Woodstock meets Widespread Panic

Evolution of the Music Festival

GMA's Bill Weir was at the original site of Woodstock '69 in Bethel,NY along with some of the "star children" who were there 40 years ago to talk about music then and how it's influenced music festivals today.

Weir now calls himself a "Spreadhead" after attending the 3-1/2 hour Panic concert at Mile High Music Festival back in July. He went along on a backstage tour with JB and sat in on the pre-show rehearsal and concert preparation.

The Woodstock experience had it's highs with it's grand assortment of music acts and performers. But it also had deep lows with horrible conditions, little food, water or even shelter from the rain and muddy fields.

Bringing in over 400,000 attendants, Woodstock took a huge financial loss as a festival but made it up with sales of it's album and documentary. Today it's the opposite. In a sagging economy coupled with dwindling record sales and internet piracy making it difficult to make a profit bands turn to touring to make up losses.

Large festivals like Bonneroo, 10k Lakes and Rothbury can draw huge numbers of attendants and put them in a ready and well organized area with everything including rest rooms, tents and plenty of food vendors.

Today's festivals, however, are sprouting one good seed from Woodstock; the large variety and diverse performers all in one space. It's a win-win, financially for the festivals and affordable for the attendees.

As John Bells puts it, "...you can bring a large number of fans into a good environment where somebody can have their summer concert experience and not spend the baby's milk money."