Woodstock continues to be one of the hotter topics amongst the music community throughout the summer. From the ongoing soap opera that was the proposed Woodstock 50 event, to new documentaries and extensive live album reissues, everyone seems enthusiastic for sharing their love of festival nostalgia as the famous festival is it celebrates its 50th anniversary next week.
One artist who performed at the mother of all music festivals who doesn’t seem to share everyone’s excitement on revisiting Woodstock is The Who’s Roger Daltrey, who revisited his not-so-pleasant memories of the rock band’s experience at the festival in a new interview with The New York Times.
Related: Find Out How Much Each Artist Was Paid At Woodstock In 1969
Daltrey didn’t mince words in sharing what seemed to be a pretty nightmare experience when asked to play Woodstock word association in the new interview.
“Woodstock wasn’t peace and love,” Daltrey mentioned. “There was an awful lot of shouting and screaming going on. By the time it all ended, the worst sides of our nature had come out. People were screaming at the promoters, people were screaming to get paid. We had to get paid, or we couldn’t get back home.”
The veteran rock singer also mentioned, “You’ve got to remember, by the time we went on stage, we’d been standing in the mud for hours. Or laying in it, or doing whatever in it. It wasn’t actually that muddy backstage, but it wasn’t comfort, let’s put it that way … It was boring. Hours and hours of that is boring.”
Fans can read the entire interview here.
Even 50 years after Woodstock, The Who continues to tour behind some of their biggest hits with both Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend at the helm. The band’s ongoing Moving On Tour launched in early May and continues throughout the remainder of the summer before wrapping in October. head to the band’s website for tickets and tour info.