![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.thisblogrules.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Woodstock-Swami_opening.jpg\" "\\"Woodstock")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis famous festival brought us some of the world\u2019s best known songs, among them Jimi Hendrix\u2019s electrifying and disturbing version of The Star Spangled Banner. However, what many people don\u2019t know is that while this was a huge concert<\/a> very few people were there to see Hendrix send out his message (whatever the heck it was) at 9am on a Monday morning. Still, at least he was there. John Lennon was in Canada and was refused a US entry visa, while Bob Dylan was looking after one of his children, who was in hospital over the Woodstock weekend. It is estimated that a groovy 90% of the audience smoked marijuana, but strangely only 33 of the 400,000 hipsters present were arrested on drugs charges. When the food ran out a local Jewish community made hundreds of meat and pickles sandwiches, sending them over to the hungry hippies with the help of nuns.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo Credit: Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n This is the biggest concert<\/a> ever in the UK and it is actually an annual event, which started in 1968, with a relatively modest show. The island\u2019s population grows by 40% when this festival is on. The festival was stopped in 1970 when an act of Parliament outlawed events with more than 5,000 people gathering on the Isle of Wight. It started up again in 2002.<\/p>\n The free Rod Stewart New Year\u2019s concert in Rio in 1994 is ranked as the largest concert<\/a> ever, although the estimate of 3 and a half million spectators for the veteran Scots rocker\u2019s show sounds suspiciously high. The same venue saw the Rolling Stones play their first ever free concert in Brazil in 2006. Over a million people went there and the stage was seven stories tall, with a special walkway leading to the group\u2019s hotel. Rock and roll, eh?<\/p>\n Photo Credit: Orange County Register<\/p><\/div>\n The idea of giant concerts in the US had somewhat died away after the troubled ones held in the early 70s. This changed with these festivals, which were intended to celebrate computers, TV and people as well as music. The technology on display was no doubt breathtaking at the time, as was the artificial rain installation designed to beat the heat. Wozniak is said to have lost up to $20 million because of these two festivals. This figure is easy to believe when we see that David Bowie got paid $1 million for the 1983 show and Van Halen got $1.5 million to drink whiskey on stage and badmouth The Clash.<\/p>\n Photo Credit: The Hobo’s Ride<\/p><\/div>\n This is the event which is more famous for the violence and the deaths surrounding it than the music. In the end, the main group, the Grateful Dead, didn\u2019t even get to play due to the problems in the crowd. Three people died there but in a strange twist of fate four were born, proving that rock and roll, like God, works in mysterious ways.<\/p>\nIsle of Wight Festival<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.thisblogrules.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Isle_of_Wight_Festival-1970.jpg\" "\\"Isle")
<\/a>Giant Concerts in Rio<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.thisblogrules.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/rod_stewart_copacabana-concert.jpg\" "\\"Rod")
<\/a><\/p>\nSteve Wozniak 1982\/3 US Festivals<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.thisblogrules.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Steve-Wozniaks-US-Festival1.jpg\" "\\"Steve")
<\/a>Altamont Speedway Free Festival<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.thisblogrules.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Altamont-Speedway-Free-Festival.jpg\" "\\"Altamont")
<\/a>The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.thisblogrules.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/The-Summer-Jam-at-Watkins-Glen.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/a>