beautiful lush, green dairy farm field into a 400,000- person mud pit. Throughout the days of the festival, the attendants were 'undaunted by rain, mud, wet clothes and chilly mountain breezes, thousands of youths sat on a rural hillside here for a marathon 19-hour session of folk-rock music'.

Drugs had also become increasingly more popular in the sixties, and Woodstock was no exception to the latest trend. Drugs were readily available and generously passed around through the crowds of youths all over the hillside. But the drugs weren't the reason that people generally attended the Woodstock festival. Most would agree with a man interviewed five miles away from his vehicle walking towards the festival in saying that ' But it's more than that.

I'm here for the same reason that Indians used to have tribal gatherings. Just being here with people like me makes it all worthwhile. I guess it will reinforce my life styles, my beliefs, from the attacks of my parents and their generation'. Although there was plenty of peace, love, and happiness going around the Woodstock festival, the festival also suffered from lack of police force, money, and overall ability to handle such an unexpected large crowd. It was said that 'even with ticket sales that went over $1.3 million, they pronounced the fair a financial disaster'. The second most noticeable problem was the capacity of people in which Yasgur's farm was holding at this event.

No one on the Woodstock committee ever imagined that people would tear down the un sturdy fences that surrounded the property and that the concert would be a free attraction for all who came. Woodstock did not have the resources, nor the equipment to deal with such an overly large crowd. Many on the woodstock committee have stated that ' if we had any linking that there was going to be this kind of of attendance, we certainly would not have gone ahead'. There were also two accidental deaths at the Woodstock music festival. One young man died from a drug overdose and the other in a tractor accident. There were other injuries acquired but the participants of the festival, about 5,000 lesser injuries, but nothing of major significant's. lack of police force was also a major probe lm for the festival.

One of the head officers in charge is quoted as saying ' Now I don't have any security people at all... I've been struck. We " re having the biggest collection of kids there's ever been i this country without any police protection'. Although there were a few recorded drug busts, very few were actually taken seriously. many of the youths at Woodstock were walking around nude, dirty and high on whatever form of barbiturate they could get their hands on. The Woodstock festival is so for being one of the great events that defined the rebellious society in America during the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, many American were unsatisfied with the government, how it operated, and under whom.

The counter-cultured youth's parents' generation were taught that war was a past of life and that you just had to sit back and 'ride it out'. Many of the youths that attended the Woodstock festival were not satisfied with drawing this conclusion and many were active in rallies and forms of protests against the Vietnam War. There were also different things other than ideas that set these ' apart from other members of their communities. Their sense of fashion, attitude, and actions also drew the line clear enough for all to see that this generation of youth was different and they were not ashamed of it. In one of the interviews after the festival took place, Roberts, the Woodstock president, described Yasgur's farm as a remote location, perfect for the celebration of the youth today. 'Ours was going to be in the country...

It was going to be away from the urban and suburban areas in a very rustic setting with a lot of room, grass, trees, lakes. It was going to be a youth cultural exposition and that is where the culture of this generation expresses itself more naturally'. Woodstock '69 has remained the icon of the sixties. After a 'mind-blowing rendition of the national anthem, the hillside was cleared for the first time in nearly four days of the hordes of youths who came here for three days of music, companionship, and, in many cases, drugs'.

'Mr. Yasgur is gone, as is the farm. The meadow is green again, and very peaceful. Someone has built a small monument... commemorating the event, listing performers and dates'. Today there are still people who believe in the philosophy of peace, love, and happiness. They still have the hope that one day the government will 'take the backseat' to an overcrowded music festival. A policeman after the music festival said what only can be imagined now-a-days, that those kids 'have proven something to the world... that half a million kids can get together for fun and music and have nothing but fun and music. '.