By Jeanne Sager
BETHEL — May 1, 2007 — The home of the hippie is going back to its roots.
Richie Havens. Country Joe McDonald. Mountain. Arlo Guthrie.
They’re all coming back to where it all began.
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts – founded on the tradition of the Aquarian Exposition at White Lake (aka Woodstock) – has announced another string of performers set to appear this summer.
The Turtles, featuring Flo and Eddie, will be joined on stage on Saturday, August 11, at 7 p.m. by Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals, the Zombies featuring Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent, Mountain featuring Leslie West and Corky Laing, Denny Lane, Badfinger featuring Joey Molland and Country Joe McDonald.
The appearances, dubbed Hippiefest a Concert for Peace and Love, will coincide with the anniversary weekend of the Woodstock festival.
Havens and Guthrie will come together for their “Solo Reunion Tour – Together at Last,” featuring full sets from their original performances in Bethel on Friday, August 17, at 8 p.m.
The man who opened Woodstock, creating an impromptu classic riffed off of the spiritual “Motherless Child,” will make his second return to Bethel – Havens was here for A Day in the Garden in 1999.
He’ll share the stage with Guthrie, one of 12 folk artists who performed on opening day in ‘69.
Best known for his Thanksgiving protest anthem, “Alice’s Restaurant,” Guthrie’s song of sneaking drugs in on a trip from London to Los Angeles had the crowd at Woodstock rocking.
This summer will also bring the guys who’ve ridden a horse with no name across the country – ‘70s Top 40 favorites America.
Bethel Woods will follow the geographic naming theme with ballad-makers Chicago performing alongside America on June 16.
Southern rock will also have its day with the appearance Sunday, July 22, of Georgia-based Widespread Panic, followed the next Friday by the now-confirmed appearance of country artists Brad Paisley, Jack Ingram, Kellie Pickler and Taylor Swift.
Tickets will go on sale this Saturday, May 5, at 10 a.m. for Chicago and America, Hippiefest, and Guthrie and Havens.
A family four-pack of lawn seats for the Chicago and America concert, priced at $100, will be included in the initial ticket offering – but it’s for a limited time only.
Tickets for that concert, set for June 16 at 8 p.m., will be $69 and $39.50 for pavilion seating and $29.50 for lawn spots.
Hippiefest tickets have been set at $60, $40 and $30 in the pavilion and $23 on the lawn, and the prices for the Guthrie/Havens performance are $75 and $45 in the pavilion, $25 on the lawn.
Tickets for Widespread Panic will go on sale May 18 at $41.
Ticket sales for the other concerts are yet to be announced, along with a list of other performers who will appear.