I traveled to Saugertes, New York with a friend from work - who was originally from Denmark. Reports prior to the concert indicated it was going to be poorly attended. They had only sold 50,000 tickets. We were going to go camp and listen to music - even if we were the only ones there. Boy - were the reports wrong. We noticed that a lot of vehicles heading east on I-80 looked like they were heading to the concert. The psychodelic buses were easy to figure out...
When we arrived at the concert site - it was a total mess. There were cars everywhere... people running across the interstate to climb over fences... it was awesome. It was obvious that they had underestimated attendence by around 300,000. We ended up parking in Albany and being bussed back in New York state school busses.
First night of the concert we set up camp and watched Collective Soul, Candle Box and Porno for Pyros. The next morning we went down to the communal wash area and were pleasantly surprised by the women who decided to strip and wash right next to us. Being the open minded person I am - I thought that was just great.
Day 2 concert scheduled kicked off with Joe Cocker and he was outstanding. Blind Melon followed and I think another band or two... Then Melissa Etheridge came on stage - and played an entire set of Janis Joplin. She did Janice better than Janice did Janice. It was classic. THEN CAME Crosby, Stills and Nash with their friend John Sebastian. Listening to CSN play Woodstock at Woodstock was a moment I'll never forget. After that, the main stage changed genre's - so we were entertained by Nine Inch Nails... and I use the term "entertained" loosely. But I can say I saw them.
We walked in a pouring rain to stage two - slid down a mud hill - and got to listen to some great music. There was an acoustic set going on by an African group and then came The Grateful Dead with friends from The Band and Bruce Hornsby. Seeing them - and their crowd was worth the price of admission. If it happens again this year - I WILL BE THERE.