Hacker Cinema
Woodstock '99
2000 · Film · documentary · 149 min
Directed by Marc Scarpa
In 1999, for the 30th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival, organizers planned the three-day Woodstock '99 music festival in an abandoned air force base in Rome, New York. Thousands of people came to the festival. Performers such as Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit performed at the festival. However, all was not peace and love. Bad conditions and inflating prices for water led to riots and looting on the last night of the festival.
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2 comments on Hacker News
I didn't go but remember it being the end of the 90s decade with a thud. I've been to few festivals that decade and beyond (Phish in Worchester/Maine/NY, Lalapoloza in NJ, Solid Sound). Those seemed pretty well run, compared to what I'v heard about woodstock.
The one day festivals are easier. Anytime you have people camping out you can have problems (the solid sound and phish were well run but had camping). For the last Phish show we rented an RV and had 3 tents set up around it, instead of just tents. I guess we were porta-pottied out. Though were woken up from the hissing that some entrepreneurs had decided to set up a nitros tank/sales behind our RV (we asked them to move, they said sure, but did not, when 2more of us awakened and showed up around them, they moved...)
The bands you bring, bring their audience. Some audiences are more trouble than others. In my years at Boston Calling you could tell the headlining Metalica and Tool fans apart from a lot of the rest. To be fair everyone at those shows was well behaved and you could see those fans at a lot of other bands shows. One of the Documentaries on the woodstock 99 points out, just 3 female bands, and a lot of bands popular with young guys might have been part of the issue. I mean mosh pits were a real thing in the 90s. I went into a few, but some shows I honestly wouldn't go near them. [1]
Having a concert continue on when the fans are actively setting fires seems so surreal.
Bradley-J (a boston DJ) was there behind the stage, and had some good commentary on it which I can't find. My cousins friend (VH1 Matt) was there and had some scathing commentary when he talked about it.
There is a decent documentary about woodstock99 on HBO Max. Worth a look.
Its somewhat telling Coachella was also in 1999 and is still going strong.
[1]https://247sports.com/college/kansas/Board/103726/Contents/Best-concert-youve-ever-been-to-72420927/
That was unexpected. Could take things a bit further with chapters or elements that have fun with lyrics, "Phreak on a Leash" etc.
Speaking of KoRN: I never got into the band, but they featured in the excellent Woodstock 99 documentary which is as much a commentary on cultural and demographic shifts as it is about music.