As the original Woodstock festival approaches its 55th anniversary next month, John Fogerty, the frontman of Creedence Clearwater Revival, reflects on the band's performance with a lingering sense of disappointment. Fogerty recalls his surprise at the magnitude of the festival, telling Guitar Player, "Riding in on a little World War II–era helicopter, coming up over a hill and suddenly seeing that crowd for the first time. That took my breath away."
CCR was scheduled to perform after the Grateful Dead, but due to the latter's set running over time, CCR ended up taking the stage at 12:30 am to a drowsy crowd. Fogerty expressed his disappointment, saying, “I had hoped to have my band do a spectacular set in front of this enormous crowd, because Creedence was clearly on a rocket ship going almost straight up. But even though we played well, the audience was very much asleep, and I was very disappointed.”
In response to the lackluster audience reaction, Fogerty decided not to allow the band's performance to be included in the Woodstock film or live album. It wasn't until the release of the Woodstock 50th anniversary box set in 2019 that CCR's full performance was made available to the public.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]