The ashes of performer Richie Havens are to be spread over the site of 1969’s Woodstock Festival at a special event on August 18.
Havens, who died of a heart attack aged 72 in April 2013, famously performed a three-hour set in front of 400,000 people at the original Woodstock Festival. He will be remembered with a tribute concert at the site of the festival, now known as Bethel Woods, in Sullivan County, New York. Woodstock Festival organisers Michael Lang and Joel Rosenman will speak, and musical performers will include Jose Feliciano, John Hammond and John Sebastian, reports Rolling Stone.
A statement from Havens’ family reads: “Though he traveled throughout the world for decades visiting and returning to countless locations, Max Yasgur’s field in the Town of Bethel, Sullivan County, New York always remained the location where Richie felt his deepest connection.”
It continues: “Richie used to say a day never went by that he wasn’t asked about Woodstock. He certainly understood its profound and indelible cultural impact. As he said on the festival’s 40th anniversary, ‘Woodstock was both a peaceful protest and a global celebration. We came together communally to be heard and to be acknowledged.'”