Woodstock Tributes at Bethel Woods Concerts 

Now that the 2025 Pavilion concert season has concluded, a review of the season’s tributes to Woodstock 1969 from the stages at Bethel Woods. 

2025

On July 11, a performance by Canned Heat in the Event Gallery included four of the six songs that the band played at Woodstock: “I’m Her Man,” “Going Up the Country,” “Woodstock Boogie,” and “On the Road Again.” 

Later that month, Fastball, opening for Barenaked Ladies, played “The Weight,” which was the last song played by The Band at Woodstock before their encore.  

In August, Neil Young returned to the original site of Woodstock with the Chrome Hearts and played his Buffalo Springfield song “Mr. Soul.” He also played “Mr. Soul” here in 1969 as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.          

Soon after that, Gary Clark Jr., opening for the Black Keys, took a foray into “Third Stone from the Sun,” a Jimi Hendrix song which was not performed at Woodstock. That evening’s headliners then covered “On the Road Again,” which was Canned Heat’s encore song at Woodstock. 

Micro-trend of 2025: Honoring a giant of classic rock and metal who was not at Woodstock inspired additional topical covers this concert season on the Bethel Woods Pavilion stage. In the days after the July 22 death of Ozzy Osbourne, Barenaked Ladies played “War Pigs” and the Offspring played parts of “Sweet Leaf,””Paranoid,” and ”Crazy Train.”

2024

In early July, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts played Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People.”  

August brought two days of Pretty Lights, and the EDM act’s sets contained many nods to Woodstock. They incorporated parts of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love” and elements of “Mama Tried”, the Merle Haggard tune which the Grateful Dead covered at Woodstock. Derek Smith sang,  “With a Little Help from My Friends” Joe Cocker’s Beatles cover, and they also played “I Put a Spell on You”,  the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins song covered at Woodstock by Creedence Clearwater Revival. They included parts of songs by Woodstock alumni Sly & the Family Stone (“Family Affair”) Jimi Hendrix (“All Along the Watchtower”) and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young  (“Our House”) that were not performed at Woodstock. 

Also in August, Margo Price ended her set with Janis Joplin’s a capella “Mercedes Benz” (which wasn’t on Joplin’s Woodstock setlist), and earlier in the show she played “Woodstock,” by Joni Mitchell who famously regretted not performing at Woodstock. 

That evening's headliners, Tedeschi Trucks Band, started their encore with “A Song for You” by Leon Russell, who played piano at Woodstock in Joe Cocker’s band, the Mad Dogs and Englishmen. (In 2015, Tedeschi Trucks spearheaded a Mad Dogs and Englishmen reunion with Russell.) Together with Margo Price, the band ended with “Sing a Simple Song” by Sly and the Family Stone. 

2023

Counting Crows played the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil”, which was not one of the five songs the Dead played at Woodstock, but they introduced it by telling how they learned the song for late-night shows in New Orleans when they were starting out. 

2022

Brandi Carlisle, during her first visit to Bethel Woods, described from the stage being at the Woodstock site during its anniversary month: “Absolutely amazing, I could feel the love and peace and spirit coming off of the ground.” Then she covered Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock.” 

2019

When Ringo Starr’s All-Starr band performed for Woodstock’s 50th anniversary, it was bound to have some Woodstock covers. For one thing, keyboardist/singer/songwriter Gregg Rolie had played Woodstock in Santana, and Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band’s setlist included “Black Magic Woman/ Gypsy Queen”, the former of which was performed at Woodstock, and Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va,” which Santana covered after Woodstock. They ended with “With a Little Help From My Friends,” the Beatles tune which had its Woodstock moment via Joe Cocker.

2007

When Mountain performed at Bethel Woods in 2007, original Woodstocker Leslie West paid tribute to possibly the most famous riff of Woodstock, from Hendrix’ version of “Star Spangled Banner”.