The ill-fated Woodstock '99 festival will be the subject of an upcoming Netflix docuseries. The festival, which served as the 30th anniversary commemoration of the original 1969 event, was held over four days
— July 22nd and 25th, 1999 — in Rome, New York, and eventually — due to factors including oppressive heat, lack of affordable food and water — descended into violence, robbery, accusations of sexual abuse, and massive destruction of property.
Deadline reported sources as saying, “The series will delve deep into the culture that created Woodstock ‘99 and tell the real story behind how 'three days of peace, love and music' went down in flames. Featuring unseen archive footage and intimate testimony from people behind the scenes, on the stages and in the crowds, the series aims at telling the untold story of a landmark musical moment that shaped the cultural landscape for a generation.” No airdate has been announced.
A while back, we asked legendary Woodstock organizer Michael Lang him about his thoughts on both the 25th and 30th anniversary Woodstock festivals, which he also produced: “94 was wonderful, it was a bridge. And we had a lot of legacy acts; Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Joe Cocker, and Santana — then on the other hand we had the (Red Hot) Chili Peppers, and Metallica, and Aerosmith, and it was a great mixture. And I'd say the audience grew to about 350,000 over the weekend. '99 was very different. I was convinced that it was time to move into the new millennium, band wise, and I never should have agreed. I think it was too edgy. It became more of an 'MTV' event then a 'Woodstock' event.”
Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan revealed to us that the Pumpkins were among the first bands approached to play Woodstock '99, but ultimately passed on the gig. To Corgan, the entire venture seemed to be nothing more than a soulless cash grab: “They approached us about playing, and I won’t even get into the business end of it, but it definitely seemed like whoever was running it had their head up their a**. They came to us very early on, seemingly very interested in us playing. Then they seemed to lose interest. And then when some of the other acts dropped out, suddenly they got re-interested. The whole thing smelled of being motivated by money, and to try to sell it under the Woodstock flag, which was a pure once-in-a-lifetime event.”
