Messed Up Things That Happened At Woodstock ’69

Festival

August 15, 1969, marked the beginning of what would become a 4-day musical festival. Woodstock has since become known as the festival of peace, love, and rock n’ roll. It was a period of time in which everyone was happy and love went all around.

On the contrary, Woodstock was nothing like this idealized version that we have seen onscreen. A lot of weird and disturbing things happened during this festival.

Not Enough Bathrooms

For a festival that brought together so many people, one would think that the amount of bathrooms would have matched up.

However, the ratio of bathrooms to attendees was so low that most would just find an open space on the field to do their business. There was about 1 bathroom for every 800 people.

Many of the porta-potties ended up overflowing and mixed in with the mud at the festival.

Overpriced Food

As the vendor, “Food For Love,” started to run out of hotdogs halfway through the second day of the festival, they raised the price from 25 cents a hotdog to $1. After inflation, the original price was $1.75 before being bumped up to $7!

Of course, people got irritated. They hated the long lines and the price bump so much, that they burned down 2 of the concession stands.

Wavy Gravy Kept People Safe With Seltzer

Since traffic to Woodstock made it almost impossible for police to reach the venue in a timely fashion, Wavy Gravy and the Hog Farm Commune stepped in to help. They were the official security for Woodstock.

If attendees got out of line, Wavy Gravy threatened them by hurling pies or spraying seltzer water.

Singers Were Paid Vastly Different Salaries

The Grateful Dead was paid $2,500. Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin were paid $7,500. Creedence Clearwater Revival was paid $10,000, as was Joan Baez, who performed while 6 months pregnant.

The highest-paid musician was Jimi Hendrix, who was paid $18,000. He requested to go on last so that no one could follow his act.