The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was a historic event held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 km²; 240 ha) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18 1969. Bethel (Sullivan County) is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, which is in adjoining Ulster County.

To many, the festival exemplified the counterculture of the 1960s and the "hippie era." Thirty-two of the best-known musicians of the day appeared during the sometimes rainy weekend. Although attempts have been made over the years to recreate the festival, the original event has proven to be unique and legendary. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in music history and was listed on Rolling Stone's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll .

The event was captured in a successful 1970 movie, Woodstock, and Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock," which commemorated the event and became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Woodstock '94 was a music festival organized in order to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival of 1969. It was promoted as "2 More Days of Peace and Music." The famous poster used to promote the first concert was revised to feature two birds perched on a guitar (instead of one).

The concert was scheduled for August 13, 1994 and August 14, but a third day (August 12) was added.

The concert was also dubbed "mudstock" due to a downpour on August 13; band Green Day saw its set turn into an enormous mud fight between the band and fans, and even got Wavy Gravy to participate in the fight. Eventually, the band's bassist, Mike Dirnt, was mistaken for a stage-crashing fan by a bouncer, and in the ensuing fight he was tackled on stage and ended up losing several of his front teeth. The mud fight was reportedly such that the band had to be carried out by a helicopter. When Primus took the stage, to play their song "My Name is Mud" bassist/singer Les Claypool commented that though the song's name is "My Name is Mud" he himself prefers not to be covered in mud. When fans did not comply he announced that throwing things on stage was a sign of "small and insignificant genitalia." When Nine Inch Nails took the stage they were already covered completely in mud, as to avoid any further mud fights.

The event took place on a large field in Saugerties, New York, about north of New York City. The site is only from Woodstock, New York and it was originally proposed as an ideal location for the 1969 concert. But permission to use the property was not granted the first time around, so the first concert was instead held in Sullivan County, much further from the namesake town of Woodstock.

The festival was followed by Woodstock 1999.

"Woodstock" is a song about the Woodstock Music and Art Festival of 1969.

Joni Mitchell wrote the song from what she had heard from then-boyfriend, Graham Nash, about the festival. She had not been there herself, since she was told it would be more advantageous to appear on The Dick Cavett Show by a manager. She wrote this song crying at home watching the show on television. It was later released on her third album, Ladies of the Canyon in 1970, on her Shadows and Light album, and again in 1996 on her Hits album.

Mitchell's original version featured a stark and haunting arrangement - solo vocal, multi-tracked backing vocals and tremoloed Wurlitzer electric piano all performed by Mitchell herself. All subsequent recordings featured a fuller backing band sound.

The song later went on to be hits for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Matthews' Southern Comfort, the latter reaching #1 on the UK singles chart for three weeks in October 1970. David Crosby in an interview in the documentary Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind said that Mitchell had captured the feeling and importance of the Woodstock festival better than anyone who had been there.

Led Zeppelin incorporated Woodstock's lyrics and structure into live renditions of their song "Dazed and Confused" between 1973 and 1975. This can be seen and heard on the live album The Song Remains The Same as well as the film of the same name, which features a collection of performances (both live and staged) from 1973. The section is used as a preface to the Violin Bow solo. It can be heard on the currently unreleased "Dazed and Confused" section of the video from one of the 1975 Earl's Court concerts. The piano intro also bears strong resemblance to "No Quarter" and Bad Company's self titled hit; "Bad Company".