Woodstock

“The greatest religion a nation ever followed was a music concert.”

Ever wondered how things were in a decade nearly forty years ago. From the one you’re living in? Yes. The 70s. Or perhaps wished you could live the 70s life. God doesn’t grant wishes. A genie can, but he doesn’t exist. So you don’t have much choice anyway. You’re stuck in the sucky 21st century where SPM rules the skies and four people are murdered every second. There. What do you do then? Cover your face and cry? Don’t. There’s something that can cheer you up. In fact there are two things, viz. Dazed And Confused, and Woodstock. Go watch the former. It’s beyond awesome. But on that, later.

What happens when you cross-breed weed, muscle cars and three-days-of-peace-and-music? You get Woodstock. That’s what it is about. In 1969, a few loaded entrepreneurs got together and rented a farm. They thought of inviting all the famous music artists and giving them three days to play. Three whole days! And people came. The organizers had expected a crowd of 2 lakh. But over 5 lakh people turned up and situation got so positively bad that after half the first day, they made the festival a free one. It’s hard to imagine that so many people can stay jam-packed in a 600-acre area for three days with debatable facilities for food and all, just for the love of music. With artists like Jimi Hendrix, Canned Heat, Arlo Guthrie, The Who, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Ten Years After, Richie Havens and many more who performed, it’s not hard to believe that it’s considered as the best and the greatest concert ever held. It would have been a lot cooler if a few others like Led-Zep, Black-Sabbath, The-Doors and Jethro-Tull would have come too.

The movie cum documentary starts not with the performances directly but with footages of the organizers working, the stage being set up, the farm and all. Quintessentially-70s, the footages of horses and the long haired ladies wearing bandanas emanate very strong psychedelic vibes and the songs being played in the background are amazing and add more bubble-wrap to the overall happiness. Then start the performances. I was literally close to tears when the crowd gave a standing ovation to Richie Havens. Getting to see a spectacle such as Woodstock-69 is almost impossible in the decade we live in. It gives you a very pleasant feeling and a caffeinic urge to go some place where you can just sit back, smoke pot and listen to music all day long.

All In all, this is only for serious music enthusiasts. Fans of Himesh Reshamiya and those with similar rubbish music tastes should strictly not watch this. As for the others, if you’re really interested in spending three and a half hours in a way that’ll put you a step closer to Nirvana, then go for Woodstock. Beautiful! Wish I was there.

Pros : Everything.

Cons : Nothing at all.

Rating : 5/5