Janis Joplin’s Accurate Prediction About Woodstock 1969

The first-of-its-kind music festival, which later became known as simply Woodstock, was different from what anyone had ever experienced. The estimated number of 50,000 people became a million people who decided to participate in the three-day extravaganza in 1969. It was nothing short of a roller coaster of a time that didn’t go off without a hitch with last-minute venue changes, bad weather, and trying to maneuver a horde of people.

The festival that was initially promoted as ‘An Aquarian Experience: 3 Days of Peace and Music’ was everything but peaceful since it was a wild crowd that was there to let loose while also having fun and enjoying their favorite music. Several musicians held the cake as most anticipated through the three-day event, one being none other than Janis Joplin.

About a month before the singer was scheduled to hit the stage at Woodstock, she appeared on ‘The Dick Cavett Show.’ In the interview, Cavett asked a few questions to Joplin regarding her effect on the audience and her trips and tricks to overcome the nerves and adrenalin that come along with performing on stage for a crowd of people.

Joplin shared that you have to have the right attitude to pull it off before going into any type of performance. Even if there are nights that seem like it’s getting out of hand, the singer shared that she has a few tricks to turn herself on and get in the groove. Besides, no matter how tough it gets, she loves the stage and performing too much to ever leave and not finish her set as she always pulls through and comes on top.

Janis Joplin’s words about not giving in to nerves on stage read:

“That’s because you’re on top of [the stage] instead of the bottom. [Singing] is about having an attitude. I think you can approach anything with the correct attitude. Well, I never thought about this until five minutes ago. But it’s about getting underneath the movement, the rhythm of whatever you’re into instead of just skirting it and looking at it.”

She added:

“Yeah, but you have little games that you play to turn yourself on, and then I’ve got this band, and I can listen to the horns, and if they’re pushing the horns, that turns me on. You can usually get yourself going. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me; I wouldn’t leave it.”

After the interview, when it came the day to perform at Woodstock, the singer was no doubt overwhelmed by the size of the audience and couldn’t fathom how her performance would be received and how she would involve everyone and enjoy her set. Even though she was nervous, she was determined to give it her all to establish harmony with the audience and get them moving.

After a few tracks, the crowd was in her corner, and she had complete control over them; where she managed to crank up the energy with a track like ‘Try (Just A Little Bit Harder),’ and had moments where she slowed down with ballads and renditions of songs. By the end, she had the crowd in the palm of her hand as they even convinced her back onto the stage with an enthusiastic response.

Just like Joplin had described in her interview, no matter how riled up she gets or how startled she might be on stage, she always tries her best to control her emotions and be present and regain control over her performance. Woodstock was a perfect example of just that.

After being intimidated by such a big crowd, Janis managed to overcome her nerves and motivate herself to continue and give a stellar show to her fans. So she was right about handling rough shows, and her predictions were correct about how she would do anything to get the show rolling and in her favor.