hendrix went to play at woodstock on august 18, 1969. that year, woodstock made over $18,000 and has since become one of the most famous concerts in the world. hendrix was told to play on sunday evening, but did not arrive until monday morning, which was unfortunate because of the 500,000 people that had paid to see him, around 180,000 were left and did not plan on staying his whole concert; they just wanted to see him in person for a few minutes. hendrix then went on to play a two-hour concert that was described as awful. hendrix’s large band had not practiced enough and could not keep up with hendrix's fast guitar playing. but to make up for all of this, hendrix played a version of star spangled banner. he played this anthem with heavy distortion and screams from his guitar, and people thought that he was being anti-american and making fun of their anthem and country. hendrix, in an interview, said that he "did not intend for his performance to be a political statement", he just wanted it to be another version of the national anthem.