An advance three-day ticket to the 1969 Woodstock festival cost $18.
The ticket covered admission for the entire event, which was planned as a three-day music and arts gathering. Tickets were sold in advance through outlets and by mail, while the advertised price at the gate was higher, at $24.
The festival ultimately became a free concert after enormous crowds overwhelmed the site’s entrances and security arrangements. Organizers had constructed fences and ticket booths, but many people arrived without tickets, and the barriers were eventually removed.
That change is why Woodstock is often remembered as a free festival, even though it was initially designed as a ticketed commercial event. The $18 advance price belonged to the original sales plan, before the crowd size and access problems transformed the event.