Arlo Guthrie Shares Story of Fellow Woodstock Performer, Melanie
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Arlo Guthrie, on the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival in 2019 (Photo via Rising Son Records’ Facebook page)
On January 26, 2024, Arlo Guthrie shared a story on the Facebook page of his Rising Son Records, in which he reminisced about performing at Woodstock and one artist in particular. “About a week ago,” he wrote, “I was joking with my wife, Marti, about Woodstock. I told her that Melanie would be the last one standing. I was obviously mistaken as Melanie passed away a couple of days ago.” [Melanie Safka was born on Feb. 3, 1947; she died on Jan. 23, 2024.]
“I’d never really gotten to know her, although we were friends,” he continued. “We’d done some shows together over the years and decades. I remember the tour we did with others called ‘Woodstock In Europe 1979,’ the 10th Anniversary tour. That was fun. Joe Cocker, Richie Havens, Country Joe, Melanie and I traveled around Europe in a tour bus. Great times.
“But the one thing I’ll always remember was the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival. I’d been invited to perform at Bethel Woods (which owns the original site), and also invited by Michael Lang for the event he was producing somewhere in upstate New York. Financially, these were great offers, but I declined them all. I was bound and determined to return to the original site 50 years to the day and perform for free to anyone who was there.
“To make that happen, Bethel Woods promised a free stage, lights, sound system–all the stuff you’d need to do a gig. When I arrived absolutely none of those promises were kept. There was nothing but a vacant field, where 50 years ago it’d been filled with people.
“I grabbed a guitar and sang a song on the original site where the stage had been. Later that afternoon we did a gig farther up the hill, where Bethel Woods had built a stage attached to their buildings (gorgeous, by the way). The free show was limited to the first 5,000 people who showed up.
“None of the original performers were there, except one, Melanie. She had returned to the site to celebrate. Seeing her there warmed my heart. Thank you, Melanie, for keeping the dream alive as long as you did.”
Watch Guthrie’s 2019 performance here. He turned 77 on July 10, 2024.
Related: Listings for 100s of classic rock tours
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationI was literally getting into a car and headed for Woodstock when a friend showed up and had just returned from driving there..he said the ‘back-up’ was miles long and cars were abandoned everywhere. I decided not to go. Biggest mistake of my life to that point.
Ahhh, don’t kick yourself too hard there, my friend. Hindsight, and all that.
I recently got 3-4 dvds from San Diego libraries on Woodstock Festival 1969 and learned a bunch of interesting info that was really fascinating, info on planning of festival, info re how many folks attended and how many were unable to get into festival, about as many it seems..and how many who attended speak so highly of the event and the vibe and the social/spiritual energy…I went to a midwestern rock festival in Wisconsin 1970, that was a big deal, had a great time and those years were a great time to be young and bond w/ culture of peace and love ..watching the WOODSTOCK dvds were great in terms of history info and reflection…and memories! And will add, when Stephen Colbert does his Colbert Questionaire, asking what 1 song would be the 1 you only listen to the rest of your life: mine lately is JOE COCKER’s WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS from WOODSTOCK live!