Woodstock 1969 Schedule Depicted on Poster

This page presents some of the considerations that dictated the performers' schedule as presented on the poster. There are discrepancies between various schedule details as presented in books, magazines, on the Web, etc. The schedule presented on the poster - and here - represents the author's guess/interpretation.

Errors, inconsistencies, and any misinterpretations depicted are the responsibility of the author, and cannot be attributed to any other party. The Poster Schedule reflects information available to the author in 2009, when the poster was produced.

In August, 2023, I was contacted by a Woodstock scholar, Dale McQuaid, who pointed out a number of inconsistencies between the poster schedule and his observations/current understanding. Dale's insightful comments are presented here.

Dale also provided his excellent detailed work-in-progress schedule/playlist for the Woodstock festival. You can view it here.

You may note that clock time, as presented on the poster, is (almost) entirely allocated to the performers. An exception is the time allocated to the thunderstorm that hit after Joe Cocker's performance on Sunday. No effort was made to estimate or indicate the time elapsted between bands. Based on watching the Woodstock Movie, other resources, and common sense, it is obvious that performances were separated by announcements, speeches (e.g., Swami Satchidananda on Friday), equipment changes, etc. It might be possible to estimate the durations of actual performances, based on consideration of performers' set lists, as indicated at such locations as the Setlist on the Woodstock Wiki, listening to the many recordings of the Woodstock Festival, and other resources, but no effort was made to incorporate such determination on the poster.

I went to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, located up the hill from the original Festival site, at the beginning of April, 2009 to check out the Woodstock Festival Museum and glean what details I could to bolster my poster offering.

Thanks to Kees de Lang's research, as he wrote me several years ago and is also represented on the web, I was aware of the general schedule ambiguity/uncertainty that persists to this day.

At the Woodstock museum, I was thoroughly engrossed and entertained by the exhibits, dioramas, videos, photos, artifacts... Very cool! I recommend several-hours-worth of a visit to the Museum, if you ever have the opportunity.

Near the end of the exhibit there was a schedule that listed, for Friday:

• Richie Havens,
• Country Joe,
• John Sebastian,
• then Sweetwater.

But Richie came on at 5:07 PM and reportedly played for 2 Hrs and 40 minutes (I'm not convinced, but I've read it) and Sweetwater was on before dark, as visible in photos and the movie. - But sunset was at 7:58. It seems to me that you can't fit Richie, Joe, John, and Sweetwater in the available 2 hr 50 mins of daylight.

So to my thinking, the schedule listing - on the wall at the museum - doesn't work.

I asked a security guard about this, noting what appeared to me to be an inconsistency. I asked if there was anyone in authority who might be able to shed some light on this. She said, "Wade, the Museum Director, might know about it. I think he's in a meeting, but would probably be happy to talk to you about it."

A few minutes later, Wade appeared. I explained my consternation about the schedule. He said, "It's funny you should mention the schedule. Just this week, I received a letter from Mike Lang (Woodstock promoter), who sent along new schedule details that he got from Mike Wadleigh's examination of notes from the film." (Mike Wadleigh made the Woodstock movie.) "Let me go get the letter and we'll take a look."

He came back in a few minutes and read the letter while we looked at the schedule on the wall. The letter listed the *Actual* schedule as:

Friday:

• Richie
• Swami
• Sweetwater

Saturday:

• Quill
• Country Joe
• Santana
• John Sebastian
• Keef Hartley
• Incredible String Band
• Canned Heat
• Mountain
• GD
• CCR
• Janis, etc

This represented a departure from anything I had encountered in the Woodstock literature. Needless to say, I was thrilled to arrive at the Woodstock Museum as a Woodstock novice and get the inside poop about the schedule from the Wadleigh thru Lang (thru the Director of the Woodstock Festival Museum(!!!).

It is possible that I mis-transcribed as Wade read the letter, and it's certainly possible that Mike Wadleigh was wrong about something, but I went with the sequence listed by Wade/Lang/Wadleigh as I developed the poster.

Again, this author will endeavor to incorporate credible updates to the festival schedule as presented on this Web site and on any future editions of the poster that are issued. Please feel free to contact the author with your comments or information. Send email to author..