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Joan Baez
Joan Baez01
Joan Baez at Woodstock
Performed on Day 1
Started at 1.00 am, Saturday, 16th
Played for 60 min. (approx.)
Further Information
Festival Day Chronology
Prev. artist Arlo Guthrie at 1.45 am
Next artist end of day 1

The female counterpart to Bob Dylan, folksinger and anti-war protester Joan Baez, was the last act of the first day. She started at about 3:00 am. Appropriately, she wished everybody a good morning. Her perfectly arranged set combined with her beautiful and skillful voice was a fine finish for a chaotic and exhausting first day.

During her performance it was drizzling, and then after she finished it started to rain heavily[1].



Musicians[]

  • Joan Baez - vocals, guitar
  • Richard Festinger - guitar
  • Jeffrey Shurtleff - vocals, guitar

Setlist[]

  1. Oh Happy Day
  2. The Last Thing On My Mind
  3. I Shall Be Released
  4. Story about how the Federal Marshalls came to take David Harris into custody
  5. Joe Hill
  6. Sweet Sir Galahad
  7. Hickory Wind
  8. Drug Store Truck Driving Man
  9. I Live One Day at a Time
  10. Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South
  11. Warm and Tender Love
  12. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
  13. We Shall Overcome

Details[]

The setlist is based upon information from from Arthur Levy[2] and Michael Lang's book The Road to Woodstock[3]. Not everything listed was recorded or recordings are missing.

Inbetween Joan Baez told the audience how her husband, David Harris, was arrested. He was imprisoned for three years because he didn't follow his draft notice[4] (he founded an organization which encouraged men to refuse their military draft).

The gospel song "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" was performed a capella by Joan Baez alone.

Together with Jeffrey Shurtleff and Richard Festinger (members from the Draft Resistance organization founded by Baez husband David Harris) she played "Drug Store Truck Driving Man", a song composed by Roger McGuinn and Gram Parsons from The Byrds. The lyrics address a Ku Klux Klan member. It was dedicated to the governor of California, Ronald Reagan (pronounced as ray-gun), by Shurtleff. He added an additional verse to involve Reagan's person.

Miscellaneous[]

Joan Baez also performed on the free stage.

Joan Baez was currently pregnant. Her son Gabriel Harris was born in December 1969.

Availability[]

About half of the setlist is available on official sources. An audience recording adds "Last Thing on My Mind" and "I Shall Be Released".

Audio[]

Video[]

Images[]

References[]

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