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50 free Woodstock Trivia for Seniors trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Woodstock trivia for seniors quiz is written for people who remember August 1969, whether they were in the mud at Bethel or watching the news reports at home. It covers the basics everyone recalls (whose farm it was, which town it was really in, who opened and who closed the show) and the stories that came out afterwards: how it became a free concert, why Joni Mitchell wrote the song without going, the acts that turned it down, the band that played its third-ever gig there, and the movie that turned the promoters' losses into an Oscar. The questions are pitched for a senior centre quiz, a retirement community social or a family game with grandparents. Most are answerable from memory of the era and the film; a few are there to spark a story. There is nothing here about the harder edges of the weekend, and no lyrics are quoted. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and the artists' own histories, and each question shows its source. All 50 questions are free with no sign-up. Fans who want more can try our main Woodstock trivia page or our 1960s music quizzes.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On whose dairy farm was the 1969 Woodstock festival held?
Max Yasgur
His speech to the crowd about half a million young people having three days of fun and music with no trouble drew a huge ovation. He died in 1973.
Q 02Woodstock was not actually held in Woodstock. Which New York town hosted it?
Bethel
The site is about 60 miles from the town of Woodstock. Wallkill had been the planned venue until local permit conditions made it impossible.
Q 03In which month and year did Woodstock take place?
August 1969
It ran from Friday the 15th to the morning of Monday the 18th, a month after the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Q 04How was Woodstock billed on its posters?
An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music
More than 460,000 people turned up. The town had been assured no more than 50,000 would come.
Q 05Why did Woodstock end up as a free concert?
The fences and ticket booths were never finished
Three days out, the promoters had to choose between finishing the fences or the stage. They chose the stage, and people simply walked in.
Q 06How much did an advance ticket for all three days cost?
$18
It was $24 at the gate. Advance tickets were sold only through New York record stores and a post office box.
Q 07Which folk singer opened the festival, after the scheduled first act was stuck in traffic?
Richie Havens
Sweetwater were meant to open but were delayed. Havens' improvised set made him a star, and his ashes were scattered on the site in 2013.
Q 08Who was the last performer at Woodstock, taking the stage at 8:30 on Monday morning?
Jimi Hendrix
By then the crowd had shrunk from around 450,000 to about 30,000. He introduced his new group as a 'Band of Gypsies'.
Q 09Which piece did Woodstock's closer famously play with feedback imitating rockets and bombs?
The Star-Spangled Banner
Guitar World's editors named it the greatest guitar performance of all time in 2011. He was the world's highest-paid rock musician that year.
Q 10Which band was the first major act to sign a contract to play Woodstock, for $10,000?
Creedence Clearwater Revival
They went on hours late, in the small hours to a sleepy crowd, and John Fogerty kept them out of the film and soundtrack as a result.
Q 11Which British band demanded $13,000 up front for Woodstock and later released Live at Leeds?
The Who
Pete Townshend gave the critic Robert Christgau a lift to the festival. Their set appears in the Woodstock film and The Kids Are Alright.
Q 12Which then-unknown Latin-rock band got on the bill because promoter Bill Graham managed them and insisted?
Santana
Graham won a coin toss with Michael Lang over which of his bands would play. Their first album came out the same month and Abraxas followed in 1970.
Q 13Which gravel-voiced English singer's Woodstock cover of 'With a Little Help from My Friends' became a TV theme?
Joe Cocker
Q 21Which British blues-rock band's marathon 'I'm Going Home', sung by Alvin Lee, was a highlight of the film?
Ten Years After
They played on Sunday, August 17. The film exposure made them stars in America.
Q 22Which singer led the Woodstock crowd in the 'Fish Cheer' before his 'I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag'?
Country Joe McDonald
The cheer's chorus asking what we are fighting for became an anthem for the Woodstock generation and Vietnam veterans alike.
Q 23Which son of the 'This Land Is Your Land' writer played 'Coming into Los Angeles' at Woodstock?
Arlo Guthrie
His announcement in the film that the New York State Thruway was closed is a famous moment, though the museum director says it never actually closed.
His producer Denny Cordell talked organiser Artie Kornfeld into booking Cocker and the Grease Band. Cocker called the day 'like an eclipse'.
Q 14Which singer-songwriter wrote 'Woodstock' without attending, after boyfriend Graham Nash described it to her?
Joni Mitchell
Her manager kept her in New York for The Dick Cavett Show. She watched the news coverage on television and wrote the song from that.
Q 15Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's version of the song 'Woodstock' appeared on which 1970 album?
Déjà Vu
In Britain the hit version was by Matthews Southern Comfort, which reached number one in 1970.
Q 16What did Stephen Stills tell the Woodstock crowd at CSNY's second-ever live show?
'We're scared shitless'
They played about an hour in the early morning of August 18, with many fellow performers standing in a circle behind them.
Q 17Which director debuted with the Oscar-winning 1970 Woodstock documentary?
Michael Wadleigh
He brought a crew of about 100 from the New York film scene and wanted the film to be as much about the crowd as the music.
Q 18Which future Oscar-winning director worked as an editor on the Woodstock film?
Martin Scorsese
Thelma Schoonmaker, later Scorsese's regular editor, was nominated for Best Film Editing, a rarity for a documentary.
Q 19Which Canned Heat song became the unofficial theme of the Woodstock film?
Going Up the Country
They arrived by helicopter and played at sunset on the second day. The song had reached number 11 on the Billboard chart.
Q 20Which doo-wop revival group played Woodstock right before Hendrix, who had helped get them booked?
Sha Na Na
They closed with 'At the Hop' and got a standing ovation. They later hosted their own TV variety show from 1977 to 1981.
Q 24Which folk singer performed at Woodstock while her husband was jailed for resisting the draft?
Joan Baez
Her appearance and the film raised her profile worldwide. Fifty years later she turned down Woodstock 50 because her instincts said no.
Q 25Which singer's 'Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)' was inspired by the Woodstock crowd lighting candles during her set?
Melanie
She was one of only three solo women on the bill. 'Brand New Key' followed as a worldwide hit in 1971.
Q 26Grace Slick called her band's early-morning Woodstock slot 'morning maniac music'. Which band was it?
Jefferson Airplane
They were the only band to play all three big 1960s festivals: Monterey, Woodstock and Altamont. They taped The Dick Cavett Show right afterwards.
Q 27Which singer played Woodstock at 2 a.m. with her Kozmic Blues Band but kept her set out of the film?
Janis Joplin
Her 'Work Me, Lord' was finally added in the 25th-anniversary director's cut. She stayed on site until the end of the festival.
Q 28Which Bob Dylan backing group played Woodstock but was left out of the film over legal issues?
The Band
They had recorded The Basement Tapes with Dylan around Woodstock, New York, in a house called Big Pink. Dylan himself lived in the town but never seriously negotiated to appear.
Q 29Which hard-rock band, known for 'Mississippi Queen', played only its third-ever gig at Woodstock?
Mountain
Leslie West and Felix Pappalardi had just formed the group. Iron Butterfly, by contrast, was on the poster but got stuck at LaGuardia Airport.
Q 30Which Lovin' Spoonful frontman played an unscheduled Woodstock set on a borrowed guitar?
John Sebastian
He was there as a spectator. Accounts still differ over exactly when he went on during Saturday.