Heroes of Woodstock rocks at Westbury and Times Square
Quick Summary
Relive the summer of 1969 at a special concert.
Photo credit: Newsday/Handout | Band members of the group named " Ten Years After " ( Handout )
Can't make it to Saturday's Bethel Woods Music Festival with the touring Heroes of Woodstock? Well, Woodstock comes to you, tonight at the Nokia Theatre Times Square and tomorrow at the Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury. (Caveat: The Bethel show adds the Levon Helm Band and Mountain.)
Here's a look at who'll be at the local shows:
JEFFERSON STARSHIP (playing the music of Jefferson Airplane)
WOODSTOCK MOMENT Psychedelic rock pioneers Jefferson Airplane played early on the second day of the original festival. Grace Slick belted out the favorites, from "Somebody to Love" to "White Rabbit."
LATER Jefferson Airplane morphed into Jefferson Starship in the early '70s and into Starship in the mid-'80s ("We Built This City" and "Sara" were two of their hits).
WHO LEFT Slick was with different versions of the band. She finally left Starship in '88, played with a Jefferson Airplane reunion in 1989 and then left the biz. Marty Balin, the singer who actually formed Jefferson Airplane, came and went a couple of times.
WHO'S STILL IN Singer-guitarist Paul Kantner is still around. Sometimes, Balin shows up as a guest.
GONE TO THAT GREAT FESTIVAL IN THE SKY Drummer Spencer Dryden died of cancer in 2005.
CANNED HEAT
WOODSTOCK MOMENT Boogie-blues band Canned Heat played the evening of the second day. The fivesome played, among other songs, their hits "Going Up the Country" and "On the Road Again."
LATER With more rotating players than a baseball team, Canned Heat has kept going through the years.
WHO LEFT It's easier to say who's still in.
WHO'S STILL IN Drummer Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra has been the only constant holdover. This year, guitarist Harvey "The Snake" Mandel and bassist Larry "The Mole" Taylor rejoined the group in honor of the Woodstock anniversary.
GONE TO THAT GREAT FESTIVAL IN THE SKY Multi-instrumentalist and singer Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson died of an apparent drug overdose in 1970. Singer-harmonica player Bob "The Bear" Hite died in 1981 of a heart attack. Original guitarist Henry Vestine, who left the band shortly before Woodstock and rejoined later, died in 1997 in Paris
BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY (playing the music of Janis Joplin)
WOODSTOCK MOMENT Um, well . . . their former singer Joplin played early on the third day - with different musicians backing her. Joplin left Big Brother the year before, but played "Piece of My Heart" from that band's "Cheap Thrills" album.
LATER Drummer Dave Getz and guitarist Peter Albin joined Country Joe and the Fish after Joplin left, but they split with Country Joe a few months before Woodstock. The band reformed several times.
WHO LEFT Uh, Joplin.
WHO'S STILL IN Albin, guitarist Sam Andrew (who also played on Joplin's first solo album, "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!") and Getz.
GONE TO THAT GREAT FESTIVAL IN THE SKY Well, Joplin, of course.
TEN YEARS AFTER
WOODSTOCK MOMENT The British blues rockers played the evening of Day 3 and ended their set with "I'm Going Home."
LATER The next year, Ten Years After played The Isle of Wight Festival.
WHO LEFT Front man Alvin Lee went solo a few years ago
WHO'S STILL IN Everyone else, save for Alvin Lee: bassist Leo Lyons, pianist-keys player Chick Churchill and drummer Ric Lee
GONE TO THAT GREAT FESTIVAL IN THE SKY No one!
TOM CONSTANTEN
WOODSTOCK MOMENT Constanten played keys for the Grateful Dead from 1968 to 1970, so he was at Woodstock for their memorably bad show. The original jam band played the evening of the second day, and because of wet conditions and the drugs, there's a lot of stoned time-wasting. They did pull off an almost hourlong version of "Turn on Your Lovelight."
LATER T.C. left the Dead in January 1970 for more classical pursuits
GONE TO THAT GREAT FESTIVAL IN THE SKY In 1973, multi-instrumentalist-vocalist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan died at 27 of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Jerry Garcia died at 53 on Aug. 9, 1995.
WHAT Heroes of Woodstock
WHEN | WHERE 8 tonight, Nokia Theatre Times Square, Manhattan; and 8 p.m. tomorrow at Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury
INFO Tonight: $40 through Ticketmaster, 631-888-9000, ticketmaster.com; tomorrow: $51.50-$61.50 through Live Nation, 877-598-8694, livenation.com
MORE When you purchase your ticket, you will get directions on how to download the show.
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