Heroes of Woodstock: A Rock & Roll Review

The concert: Heroes of Woodstock, Genesee Theater, July 31, 2009

Some half million young people converged at Max Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, New York 40 years ago this month. For this generation, the impact of this event quickly outweighed that of the spectacular moon landing which had transpired just a month earlier.

I wasn’t at Woodstock. Fortunately Country Joe McDonald was. Country Joe first became known to most our generation by his pointed advice to parents of America to send their sons off to Vietnam, so they could be the “first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box.” He is also a great organizer. He’s put together a very entertaining tour.

While most of the performers at Friday’s concert were not the original performers at Woodstock, the list of originals included not only Country Joe, but also Gary Duncan and David Freiberg from Quicksilver Messenger Service, Paul Kantner (age 68) from Jefferson Starship; Sam Andrew (age 67), Peter Albin, and David Getz from Big Brother and the Holding Company; Gary Duncan (age 62) and David Freiberg from Quicksilver Messsenger Service, Adolfo de la Parra of Canned Heat,and  Tom Constanten of the Grateful Dead.

The stand-ins for the original were often great. Sophia Ramos was in every way a new and improved version of Janis Joplin. The ensemble called Canned Heat was outstanding.

Any low points ? For baby boomers who already are losing their hearing, it didn’t make sense to turn up the amplifiers to “Deaf Ray” level for the last two sets. Paul Kantner may have been the only original member of Jefferson Airplane, and Dave Freiberg had to read the lyrics from the sheet music.  Also please leave the Grateful Dead covers to the Dead.

Still, if you missed this most entertaining four-hour performance, you can still see it in some other cities. You can also catch the original performers on WNET and  the History Channel in a few weeks.

––Doctor Dave, Rock & Roll Specialist