Missed Woodstock? It’s back!
Promoter staging 50th anniversary festival
Michael Lang, lead promoter of the 1969, 1994 and 1999 Woodstock festivals, is putting on another one this summer in Watkins Glen, N.Y., to mark the 50th anniversary of the seminal original event, he said Wednesday.
Woodstock 50 will be held Aug. 16 to 18 at the Watkins Glen International racetrack in the Finger Lakes, Lang said in an official announcement of the event.
The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a concert venue at the site of the original Woodstock festival in Bethel, N.Y., is holding its own 50th anniversary show the same weekend. Lang is not involved with that show. Watkins Glen is about 150 miles northwest of the original festival site.
Neither Lang nor Bethel Woods has announced performer lineups, though Lang, who lives near the original festival site, told Rolling Stone magazine he already has booked more than 40 acts that will perform across three stages.
Lang’s announcement said the Watkins Glen festival will feature “more than 60 of the biggest names and emerging talent in rock, hip hop, pop and country.”
“It will be primarily contemporary talent, but the legacy acts will be represented and honored,” the 74year-old promoter said.
Tickets for the Watkins Glen show are to go on sale in February, Rolling Stone reported, though Lang’s announcement said a limited number of discounted presale tickets will be available to college students ages 18 to 25 by the end of January.
Watkins Glen is no stranger to rock music festivals. In 1973, the Formula One racetrack hosted “Summer Jam at Watkins Glen,” which attracted an estimated 600,000 people and featured such acts as the Grateful Dead, The Band and The Allman Brothers. The site also has hosted the Dave Matthews Band.
Lang said the Watkins Glen festival grounds will have space for tents, RVs and vans, and that there also will be “premium camping options.”
He did not say what the maximum attendance will be or how security will be handled. The 1969 and 1994 festivals were notable for how many people got in for free because security was insufficient and overwhelmed.
The generation-defining Woodstock Music & Arts Festival was held from Aug. 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, where Bethel Woods now is located.
It featured such acts as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, The Who, The Band, Joe Cocker and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and it drew an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 people.