“I told them the only way I’d help them is if they put Santana on.” At the time, Graham also managed Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, who were on the Woodstock A-list, and reportedly, Graham also used these groups in the bargain to get Santana a slot. Graham agreed to help with Woodstock, but he had one stipulation. Graham was then one of the few people in the country who knew how to put on a big music show. The Woodstock opportunity for Santana came when the Woodstock promoters – then having a bit of trouble with their planned event – came to Bill Graham seeking his help. Neither they nor Santana would ever be quite the same again.ġ969: Bill Graham, right, at Woodstock with promoter Michael Lang, likely discussing some aspect of Woodstock's logistics. And that afternoon, it raised the energy level of the Woodstock multitudes then covering the hillsides, setting thousands to moving, dancing, and feeling the power of that day. But this “Santana sound” of hard-driving Afro-Latin instrumentals was perfect for an outdoor festival.

But at its opening, the song has something of a primitive, native sound to it – in a good, earthy way – and in fact, was an African-derived song first done in 1959 by Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji.īut that afternoon at Woodstock, “Jingo” and others were being performed by a new west coast group that most in attendance had never heard of a group called Santana. That song opens with congas, then builds to big drums, rising organ, piercing electric guitar, and later, some backing vocals. One of the songs they were hearing – along with 400,000 others at Woodstock that day – was titled “Jingo” (sampled above). The sound came rolling over the hillsides and across the pastures some said they could feel it in the earth as they walked. But it was powerful, rhythmic, and beckoning. It wasn’t exactly rock ‘n roll it was something else. These walkers could not yet see the stage, but they were hearing a new kind of music in the distance. It was the second day of the festival, and the late arrivals were heading to the fields and pastures of Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm where the performers’ stage and main hillside audience were located.

Traffic had long since clogged local roads. At the famous Woodstock music festival of mid-August 1969, late-arriving fans on Saturday, August 16th were walking in from the distant reaches of the gathering.

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