Woodstock worries
50th anniversary concert festival in jeopardy after facing roadblocks
It was intended to be a celebration of a cultural event of mythological status, a gathering to commemorate freedom and joy and music and life.
But with only two months until a concert planned to mark Woodstock’s 50th anniversary, the event is more filled with panic and legal chaos than peace and love.
The show, organized by original Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang, is scheduled for Aug. 1618 and features a lineup of 1960s bands and new acts. Headliners include Jay-Z, The Killers and Miley Cyrus, who will play alongside a series of “Woodstock originals” including Santana, Canned Heat, and David Crosby.
But the concert, announced in December, has been plagued by problems and Lang now has the same predicament he faced in the summer of 1969: running out of time to pull off the show.
In early June its venue fell through, with the owners claiming they had not been paid. Now there are signs of a revolt from some performers.
“We’re all sick of the lack of professionalism and lack of truth,” the manager of one of the original Woodstock bands set to play in August told the London Daily Telegraph.
Stu Cook, bass guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival, said it was a fool’s errand to try to re-create the original.
“The real concert was actually never about the bands,” he said.
“The real story is the audience; how they kept it together, despite the lack of food, or running water, or shelter from the torrential rain. What they are doing with the 50th show is trying to re-create something that was simply magic, and can’t be repeated.”
The lead-up to this year’s anniversary festival has seen a series of hiccups. An announced date for ticket sales to begin — April 22 — came and went and even now tickets are still not available on the website.
Meanwhile, on April 30, the festival’s Japanese financial backers, Dentsu, pulled the plug.
Lang and his team sued, and in May a New York State Supreme Court judge ruled that Dentsu had no right to unilaterally cancel the festival.
But the judge declined to order the return to the organizers of $17.8 million of Dentsu’s funds.
What they are doing with the 50th show is trying to re-create something that was simply magic, and can’t be repeated.
Later that month financial services firm Oppenheimer & Co. signed on as an adviser to complete the financing.
But on June 10, the venue, Watkins Glen racetrack, pulled out, claiming it had not been paid its $300,000. (Figures in U.S. dollars.) Woodstock 50 organizers are quickly trying to find a new location. Amanda Pelman, an associate producer of Lang’s Woodstock 50 concert, said “an announcement” would be made soon.
Meanwhile, the original Woodstock site is planning its own celebration on the same weekend, featuring Arlo Guthrie and Ringo Starr, among others.