Nearly 40 years to the day that he christened the crowning achievement of the 1960s counterculture, Richie Havens returned to an open field in Sullivan County to sing about a primal human condition, the pursuit of which binds us all.
“Freedom," Havens bellowed from the top of the hill upon which hundreds of thousands descended in August 1969 for the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.
“Freedom," he repeated.
At about noon Friday, Havens reprised the song he famously performed as the opening act at Woodstock on Aug. 15, 1969. This time, a light, warm breeze blew softly and the sun was hot, a stark contrast to the rain and mud that enveloped concertgoers four decades ago.
His performance took place at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts and kicked off a weekend of 40th anniversary festivities. The center sits on the site of the original festival.
The celebration continued Saturday with the sold-out “Heroes of Woodstock concert", featuring a roster of bands with Woodstock veterans: the Levon Helm Band, Jefferson Starship, Ten Years After, Canned Heat, Mountain, Tom Constanten, Country Joe McDonald and others.
Havens performed again Friday night at a sold-out concert inside the Bethel Woods Events Gallery. He took the stage shortly after 8 p.m. to a standing ovation from a capacity crowd made up primarily of Baby Boomers.
“My generation was a very, very special generation," Havens told the crowd. “There is a reason, and the reason is, because we had the best-looking generation. We look good still."
The crowd erupted into laughter and Havens launched into one of his signature songs, a cover of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower.
Earlier in the day, he spoke of arriving at Woodstock in 1969. Seeing the massive crowd, Havens said, he thought to himself, “we made it."
The afternoon private event was attended by about 150, including Sam Yasgur, whose father, Max, owned the land upon which Woodstock was held, and Elliott Landy, the Woodstock resident and photographer who covered Woodstock and shot the cover for Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline album.
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