“Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It’s gettin’ kinda long
I coulda said it wasn’t in my way…”
The song, by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, has a lyric that could only come from a particular musical time. A time that culminated in a Festival – Woodstock. You weren’t one of the 460,000 celebrating peace and love in 1969? Then let Taste of Woodstock give you, well, a taste of Woodstock outside in the Bad Godesberg Kurpark.
Musik im Park to be exact.
It’s a curious fact that the evocative song ‘Woodstock’ celebrating that legendary festival was written and sung by Joni Mitchell, who wasn’t actually there. She got the facts and feel for her lyrics from her then-boyfriend Stephen Stills. Taste of Woodstock are actually more a CSNY cover than an evocation of the many bands that graced the stage all those years ago. Not that that’s bad – but don’t expect any Hendrix, Cocker or Who songs. Just so you know.
What we do get are excellent harmonies from Gerd Glock and Stephan Haar. It’s a shame that Simon & Garfunkel turned down an appearance at the Festival in 1969 as Glock and Haar would I’m sure do songs like The Boxer and Feeling Groovy credit. Certainly they are wonderfully soothing when harmonising on Marakesh Express and Neil Young’s ‘Old Man’ for example. It’s worth visiting a Taste of Woodstock show just to see Felix Franke’s glorious vintage style White Falcon Gretsch guitar. The fact that he plays it beautifully is an added bonus. Not something to plug in to if you’re playing heavy metal, but a great guitar for light rock and jazz.
The only thing to distract my eyes from the Gretsch were the grey clouds starting to accumulate above the many heads enjoying music. I think I caught Musik im Park organizer Helmut Both praying quietly for the clouds to keep their water, and seemingly it worked. The first, and hopefully not the last, concert outside in the Kurpark. Thank you Taste of Woodstock for coming – and thank you rain for staying away!
Next Wednesday (26 June) it’s Blues time with Soulful of Blues
