Woodstock 50th anniversary celebrated with monster 432 track box set

Woodtock - Back To The Garden
(Image credit: John Dominis / Getty Images)

The 50th anniversary of 1969's Woodstock Festival is to be celebrated with the release of a mammoth 38 CD, 432 track box set, featuring 267 previously unreleased tracks. It'll be released on August 2.

Woodstock 50: Back To The Garden also features a Blu-ray of the Director’s Cut of the Woodstock Film, the book Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music by Michael Lang, a replica original programme, a festival diary, replica posters, photo prints and a guitar strap based on the one Jimi Hendrix used during his historic performance.

The set will come in as numbered, limited edition of 1969 copies and be housed in a screen-printed plywood box.

Woodstock - Back To The Garden

The collection is a near complete reconstruction of the Woodstock running order, clocking in at 36 hours and featuring every artist performance from the festival.

The complete list of artists featured, in chronological order, is Richie Havens, Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Quill, Country Joe McDonald, Santana, John B. Sebastian, The Keef Hartley Band, The Incredible String Band, Canned Heat, Mountain, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Sly & The Family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Country Joe & The Fish, Ten Years After, The Band, Johnny Winter, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Butterfield Blues Band, Sha Na Na and Jimi Hendrix.

The set will also be available in three other versions: a 10 CD set, a 5 LP version, and a 3 CD collection. All are available to pre-order from Rhino.  

Meanwhile, vinyl subscription service Vinyl Me, Please has announced a 10 LP set of the previously available compilations Woodstock Vols 1-4 on tie-die coloured vinyl. It's expected to be available in late August. 

Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.