Performer Melanie hallucinated, but not because of drugs
Melanie Safka, who performs under the name Melanie, was only 22 when she performed at Woodstock. Relatively unknown at the time, her performance made her a star. But she was so terrified during her performance that she recalls an “out-of-body experience,” though without taking any drugs. “I was completely alone, and so terrified. I was certain this was my doom and I left my body.”
Woodstock launched Martin Scorsese’s career
The 1970 documentary film, Woodstock, directed by Michael Wadleigh, was Martin Scorsese’s launching pad as a filmmaker. Having been hired as an assistant director, he was given the opportunity to do some editing work on the 120 hours of footage that had been taken. “I went to Woodstock as a schlep, and I came back as a schlep, but now I’m an assistant editor,” he’s quoted as having said in the aftermath.
Creedence is notably missing from the doc
“Since 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s performance…has been glaringly absent from all documents about the festival – including the Academy Award-winning documentary the following year,” wrote Billboard magazine. “We weren’t in the movie on purpose,” Fogerty tells Billboard, because they didn’t like the music clip the documentarians had chosen to represent their performance.