1. Joe Cocker - With a Little Help From My Friends
With the flowing mane and the eruptive roar of a lion, Joe Cocker pours his soul into the microphone. At the softer parts his voice is sweet enough to make you cry, while during the choruses his explosive guttoral singing will make the hair on your arms stand on end. Aside from being the best Beatles cover song of all time, this performance both musically and lyrically exhibits peaceful music and the spirit of Woodstock in its most raw and powerful form.
There’s always a debate as to who was the greater President
Abraham Lincoln or FDR, the greater quarter back Johnny Unitas or Joe Montana,
the greater philosopher Hobbes or Locke, Coke or Pepsi, Jiff or Skippy. However, there is one superlative that nearly
everyone agrees on. Jimi Hendrix stands
alone as the greatest rock guitarist of all time.
There have been countless books and articles that have discussed
the cultural significance of this performance.
You can go on and on about how the chaotic explosions of feedback during
the Star Spangled Banner so perfectly represent the whistling bombs landing in
Vietnam at the time and the hippy populations’ stance on the War. However, the part of this video that amazes
me the most is its ability to display Hendrix's craft on a very personal level. Through
close-ups and crossfades, the cinematography displays the connection between
his brain synapses and the guitar strings. During an interview, Woodstock creator Michael
Lang was asked how musicians of the current age(late 1960’s) can reach the
audience so well. In response he said, “Music
has always been a major form of communication… only now the type of music is
more involved in society than it was.”
If this is the motto behind the Woodstock festival, than it is only fitting
for a person who communicates through his guitar, to close the concert.
This video also displays a full spectrum of Hendrix’s guitar
aptitude, from electric majesty(0:38-1:05),
to blistering speed(4:26-4:30) , to undeniable grace (10:17-10:45).
3.Santana- Soul Sacrifice
For 2 years Santana worked the San Francisco club circuit. They mostly played shows for 100 people or less, until Woodstock where they dazzled a sea of 500,000 hippies with their original blend of jazz, rock, and salsa. They work so fluidly as an on-stage music ensemble, from the thundering percussion section featuring 20 year old Michael Shrieve with his spastic drum fills and solos, to the jazzy bass grooves of David Brown, to pale-face Carlos Santana's sacrificial guitar surges. The music is so undeniably bad-ass. As you can see from the electrified crowd it was the kind of rock people needed in the late 60's........and yes that is a naked dude dancing with a sheep(on the left at 7:05).
".....I was under the influence of LSD.....the guitar neck felt like an electric snake that wouldn't stand still. That's why I was making ugly faces, trying to make the snake stand still so I can play it."
-Carlos Santana
Alvin Lee leaves everything on stage with heavy soulful vocals and furious guitar riffs that'll run circles around a merry-go-round. Too stoned to even form a proper sentence, Alvin barely even opens his eyes yet nails every note and always manages to find the microphone. At times during this performance you just don't believe that it is happening. My favorite part of this video is at the end where he haphazardly throws his guitar aside and clumsily walks off with a watermelon on his shoulder, that of which was thrown on stage at the end of the song, as if that was his next order of business.
Joan Baez's performance in the Woodstock documentary is my favorite female vocal performance ever. With nothing but her voice and her guitar Joan Baez first sings, "Joe Hill" as a prideful antiwar protest. Dropping her guitar, she then breaks into the most mindblowing version of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." With magnificent cinematography and carefully placed transitions, Joan Baez comes off as a guardian angel glowing in the spotlight, blue flames flowing from her mouth as she nails the final high notes.
