Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend of British rock band The Who on stage during Woodstock, August 16 1969. Whether it was the brain-altering chemicals or the natural intoxication of playing live in front of hundreds of thousands of people, Santana showed off the guitar solo skills that would earn him a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rumor has it that Carlos, thinking he had hours before their set, had taken a dose of mescaline, a highly hallucinogenic drug, right before stepping on stage. Santana’s six-minute, pulsating version of “ Soul Sacrifice” stands out as the best song of the set. “They moved the crowd like nothing I’ve ever seen.” “I don’t remember if I had heard of Santana before Woodstock, but I thought they were tremendous,” says Carl Porter, who attended Woodstock not far from his home in Sullivan County, New York. Their electric, Latin-infused Woodstock performance, driven by 20-year-old drummer Michael Shrieve, put them on the rock n’ roll map. Guitar genius Carlos Santana and his band were another group of newcomers who had recently recorded their first album before taking the Woodstock stage on Saturday afternoon. ‘Soul Sacrifice’ by Santanaīassist David Brown (left) performs with the other members of Santana, including bandleader Carlos Santana (with guitar on right) and percussionist Michael Carabello (right), at Woodstock, August 16, 1969. The high-energy, fully improvised song known as “Freedom / Motherless Child” energized the antsy crowd and set the tone for the rest of the festival. “I looked out at all of those faces in front of me and the word ‘freedom’ came to mind.” “When you see me in tuning my guitar and strumming, I was actually trying to figure out what else I could possibly play!” wrote Havens in 2009. After multiple encores, a sweat-soaked Havens came out to play one more song without any idea what it was going to be. Havens ended up performing an extra long set, literally playing every song he knew while Woodstock staff finished building the stage around him. Relatively unknown folk rocker Richie Havens wasn’t supposed to be the first act to play Woodstock, but when four other groups became snarled in the festival’s legendary traffic, the festival promoters convinced Havens and his band to take the stage hours after the concert was scheduled to begin on Friday afternoon. Richie Havens performing onstage at the Woodstock, August 15, 1969.
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