Woodstock Vs Altamont
Altamont was in December of 1969 just four months after Woodstock which was in August of 1969. Altamont was a violent end to the 60s when Woodstock is often remembered as a loving and peaceful festival. Woodstock and Altamont are two very comparable events. The question is why was Woodstock such a success and why was Altamont such a disaster?
Below are some photos comparing both, the first three are from Woodstock where you can see the love and peace in each photo and the next three are from Altamont, just in comparing these photos you can see the difference in the festivals and how Altamont looked darker than Woodstock.
Woodstock was held in a small town in Upstate New York, and Altamont was thrown together last minute and the venue was on Altamont Speedway near Livermore, California. Altamont is often referred to as the "anti-Woodstock" but is now almost forgotten about and for a good reason. Below is a photo with an overview of each event venue. The first photo is from Woodstock and the second is from Altamont, in these photos alone you can tell the venue for Woodstock was better.
Mick Jagger was the main organizer for the event, he had hired Hell Angels which he was told Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead that he had used them for an event before so he decided it wouldn't be such a bad idea. The Grateful Dead were meant to play that night at the concert but they ended up leaving before the stabbing of Meredith Hunter because they knew something bad was going to happen, Some of the same bands played for both festivals but where Altamont mainly went wrong was hiring the angry biker gang and paying them in 500$ worth of beer.
