This week I watched the recent PBS documentary Woodstock- Three Days That Defined a Generation. It is excellent- it does feature the music- but also how the concert came to be and of course a lot about the young people who came and their experiences. I watched this and re-watched the Woodstock movie documentary- Director’s Cut which was released in 2014. The documentary and the movie are a good balance- you get more of the music from the film. The American Experience program is about an hour and a half long. If you plan on watching the Director’s Cut of the movie you probably need to put an entire evening aside- 4 hours plus. But this is the weekend to watch them- the concert began 50 years ago today.
LINK BELOW -to the American Experience – Woodstock- Three Days That Defined A Generation—
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/woodstock/#part01
slicethelife 
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I’m about to watch the director’s cut at a local movie theater – about three hours and 45 minutes. It’s gonna be a long evening, but I’ve actually never watched it. As a fan of music from that era, I feel it’s about time!😀
I wish they had more than one showing- although I just watched it again on DVD I would have loved to see it one time on the big screen!
Thank you for the heads-up on these. Also appreciate your posts highlighting Woodstock!
Can you imagine a Woodstock being pulled off today?– A lot of the credit also has to go to the organizers- they took a bath financially but when they realized there was no way they were going to be able to stop things- ‘it’s a free concert.’ and they just went with the flow and made the best of it.
I think you nailed the big difference between then and now and why it would never work now: money, the thing that is worshipped above all.
Today the promoters would kick everyone out and make them come back in and pay lol.. or certainly the first thing they would have done was put up the fences to keep people out.
Thanks for sharing the link to the PBS documentary. I just watched it, and it’s an excellent film!
Earlier this evening, I also saw the Director’s Cut at a local movie theater. While the footage of the music performances was excellent, I felt that film would have benefited from a narrator.
In some regards, the lack of a narrator reflected the chaos that was going on at Woodstock. The fact that in spite of the difficult conditions everything stayed peaceful for the entire duration is truly remarkable. The country could use some of that spirit these days.
Okay, I may be a rock & roll nut, but even rock & roll nuts get tired, so I’m going to sleep now!
Glad you enjoyed the PBS Doc.. I saw that the Directors Cut was going to be shown on a one time shot- last night but I live over an hour from the closest theater that was showing it– and I worked until 6pm so there was no way I was making it there by 7! If I had known- I would have liked to have seen it on the big screen..glad you got that opportunity! .. I agree it is totally amazing how you put 400,000 people together right on top of each other and all goes pretty well for over 3 days. More than the music- that is the legacy of the event… in less than 4 months there would be Altamont.
Thanks for sharing this. Now watching. Also, every time I think of Woodstock, I wonder what the hell happened to many of the people from that generation – i.e. why did a sizable percentage of them become conservative MAGA assholes?
Watching this doc I was thinking the same thing- most- most likely ended up doing what most of us end up doing- getting normal jobs etc. I wouldn’t consider that selling out- just growing up. Which isn’t a bad thing. I do think a good doc or study would be- the lives they have led over the 50 years. A 20 year old at Woodstock is now 70. Did they keep the same ideals? Did they do things to try and make an impact in their community? How have they changed?