Woodstock 50

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Woodstock 50 was a scheduled music festival to be held on the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival from August 16-18, 2019. The original Woodstock Festival was held in Bethel, New York , August 15-17, 1969, and ended on the morning of August 18, 1969. After several organizational problems and several cancellations by musicians and bands, Woodstock 50 was canceled on July 31, 2019.

history

Michael Lang , one of the organizers of the Woodstock Festival in 1969, announced in January 2019 that he would be helping to organize a three-day festival to mark the 50th anniversary of the original festivals at Watkins Glen International Circuit in New York State . On March 19, the participating musicians and bands as well as the schedule for the three days of the festival were announced. On April 5, the Black Keys withdrew their participation. Joan Baez told Rolling Stone that she had been approached but declined to attend. Even Paul McCartney , Billy Joel and a reunited version of Led Zeppelin had rejected, except the singer of Led Zeppelin Robert Plant .

A second anniversary concert was announced to take place at the original location of the Woodstock Festival in 1969 at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts . Were as participants called John Fogerty and Santana , both of which were also performed on the cast list of Woodstock 50, and Ringo Starr , Arlo Guthrie , Edgar Winter and the Doobie Brothers . Lang took formal action against this second festival.

Ticket sales should start on April 22nd. At this time, however, no official permission for the festival was available. On April 29, the investor Dentsu Aegis Network withdrew from the project and canceled the festival after the capacity of the festival site had been reduced from the originally planned 150,000 visitors to 65,000. Lang disagreed with Dentsu Aegis, stating that planning would continue. Production partner Superfly also left the project on May 1st .

Since most of the contracts had been concluded with Dentsu Aegis, the artists involved were no longer bound by these contracts. On May 6, it was announced that CDI Entertainment had taken over production. Lang sued Dentsu Aegis on May 9 for repayment of $ 17.8 million. In return, Dentsu Aegis sued Lang on May 13, claiming that the rights to the festival were on their side and that the termination was legal.

On May 15, a judge in New York ruled that Dentsu Aegis was not entitled to cancel the festival. At the same time, the ruling said Dentsu Aegis did not have to repay the 17.8 million US dollars to the organizers. On May 17, Bank Oppenheimer Holdings stepped in as an investor.

On June 10, Watkins Glen International announced that the contract to use the racetrack for the festival had been terminated. The reason, as later revealed, was an outstanding payment of $ 150,000. On the same day, CDI Entertainment withdrew from the organization.

On June 24, the organizers applied for permission to host a scaled-down version of the festival at Vernon Downs Racecourse , also in New York State. The application was denied on July 9th.

On July 25, Bloomberg News reported that Woodstock 50 would be held at the Merriweather Post Pavilion , a festival site in Columbia, Maryland not far from Washington, DC . The audience capacity was reduced considerably to less than 20,000. The festival has now been announced as a benefit event with free entry. A concert by the Smashing Pumpkins was already planned on August 17th, which should shrink the festival now known as "Woodstock 50 Washington" to one day.

Jay-Z and John Fogerty withdrew their participation shortly thereafter. On July 26th, the organizers canceled all contracts with the artists and asked them to perform anyway. Over the next few days, Dead & Company , Country Joe McDonald , John Sebastian , Santana , The Lumineers , The Raconteurs , Pussy Riot and Miley Cyrus announced their exit from the festival. Other bands withdrew because of other commitments. The Zombies agreed to continue appearing at Woodstock 50. On July 30th, 17 days before the scheduled start, the organizers had not yet submitted an application to hold the festival on the grounds of the Merriweather Post Pavilion.

On July 31, the organizers announced that the festival had been finally canceled. Lang put the blame for the failure on Dentsu Aegis and reserved legal action against the company.

Planned appearances

Before all contracts were canceled on July 26, 2019, the following musicians and bands were scheduled to perform:

16th August 2019

17th August 2019

18th August 2019

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b “Woodstock 50” does not take place . tagesschau.de, August 1, 2019
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Quentin Lichtblau: "Woodstock 50": a chronology of failure . sz.de, August 1, 2019
  3. ↑ a b Too many rejections - Woodstock Revival is canceled . Spiegel Online, August 1, 2019
  4. ↑ a b c d e f The Turbulent Saga of Woodstock 50: A Timeline . Billboard, July 29, 2019