Monterey Pop Festival vs. Woodstock Music & Art Fair

The Monterey Pop Festival was home of several astonishing performances by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Simon & Garfunkel, and many others. Woodstock had the Band of Gypsies, The Who, CCR, Grateful Dead, and more people know about Woodstock than Monterey. However, on a purely musical standpoint, which festival had better performances, or standout moments?

Personally, nothing can beat Monterey in my heart, even though I do enjoy Hendrix's performance at Woodstock.

 

I've loved Monterey ever since I saw the DA Pennebaker documentary for the first time shown by at a local film club on 16mm in a small inner city pub in Melbourne. Something very special about it. The Criterion DVD is a godsend too. Always worth mentioning Laura Nyro's sublime (and infamous) performance at Monterey http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2343-laura-nyro-at-monterey-pop

 

Monterey by a mile. Lots of time filler acts at Woodstock but everyone was good at Monterey.

 

The first and best Monterey. Hendrix at Woodstock was not the Band Of Gypsys as the op stated but Gypsy Rose Sun and the Rainbows?

 

Gotta be Monterey! The excitement of the times and newness of hope shows through in the film. Perhaps looking back 40 years on and looking at Woodstock as the last hurrah of the 60's has something to do with it. Also, like stated above, there were mostly all great acts.

 

Woodstock had more meaning...but, I loved them both.

 

Monterey Pop had Ravi Shankar. Woodstock had Sha Na Na.

I'm gonna go with Monterey Pop. Woodstock was a cultural event but Monterey Pop was a music festival.



Go to 4:24 to see a totally blissed-out Micky Dolenz leaping to his feet at the end of Shankar's set.

 

You can call it anything you want to.

 

Monterey was amazing. I never made it to Woodstock.

 

There was a lot more to Woodstock than Sha Na Na. Ten Years After, Santana, Joe Cocker, Sly and the Family Stone, et al.

Based on what I've seen, I'd give Woodstock the edge.

 

I'm 52, thus was not able to make it to either.

The Chicago School of Rock did a great tribute to Monterey:

 

I went with Woodstock solely from a Who fan's perspective, as The Who's performance at Woodstock was soooo much better than their performance at Monterey.

 

Set list of Monterey Pop

• 1 Friday, June 16. Evening
  • 1.1 The Association
  • 1.2 The Paupers
  • 1.3 Lou Rawls
  • 1.4 Beverley (Kutner)
  • 1.5 Johnny Rivers
  • 1.6 Eric Burdon & The Animals
  • 1.7 Simon and Garfunkel
• 2 Saturday, June 17. Afternoon
  • 2.1 Canned Heat
  • 2.2 Big Brother and the Holding Company
  • 2.3 Country Joe and the Fish
  • 2.4 Al Kooper
  • 2.5 The Butterfield Blues Band
  • 2.6 Quicksilver Messenger Service
  • 2.7 Steve Miller Band
  • 2.8 The Electric Flag
• 3 Saturday, June 17. Evening
  • 3.1 Moby Grape
  • 3.2 Hugh Masekela
  • 3.3 The Byrds
  • 3.4 Laura Nyro
  • 3.5 Jefferson Airplane
  • 3.6 Booker T. & the M.G.s
  • 3.7 Otis Redding
• 4 Sunday, June 18. Afternoon
  • 4.1 Ravi Shankar
• 5 Sunday, June 18. Evening
  • 5.1 Blues Project
  • 5.2 The Group With No Name
  • 5.3 Buffalo Springfield
  • 5.4 The Who
  • 5.5 Grateful Dead
  • 5.6 The Jimi Hendrix Experience
  • 5.7 The Mamas & the Papas
  • 5.8 Scott McKenzie
  • 5.9 The Mamas & the Papas & Scott McKenzie

Set list of Woodstock:

Friday, August 15

• Richie Havens - 5:07pm - 7:00pm
• Sweetwater - 7:30pm - 8:10pm
• Bert Sommer - 8:20pm - 9:15pm
• Tim Hardin - 9:20pm - 9:45pm
• Ravi Shankar, with a three-song set, played through the rain - 10:00pm - 10:35pm
• Melanie Safka - 10:50pm - 11:20pm
• Arlo Guthrie- 11:55pm - 12:25am
• Joan Baez- she was six months pregnant at the time - 12:55am - 2:00am [2]

Saturday, August 16

• Quill - 12:15pm - 12:45pm
• Country Joe McDonald - 1:00pm - 1:30pm
• Santana - 2:00pm - 2:45pm
• John B. Sebastian - 3:30pm - 3:55pm
• Keef Hartley Band - 4:45pm - 5:30pm
• The Incredible String Band - 6:00pm - 6:30pm
• Canned Heat - 7:30pm - 8:30pm
• Mountain - 9:00pm - 10:00pm
• Grateful Dead - their set was cut short after the stage amps overloaded during "Turn On Your Love Light" - 10:30pm - 12:05am
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - 12:30am - 1:20am
• Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band - 2:00am - 3:00am [3]
• Sly & the Family Stone - 3:30am - 4:20am
• The Who - the most songs performed by any act during the festival - 5:00am - 6:05am
• Jefferson Airplane - 8:00am - 9:40am

Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18

• Joe Cocker and The Grease Band - 2:00pm - 3:25pm
• Country Joe and the Fish - 6:30pm - 8:00pm
• Ten Years After - 8:15pm - 9:15pm
• The Band - 10:00pm - 10:50pm
• Johnny Winter - joined by brother Edgar Winter on three songs - 12:00am - 1:05am
• Blood, Sweat & Tears - 1:30am - 2:30am
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 3:00am - 4:00am
• Paul Butterfield Blues Band - 6:00am - 6:45am
• Sha-Na-Na - 7:30am - 8:00am
• Jimi Hendrix - 9:00am - 11:10am

 

I think Hendrix's Monterey performance serves for one of the best live recordings of all time.

 

In 1969 all roads led to Woodstock .
Why?
The whole world was there.

 

If the name is wrong you explain what is it?

 

Gypsy Sun and Rainbows is what Hendrix named his new band for Woodstock!

 

Woodstock is Monterey's little brother...

I even like the song, "Monterey" by Eric Burdon & the Animals, better than "Woodstock", from CSN&Y...

 

BTW, I know some White Knights might jump on me, but I found it beyond pitiful that Richie Havens' ashes were strewn on the grounds of Woodstock... all it serves, is to reduce his lengthy career to the singular performance at Woodstock... Richie bought into the Woodstock straight-jacket, so I don't feel bad for him...just pity

 

Monterey, if even just for Buffalo Springfield and Moby Grape.

 

Monterey - I never tire of the movie - my favorite performances: Hugh Masekela, Jeff Airplane, Animals, Country Joe, Ravi Shankar. Woodstock's too much.

 

I would hope so. Aside from Santana and Joe Cocker I would consider the other two you mentioned on the weaker end of the line up.

 

Lets have an unorganised look at some things off the top of my head:

I was hoping to like 10 Years After, but after a while I thought: take it down a notch, please....and I usually like a lot of guitar wankery. I can't believe King Crimson would be opening for that band a few years later.

Hendrix played to a bigger crowd who were witnessing the Experience for the first time in the USA at Monterey; as amazing as he was at Woodstock, the crowd split that morning since it got pushed into that last morning. The Experience were also a tighter band than Gypsys Suns and Ranbows...it wasn't just about Hendrix, but the rhythm section was killer in the Experience. Just compare Mitch Mitchell's performances. Hendrix seemed to be more of the focus of the band at Woodstock despite the lack of crazy antics and pyro technics. He was able to play AND entertain visually at Monterey. I prefer the "immobile" Hendrix with the later Band of Gypsys.

That "rock n soul" song by Country Joe and Fish sounds goofy next to the psychedelic instrumental Section 43 (reminds me of early Pink Floyd).

Monterey had a cool psychedelic light show. The Dead was the only band to try to set one up at Woodstock and the winds blew the sheets so bad they had to cut them with knives.

Speaking of The Grateful Dead, they hated their performances at both. They especially didn't want to be filmed at Monterey. Then they became the ultimate hippy band when being just that went out of fashion. Very strange.

Otis Redding with Booker T and the MGs at Monterey. But, on a soul edge Woodstock had Sly...both great "rock and soul" bands at their peak. Joe Cocker must be for the older generation because I just couldn't see what was so great about his performance.

I liked Jefferson Airplane's sets at both, but I might give the edge to Woodstock because of Wont You Try/Saturday Afternoon. It kills the studio version.
The Who were better to me at Woodstock. Townsend did a great job considering someone dosed him.

Its a good thing Zeppelin turned the Woodstock gig down because heads would've exploded after hearing that band in their first year.
Both gigs would've been improved by Pink Floyd. Timing, people! Imagine the Syd Barrett lineup doing 30 minute Interstellar Overdrive to a blitzed out Monterey crowd. Or the Ummagumma 1969 live period at Woodstock! Like Zep, they would've exploded some heads.
I also wish Arthur Lee didn't turn down Love's original lineup's performance at Monterey. I know they were recording "Forever Changes" at the time, but what a show that would've been.

Monterey seemed better organized than Woodstock. I also like the styles of 1967 when everyone was weird and colorful as opposed to that proto-seventies looking Woodstock crowd looking rough and dirty. I know a lot happened to hippies in between those years, but geez!
Monterey had "Owsley Monterey Purple", Woodstock had the bad brown acid. Fewer bummers and freak outs at Monterey thanks to Owsley.
No rain at Monterey! They also had great jazz by The Blues Project (Flute Song!) and Hugh Masekela.

For me: Monterey. Woodstock had its moments, but Monterey kicked off everything...all the way up to Lollapalooza, Coachella, and Bonnaroo today. Woodstock was all about a mess that somehow worked against all odds. I could get the "Altamont is coming..." vibes from that thing. Monterey still had some innocence about it.

 

I think I would have rather been at Monterrey.

 

Monterey for me....first time I saw it on TV I was blown away...! Woodstock looked like a mess compared to Monterey


sean