The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Rapper Jay-Z pulls out of Woodstock anniversary
Music: Another blow for event marking 50 years since original festival
Rap king Jay-Z has pulled out of the 50th anniversary Woodstock festival just weeks before the troubled event is supposed to take place.
A source said Jay-Z will no longer close the threeday festival scheduled for August 16-18.
The news comes on the same day that John Fogerty, who performed at the original 1969 festival with Creedence Clearwater Revival, decided to skip the anniversary event.
Woodstock 50 has faced a series of setbacks in the last few months, including
“Arepresentative said she could not confirm the report”
permit denials and the loss of a financial partner and a production company.
The event does not have a venue and tickets have yet to go on sale.
With Fogerty and rapperactor Common by his side, Michael Lang, the original festival’s co-founder, announced in March that Jay-Z, Dead & Company, the Killers, Miley Cyrus, Imagine Dragons, Chance the Rapper and the Black Keys would perform at Woodstock 50.
The festivities were supposed to take place across three main stages at Watkins Glen International racetrack in Watkins Glen, New York, about 115 miles north-west of the original site, but the venue pulled out. Bloomberg reported the event will now take place at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheatre in Columbia, Maryland.
A representative for Woodstock 50 said she could not confirm the report and said the organisers had no further comment.
Though he is no longer performing at Woodstock 50, Fogerty will perform at Woodstock’s original site in Bethel, New York, in a smaller anniversary event not connected to Woodstock 50.
The 74-year-old will hit the stage at the Bethel Woods Centre for the Arts, which is holding its event during the same weekend.
Fogerty will close out the celebration on August 18, while Ringo Starr will perform on August 16 and Santana, also booked for the larger anniversary event, will perform on August 17.
Other performers scheduled for Woodstock 50 include Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, David Crosby, Janelle Monae, Brandi Carlile, Country Joe McDonald, Halsey, the Lumineers and India.Arie.