Woodstock 50 festival moves to Md., but who’s on the bill?
By Randall Roberts The new location was designed for such events and could more efficiently adapt to organizers’ needs.
That apparently was enough for Howard County executive Calvin Ball to reach out to Woodstock 50 organizers. “When we heard that there was an opportunity to save this festival and bring a piece of American history to our community this summer, we jumped at the chance,” Ball wrote in a letter to organizers, according to Bloomberg News. It will be renamed Woodstock 50 Washington. (Washington, D.C., is approximately 25 miles from the site.)
The new location is much smaller than Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel where that first Woodstock became a touchstone of the baby boomer generation. It cemented into history performances by artists including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Sly & the Family Stone.
When it was first announced, the 50th-anniversary lineup featured superstars including Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, Chance the Rapper and the Black Keys, as well as original Woodstock-era performers David Crosby, Santana and John Fogerty. As of Thursday, there were no artists attached to Woodstock 50 Washington.
When news broke in late April that the festival’s future was up in the air, one high-profile management agent with acts booked for the event sent a letter informing his clients that, from the company’s perspective, the event was effectively canceled. The artists were free to rebook that weekend elsewhere.
According to the Bloomberg report, the event, originally planned as a for-profit festival, will now be a fundraiser in support of voter turnout and climate change nonprofit organizations.