From Woodstock to Coachella: Is There Anything Left of the Sixties’ Music Festivals?
Not really, but the idea still sells
It’s a sad time for festivalgoers.
Better safe home than dangerously raving outside, of course. But it still hurts to know that our favorite part of the year — summer and its music festivals — is getting canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The positive aspect is, now we have time to reflect upon the things we enjoy. Why not then research on these festivals we miss so much? It might bring us closer to them in spirit if we can’t enjoy them physically.
At least, that’s what I told myself when enthusiastically diving into documentaries about the history of music festivals.
Sadly, I was not delighted with what I found.
Why? Because I realized how far the experience of today’s music festivals was from the “joyful mess” of the first pop-rock music festivals of the Sixties.
Let’s face it: what was during the Sixties an act of counterculture has now become an industry worth millions of dollars — a record of $114.7 million of profits for the 2017 edition of Coachella.
