Fogerty, Ringo, Santana to Headline Concerts at Original Woodstock Site
by Best Classic Bands Staff
The field at Bethel Woods in 1969 (Photo: Bethel Woods Center for the Arts; used with permission)
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the cultural center located at the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival in Bethel, N.Y., announced today (April 24) that John Fogerty will play on the 50th anniversary of the concert he played there with Creedence Clearwater Revival.
CCR were scheduled to play on Saturday evening, August 16, 1969. Due to delays in production and following the Grateful Dead, who went over their allotted time, CCR didn’t hit the Woodstock stage until 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 18. “By the time we hit the stage we were ready to rock…but as I looked down into the crowd I quickly discovered, the Dead had put the entire audience to sleep,” says Fogerty. “That’s ok, it was late, so I focused my whole set on this one guy, way out in the crowd, who yelled to me, ‘That’s ok John, we’re with ya!’”
Fogerty is in the midst of a 50th anniversary tour.
On February 19, Ringo Starr and Santana were announced as the other headliners to perform at Bethel Woods on the weekend of the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band will perform on Friday, August 16, along with several of the artists that played the legendary festival there in ’69, Arlo Guthrie and Edgar Winter. On Saturday, August 17, Santana and the Doobie Brothers, who are touring together this summer, will play. The date marks exactly 50 years to the day that Santana performed at the festival.
Tickets for the August 16 and 17 concerts, and all other 2019 performances at Bethel Woods, are available here. Details for tickets to the Fogerty concert have not yet been announced.
On Thursday, August 15, Guthrie will play a free concert on the 50th anniversary of his original performance. It will be followed by a showing of the 1970 Woodstock documentary film. (Tickets for that evening are already gone.)
The four-day event will celebrate the golden anniversary of the original, historic event, generally considered the most famous music festival of all time. However, it is scaled back from the original plans first announced in December.
An aerial view of Bethel Woods (Photo: Bethel Woods Center for the Arts; used with permission)
Coming August 15-18, 2019, nearly 50 years to the day after the original, the concerts will be held at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which is approximately 90 minutes from New York City.
Edgar Winter, with the Edgar Winter Band, returns to Bethel for the first time since performing at the ’69 festival with his brother, Johnny Winter.
Watch Santana play the 1969 festival
The organizers of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair announced on Jan. 9 the dates and location of what they describe as the official 50th anniversary festival. Woodstock 50 will be held Aug. 16, 17 and 18, 2019 in Watkins Glen, NY. The event also features many of the artists who performed at the original, as well as dozens of contemporary acts.
Related: Woodstock organizers plan annual festival
“While the original site in Bethel remains close to our hearts,” the original festival’s organizer, Michael Lang, said in a prepared statement in late December, “it no longer has the capacity to hold a real Woodstock festival.”
On display at the Museum at Bethel Woods (Photo: Bethel Woods Center for the Arts; used with permission)
The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts celebrations marking the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock are not produced, sponsored by or affiliated with Woodstock Ventures LC, the organizer of the 1969 Festival and its other reunion festivals, and are not WOODSTOCK® events,” the announcement further states in a disclaimer.
The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts comprises the Pavilion Stage amphitheater that accommodates 15,000, an intimate 440-seat indoor Event Gallery, and the Museum at Bethel Woods.
Related: Listings for 100s of classic rock tours
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationNot sure if you’ve read into other articles, but they are not headlining. They are the only artists that will be performing Thursday-Saturday and Sunday has not been announced. Festival was scaled back to a three day three separate concert events . Much smaller then a festival after INVNT left. May want to re word or re publish this
Your comment about “only artists” is simply not true, Harry. The article clearly states the other acts on the bill for Friday and Saturday.
Where does the money go?