Flashback- Three Days of Peace and Love…or was it? [NSFW]

The Woodstock Music Festival took place forty-five years ago this weekend in Bethel, New York. Max Yasgur, a local farmer agreed to allow his land to be used for the festival that was star-studded and expected to bring in a large audience. Of course, now we know that some 500,000 hippies and music lovers parked it on Yasgur's farm for three full days.

The shows did not start out as a free show, but after so many people showed up and poured in anyway the promoters stopped taking admission. A three-day pass was originally $18 in advance and $24 at the gate.

Many artists were asked to play the festival but declined, such as The Doors, Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan and The Band, who actually lived in the area. Dylan declined and went on to play the Isle of Wight Festival a couple weeks later in front of 150,000 people. His first show since his motorcycle accident three years earlier.

Woodstock has been dubbed as three days of peace and love*. That is true. No major crimes were reported during the festival even though it ballooned to the size of a large city, a few babies were born there and The Who took the stage. That last detail is what causes me to place an asterisk above. Let me set the stage for you.

Cameras were rolling during the Who's set. They were tearing through the Tommy album live, as it was released that May. Film was being changed out in the cameras when political activist Abbie Hoffman took to the stage and yelled into the microphone how he felt about fellow counterculture heavyweight John Sinclair being handed a ten year prison sentence for selling two joints to an undercover cop. Pete Townshend was having none of it. Many have called the Who the original punk band. I don't know if that's true, but they had the punk mentality. Enjoy Pete's tirade caught on audio, but not on film. It's been reported that Pete actually knocked Hoffman off the stage by hitting him in the head with his guitar. It's brazen, threatening, not safe for work and cheered by the crowd. Three days of peace and love...except when Pete threatens to kill the next person who walks on the stage.