Rare Woodstock $7 Friday August 15th, 1969 mail-order ticket

The tickets were available as $7 one-day / $18 three-day mail-order tickets, and $8 one-day / $24 three-day tickets to be sold at the gate. When the crowds arrived on the 15th, they overwhelmed the staff and the gates and the tickets never made it to the gate which is when they announced that the festival would be free. The balance of the tickets were put in storage in a safe at a warehouse leased by the promoters.

The owner of the safe later claimed the contents which included not only the unsold $8 / $24 tickets and the balance of the one and three day mail-order tickets, but also the Jimi Hendrix performance contract. Hendrix was actually paid $18,000 to be the festival’s big name artist, but sadly, the rain that delayed the Saturday performances pushed Jimi’s time to Monday am. but by then, most people had left, leaving a very small crowd to enjoy one of the most significant musical performances of all time.

After giving away some tickets to employees, he sold the rest including the contract for $14,000 in 1981. This ticket was one of a small lot given to Rob and Kathy Rountree who were regular attendees to the music festivals that were becoming popular at a musician’s commune in Saugerties High Woods, called “Sound Outs”, held in a cow pasture at Peter Pan Farm. These “Sound Outs” were the precursor to Woodstock and some of these musicians performed at the festival.

It is pretty trippy to think that just with this ticket in hand, on that one Friday in 1969, the bearer had the right to see Richie Havens open Woodstock, with this song, which he created on-the-spot.