This week marks the 53rd anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

Held on a farm in upstate New York, the event’s site is now home to the Bethel Woods Center For the Arts which contains the Woodstock Museum.

Sunday, August 14 on the Jersey Magazine, Jim Monaghan got together with Museum Curator Neal Hatch to talk about the legacy of one of the major cultural moments of the 1960s.

• 5 Top Moments From Woodstock 1969:

  Billed as three days of “three days of peace and music,” the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair took place 53 years ago this week (August 15-18) at Bethel Woods in New York’s Sullivan County.

  On the bill were some of the top artists of the era – Crosby, Stills, & Nash, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and more.

  Here are (in no particular order) five of the top moments from Woodstock 1969

• 1. Richie Havens

  The band Sweetwater was supposed to be the first act on the bill on August 15, 1969 but like so many of the concert-goers, they were stuck in traffic.

  When singer-songwriter Tim Hardin refused to open the musical festivities, the concert promoters appealed to Havens who ultimately agreed. He created the song “Freedom” on the spot.

• 2. John Sebastian

  John Sebastian wasn’t actually scheduled to perform at Woodstock. Although the crowd knew him and his music via the Lovin’ Spoonful, Sebastian was at the festival as a spectator.

  Or so he thought.

  Convinced to take the stage, he borrowed Tim Hardin’s guitar and despite being in a lysergically-altered state, gave one of the more memorable performances of the festival.

• 3. Ten Years After

  Ten Years After had a couple of albums under their belt and had already performed at a few other 1969 festivals prior to Woodstock, so fans were pretty aware of what TYA was capable of delivering.

  But no one was quite prepared for what was ultimately the final song in their six-song set. Alvin Lee’s guitar work on “I’m Going Home” was nothing less than incendiary.

• 4. Santana

  Have you ever seen anything more exhilarating than the sheer joy on drummer Michael Shrieve’s face during “Soul Sacrifice?”

  Santana was a throw-in at Woodstock. Concert promoter Bill Graham, who managed both the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane at the time, told the Woodstock promoters that in order to get those two bands on the bill, they also had to take Santana.

  Like John Sebastian, Carlos Santana was in an altered state when he and his band took the stage for their performance. It was nonetheless still remarkable.

• 5. Jimi Hendrix

  Originally scheduled to close the festival on the evening of August 17, Jimi Hendrix didn’t take the stage until the morning of Monday, August 18.

  Though the crowd had dwindled significantly from nearly half a million to about 30,000 by the time Hendrix opened his set, those who were still there saw a stunning performance.

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