‘Woodstock Colombo’ recently celebrated the enduring legacy of the famous music festival, the globally renowned ‘Woodstock Music Festival’ held in Bethel, New York in 1969, where there was a crowd of 500,000 people over a period of the 4-day festival. Recognised as the genesis of music festival culture, the original music line-up included Joe Cocker, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, The Who, Janis Joplin, Santana, Ravi Shankar and many more.
‘JC Entertainments’ in partnership with ‘Etisalat Lanka’ came together to launch the first ever ‘Woodstock Colombo 2015’ at the CR & FC grounds. The event brought together Sri Lanka’s most renowned and talented musicians to perform on one stage at this unique music festival. Some of the bands that performed at this event were ‘Rattlesnake’, ‘Flame’, ‘Mintaka’ and ‘Slipping Chairs’. Musicians in the likes of Rajitha Rupasinghe, Kamal Perera, Chris Dhason and Shafi, joined the bands to pay tribute to the musicians of yesteryear who made history in the sphere of music.
Although it was a wet and muddy evening, the ‘Woodstock’ fans didn’t hesitate to get up from their seats and dance to the beat of the 60s music. They were waving their hands in the air and having a great time dancing in the mud. All around the grounds were people dressed in tie and dye and hippie style comfortable clothes, typical of the ‘Woodstock’ era. There were various kinds of food and beverage stalls, as well as some stalls selling ‘Woodstock’ era clothing and accessories.
The highlight of the concert was when Rajitha Rupasinghe the much loved musician and leader of the band Misty joined ‘Rattlesnake’ to perform an amazing rendition of the Joe Cocker repertoire. To continue in the true spirit of ‘Woodstock’, Kamal Perera another popular name in the music industry got on stage and kept the audience dancing non-stop to the music of ‘Santana’.
At the end of the show, all the musicians who were present were asked to get on stage, take any instrument that was lying around, and play it. It was an amazing sight to see everyone on one stage as they just jammed on. An awesome end to a fabulous evening of music!
Musicians
Rajitha of Misty
If anybody has missed this event they should look forward to next year’s ‘Woodstock’. Everybody enjoyed the authentic ‘Woodstock’ music being played. In spite of the weather being not too favourable the show went off well and everybody had a gala time.
Kamal Perera
The weather was not so good, but there were people of all ages at the show. ‘Woodstock’ was the beginning of Rock music and the beginning of bands like ‘Santana’. I hope they’ll have this again next year. This music can be enjoyed by the young and old.
Dylan of ‘Slipping Chairs’
I loved performing for this Show. It was great fun. The covers we have done so far, have never gone this far back. The 1969 music was new to us. A totally new experience.
Sudu
It was great to have witnessed a good show after a long time. I think they should do more shows like this.
Comments from the audience
Jehan R
Those who didn’t come will be very sorry that they missed this fabulous show. A lot of trouble went into organising this. When the ‘Woodstock’ movie came to Sri Lanka, it was shown at the Liberty cinema and Odeon cinema, I was an O/L student then. I loved the ‘Woodstock’ music so much that I watched it twenty one times!
Shehara
I think it's brilliant. It’s great to see everyone come together to perform on one stage. It’s too bad the weather wasn’t good. Music is always good for the soul so everyone should have been here. The organisers have done a great job.
Sopaka
‘Woodstock’ is something that our age group could enjoy anytime. Youngsters have various music events, but for our age group, this was a rare and unique opportunity. Everyone enjoyed the evening.
Heshini
It was fantastic to see all the young performers coming together and trying to recreate something old. My husband is Dylan from the band ‘Slipping Chairs’. The whole experience of preparing for this event was like learning the history of music and the events that took place in the 60s.
Dilrua
Super bands, super music. Enjoying it very much. Now we live in a peaceful country without a war. We should make up for lost time and enjoy the good things life has to offer.
Khoelie
The bands were amazing but I think there should have been a lot more people. Face book said there would be thousands of people. The weather was a drawback. If the weather was good, there would have been many more people.
Raina
I’ve seen many shows like this in Thailand, but I must say this is fantastic.
Kimberly
I really enjoyed the music. Wish it didn’t rain.
Nadia
It was really nice. Wish there was a bigger turn out.
Manosha
Fantastic show!
Reviewed by Niro Waidyaratne
Photographs by Kushan Pathiraja
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