I wasn't able to make the original Woodstock that took place at Max Yasgur’s farm in the Catskills 44 years years ago this month (August 15 - 17). That’s because I would have only been less than five years old, and although I was toilet trained I am from Canada and I wasn't old enough to have hopped on a plane myself and I have no clue what my parents were doing but they never offered to take me.
But I was able to make the fourth annual Jerusalem Woodstock Revival Festival at the Kraft Stadium near Sacher Park in Jerusalem last week on August 2, and is was plenty fun. [I do have one friend in Winnipeg, Dr. Haskel Greenfield, whose mother took him to Woodstock and since he is in Israel often in August I must make sure I tell him to get to this Festival.]
So there I was with about 1000 Israelis, many but not all from Anglo backgrounds [yes there were and some native Israelis and yes I heard some Hebrew not just English) at the Jerusalem Woodstock Revival IV. We all gathered together to hear a line up of talented Israeli performers playing the great music made at the original watershed event in the history of rock music. At this Israeli event there were both secular and modern orthodox, a fair sprinkling of people in hippie style dresses and long hair, some with kippas and tzizit, others not, children covered with face paint, youngsters with Hoola Hoops spinning around, trying their hand at juggling and just a fun filled atmosphere. People brought their own blankets, and chairs, pillows, [I even saw someone bring a bean bag chair] Little children fell asleep in their parents arms or stretched out on blankets as the evening progressed. All in all, a wonderful sight.
For children there were puppet shows at the Festival's beginning and from the laughter you know they were enjoying the shows.
The music of the sixties and seventies reigned supreme at the Woodstock Revival Festival. The lineup consisted of Geva Alon (singing Neil Young), Ummagumma (playing Pink Floyd), Libi and The Flashback hosting Yael Deckelbaum (songs from Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin), Michael Greilsammer (playing Led Zeppelin), The Elevators (singing Grateful Dead), Crystal Ship (singing The Doors) and Maya Johanna Menachem with Shay Tochner and Friends (doing a Woodstock folk set).
The Jerusalem weather is sublime for an evening concert line-up--and the Woodstock Revival is a good excuse for anyone to escape the humidity of coastal Israel, to relax, hear some good music, and enjoy the special atmosphere. It was a pleasure just to sit outside, and lie around without sweat dripping down from my brow.
I particularly enjoyed hearing Geva Alon's rendition of some of my favourite Neil Young tunes, which had me harkening back to days at summer camp overnights playing these songs around a camp fire. (Young spent some time in Winnipeg, my hometown). I can't remember another time when I have heard Neil Young songs in Israel. I also enjoyed her Joan Baez tune.
It was delightful to hear the lines of the children's book written by Abigail Yasgur, cousin to the famous Max Yasgur. She read her book on stage near the end about the original Woodstock. We had a chance to talk to her at the table where she was selling these books and found out she is from the same area of Pennsylvania that my friend Orli is from showing once again what a small world it really is.
People were up and dancing throughout much of the evening, and I couldn't even find my colleague Orli Avior who was enjoying herself so much that she was lost herself in a vortex of dancers near the stage when singers Libi and Yael Deckelbaum were performing Janis Joplin. The Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin portion of the concert was a definite highlight for her. (But not her husband Ariel, who asked me if I had ever noticed that it was mostly women, not men, who enjoy hearing Janis Joplin?) Afterwards she said it was not true there were many more men (young men especially) around her at the front of the stage and they all seem to be singing along with Libi and the Flashback band.
Throughout the concert I could see concert promoter Nadia Levene on site making sure everything was running smoothly-which it did. The festival also had tables where people sold various crafts, jewelry, t-shirts and handbags---if anything I think there could even be more stalls in future years.
I have never been to the first three Jerusalem Woodstock festivals, but after experiencing this fourth Festival, I'd easily recommend going to the fifth.
For a moment, I even thought I caught a whiff of some grass, (not the kind that normally covers the Kraft Stadium) but alas...I must have been imagining.
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