50 years after Woodstock, David Crosby takes the Philly Folk Festival by storm

In the early hours of Monday morning, August 18, 1969, David Crosby and his band mates, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, stepped to the stage at Woodstock. Crosby, Stills, and Nash were nervous trio, singing to an audience of 400,000, having only performed together one time before.

Fifty years later, to the day, a weathered David Crosby stepped to the main stage of the Philadelphia Folk Festival. This time the audience was a smaller, but reverential crowd, there to see the musical icon.

At times the audience was silent, remarked veteran Folk Festival volunteer Rebecca Barger.

“When he performed ‘Guinnevere,’ you could hear a pin drop,” she said.

Complimenting the rock legend were international artists from across multiple genres, in keeping with the festival’s long tradition. Performers with roots in Korea, Scotland, Israel, South Africa, and New Zealand were among the nationalities represented, along with a wide range of American country, blues, and folk traditions.

Festival attendees also faced a broad spectrum of temperatures. Ranging from the low 90s during the day, they moderated after a brief rain shower, in time for the last performances of the festival’s 58th year.