And yet the band Phish had held camping festivals on decommissioned Air Force bases in New England for 3 summers prior to this, and then once again just two weeks before Woodstock 99, in similar heat, and without incident. The bases are actually great locations for festivals for the reasons they named in this doc: existing infrastructure makes it incredibly easy to set up a mass gathering because you already have power, water, and some usable buildings. The paved terrain is great because you can park a ton of cars on it and don't have to worry about them getting stuck in mud if there is significant rain. I think that what this doc did a great job of proving was that something like this was destined to happen due to underlying issues in American youth culture at that time (and I say this as someone who was 17 years old that summer). Growing aggression among young white males and a culture of mysogyny making them think that treating women as walking sex toys (and making the women think they had to act that way in order to be valued) was a powder keg just waiting to be ignited by the right mix of conditions.
Any of the 1999 performance footage in HD? Pretty sure both used an early version of that format. 1994 sales were apparently 164,000 at $270/head. Considerably more attended and the missing revenue is millions quickly.
I turned 30 in 1999 and recall things being exactly the way you (and the documentary) described them. I remember looking at youth culture and commenting on how disgraceful I thought the "Girls Gone Wild-ification" that was happening in those days was. When I was young, if you shouted at a group of girls "Show us your ____!" you'd probably get smacked in the face. The fact that guys thought that was okay to do, and even more shocking, that girls were going along with it was appalling to me.
I've not seen the doc, though I am interested and I'll probably check it out soon. I'm sure the points you relate from the doc are valid. I suppose I was more commenting about the location in comparison to '94 and '98. They were in these great outdoor locations with great rolling hills. Trees, nature, music! The vibe was just so much nicer. After entering those places, I dont even remember seeing any fences. Whereas at 99, it was just a big flat triangle with fences everywhere. One of the main stages was shoved back on this little corner (maybe both stages were, can't remember). You just literally felt fenced in. And yeah, they had water fountains. But they certainly weren't in abundance or easily found. So do you want to trek everywhere looking, or just pay the $4? You just felt fenced in and fleeced. I mean really, could anything be more the antithesis of the Woodstock spirit than a flippin' military base? It was just a drag. And though they may have had access to infrastructure, etc., so did the other ones, everyone survived at 94 and 98. Horrible choice, imo. If Phish pulled off great concerts in that setting, more power to them. Sounds odd to me, for a band like Phish, but I don't know their whole story with that.
https://lawomanphotography.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/woodstockmap.jpg?w=584&h=369 W99 location map for camping/stages. Surrounded by "Woodstock Wall". Stages need to be near road access for loading. Phish July 1999 was 85,000. That crowd had grown organically and were used to festival camping.
99 might have been the only large Woodstock that money for promoter Michael Lang. 1/4 if you count the aborted 2018 edition that had a lineup then never went on sale ? His Miami Pop also lost money.
Not officially called that. It was called "A Day In The Garden" and was a 3 day fest at the original site. Saw Donovan, Melanie, Pete Townsend, Lou Reed, Joni Mitchell, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks. A wonderful weekend.
In the doc, they show that drinking water was provided, for free. But attendees chose to use that water to bathe in, rendering it undrinkable. Leaving overpriced bottled water as the only option for drinking. Showering facilities provided were also completely inadequate, leaving another chicken and egg question of who exactly is to blame.
The company I worked for at the time (in a different city) delivered our paychecks by Airborne Express on Thursdays (I had direct deposit). They refused to go to Rome because of the Woodstock traffic so the people who worked in the office there didn't get paid until the Tuesday after the festival. Also, I was on vacation that week and the heat wave had started the previous Saturday and it was blistering.
Felt like I was going to get contact heat exhaustion just from watching this. And thank God they only featured a smidge of the music. That the original Woodstock worked at all was a miraculous accident. Trying to repeat it in another era with a completely different spirit was just a huge mistake. Interesting doc though.
I'm well aware that the proto HD video format for Woodstock 94/99 is a pain in the bum to play back in present day. BobFest 92 MSG has been recovered as have a half dozen MontreUx concert videos 1990-1996(BB KING, Miles, Toto, Etta James, Phil Collins, Ray Charles...). The Dylan video had a SONY guy really pushing to bring it to retail blu-ray. I'm curious if we ever see the 90's Woodstock live clips in HD and which is the act that pushes to get it done. I thought Green Day was going after their RSD vinyl from the fest, but nothing. There are a few acts that sink resources into their own archives and I'm surprised they haven't chased it. For instance I think it's the only HD Metallica live clip with Jason.
MUSE? I've seen some stuff transcoded to 1080p from it. Not amazing, but acceptable. Coppola shot some stuff using that format.
Watched a little of it again last night. The only music they showed for long at all was Limp Biskit. Seemed they wanted to show the mood when Fred Durst riled up the crowd. It was a little scary to watch. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be in that crowd.
I watched this doc last Friday when it dropped. I really enjoy Steve Hyden and Rob Sheffield, two of the best rock critics around, and they provided plenty of insight. You know what struck me the most? Just how god-awful nu metal music really was. Has any style of music aged as poorly in 20 years? When they showed Limp Bizkit's live performance of Break Stuff and Fred Durst starts "rapping" in that dumb falsetto....it bordered on parody to me. And this music was HUGE in the early 00s. Gross.
MTV was heavily involved, owns the video rights and, as it devolved into a complete mess, I don't think they would want to bring it up again. In short, probably no video release.
Liked the doc a lot. Got a good chuckle when the Spin writer goes off about how nobody was asking for another Woodstock in the first place if not for the bony-never let go grasp of some boomers. Music was almost across the board terrible. Pure garbage . Moby and Jonathan from Korn were both good interviews. **** the promoters and everything that came out of their cynical and arrogant mouths. Wanted to punch the one when he blamed the women for being assaulted.