A Valuable Lesson

Okay, "Candles in the Rain." You may have heard this story already, but if you haven't, it's a good one. Scotland's the Incredible String Band were scheduled to play the Friday night at Woodstock. It was raining really hard. The group didn't want to ruin the electrical instruments (or get electrocuted, I suppose) and decided to rechedule their appearance for Saturday afternoon. Melanie went in their place. That Friday night performance inspired her to write "Candles in the Rain." One of the two famous Woodstock songs.

The Incredible String Band played in the sweltering sun on Saturday afternoon. They went on right after Canned Heat, and the crowd was all jacked-up for more bluesy rock. Instead, the crowd got this:



Yeah, it kind of bombed. As an evening set, I bet it would've worked really well, though.

So, if the Incredible String Band had done their set the night before, with all acoustical intruments, they might have made the big splash instead of Melanie. Some people thought ISB could have been as big in the US as they were in the UK. Unfortunately, they didn't catch on in their "big moment" in America.

I guess the lesson is that if you get to play in front of half-a-million people, you should play when you're scheduled to play.

So, remember that lesson next time you're confronted with such a situation.