In 1969, a rock festival near Woodstock, New York , became a symbol of the 1960 s American counterculture and very important event in the history of rock music.
More than 500.000 people attended , mainly " hippies" . They rejected materialism and authority , protested against the Vietnam war , supported the civil rights movement dressed unconventionally and experimented with sex and drugs .
On the positive side , half a million young people discovered that sharing , helping consideration and respect were very important on the negative side , there were 2 deaths ( but there were also 2 births ) . And there were some arrets for drug -taking. But there were no burglaries nor violent crimes in the surrounding communities. Some of the artists that attended woods tock were Joan Baez , Ravi Shankar , The Who , Santana , Bob Dylan and the band , Jimi Hendrix , Janis Joplin , Joe Cocker , etc .