Good series. I'm sure much more sexual assault occurred than was reported, and there was probably no way to track down the perpetrators. Totally chaotic situation. Not providing basic necessities like clean water, restrooms, and affordable food was just terrible. I'm surprised the organizers did not get sued into oblivion. Getting "trench mouth" at a rock concert? Insane.
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Woodstock 99 documentary on Netflix
- Thread starter g-dude
- Start date
Especially since the line for what got reported back then was probably not where it needed to be.
The woman who got trench mouth just had me floored...I mean, I knew the "free" water was sketchy from the get-go because it was right by the porta-potties. There were exposed PVC pipes carrying water...it was so dodgy.
I went in '99. The first two days, I felt were okay, but I went back to my tent for the last part of the day. I could hear Limp Bizkit, but didn't know what was happening at that moment. The next morning, I could feel a change. I told my girlfriend and her sister we are leaving tonight as soon as the last band performed. I got separated from them that evening. I had already moved the car so we could get out of there quick. I just went back to the car and hung out. I could see a car burning in the distance. When I heard RHCP start with their rendition of "Fire", I was like ***, that's when I saw it really start unraveling.
At one point, I thought there was a fireworks show going on, I could hear the big booms, but nothing in the sky. That's when I realized it was the tractor trailer's refrigeration units exploding.
We went thinking it would be a variety of food, not overly priced, but boy were we wrong. My girlfriend and I would share a small $12 pizza in the morning and one at night, along with one or two bottles of water during the day. When I heard the promoters were aware of the food issue, 3 months before the concert, that royally pissed me off.
Idiots on both sides screwed that event up!
At one point, I thought there was a fireworks show going on, I could hear the big booms, but nothing in the sky. That's when I realized it was the tractor trailer's refrigeration units exploding.
We went thinking it would be a variety of food, not overly priced, but boy were we wrong. My girlfriend and I would share a small $12 pizza in the morning and one at night, along with one or two bottles of water during the day. When I heard the promoters were aware of the food issue, 3 months before the concert, that royally pissed me off.
Idiots on both sides screwed that event up!
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Michael Lang said, "Woodstock was a test of whether people of our generation really believed in one another and the world we were struggling to create" I believe that much of the reverence for the original came from a general idea that many of the problems of the first were abrogated by the efforts of the attendees themselves. The free kitchens and so forth. After watching the documentary, it was apparent to me that Lang's idealism smashed head-on with a late-nineties zeitgeist that he deeply misunderstood.
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Sort of hard to do free kitchens and what not when there is a wall built around the place and you can’t bring in food or drink.
Also, the publicly available water had been contaminated by poo. Can’t imagine how bad it would be if someone just rocked up and started making chicken salad sandwiches.
Wife and I watched the whole documentary over a couple of days this weekend. What a mess that show was. I am a security professional by day so watching it through that lens was stressful and you could really see how things escalated and how "non-security stuff" contributed to escalation. A lot of deferral of responsibility by several parties, both promoters and performers. Just madness. Also, really stressful to watch a crowd that big after 2 years of no crowds. Highly recommend the documentary though...good watch.
Well put. I think this nails it. The "peace and love" of '69 was replaced with the "angst" of the '99. I was honestly surprised there were not more deaths (or reported assaults).
Based on what we saw in the documentary, the guards were seriously under prepared, under staffed, and under trained.
I believe 3 people died, but they didn’t mention it in the documentary. And only 4 reported sex assaults?
The organizers dodged a bullet. The death toll could have been much higher.
Yes, you are correct about deaths...and I believe they were heat related. I looked it up after the doc. Based on what people reported seeing and what they show in the doc I am surprised there were not more.
Sort of hard to do free kitchens and what not when there is a wall built around the place and you can’t bring in food or drink.
Also, the publicly available water had been contaminated by poo. Can’t imagine how bad it would be if someone just rocked up and started making chicken salad sandwiches.
Well, he and his buddies were looking to make money and it got out of control. The first time. The entire logistics of '99 were built around another cash grab that, believe it or not, got out of control. He refused to acknowledge that part of his legacy. But, hey, they had fences and contaminated water at '69. Probably an entire generation of hepatitis came out of Yasgur's Farm
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Saw this yesterday as well! Very interesting. I recall the fires after the Chili Peppers and then the coverage stopped if I remember correctly? I don't think we did PaperView.
So different from the '94 festival...
Stay healthy!
Brent
Give a member of the counter-culture a candle and you get a prayer or a poem. Give kids a candle in 1999 and you get Beavis
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Speaking of Beavis. Did you see the two guys that actually look like Beavis and Butthead in the doc?
Luckily, all of those out-of-control reptile-brain nihilists have 'grown up' now, right?
Yeah, I think they had a quiet reunion in DC last January...
I live near Altamont Raceway, it's still there covered in grafitti, grass growing in cracks on the track, surrounded by cattle pasture, still rotting in the sun....
A Look Into The Tragedy At The Rolling Stones' Altamont Concert (grunge.com)
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Initial Woodstock was a for profit venture that only became a free concert due to the incredible ineptitude displayed by the organizers, like Lang.
Every word he’s uttered about the event since July 1969 has been either a boldface lie, or incredibly deft revisionism.
The free kitchens were cool hippies helping out their fellow man, and were basically just used by the organizers so they could avoid logistical hurdles they themselves were too incompetent to sort out.
It’s just turtles all the way down with that festival, when you start looking at the receipts. Yes 99 was a disaster, but 69 was a financial failure, an utter mess, and has only been categorized as a success because of the efforts of the folks that stood to profit from the movie and subsequent nostalgia. It was a few lucky decisions from being as bad as 99, if not worse.
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Did you know that an asphalt driveway can catch fire?
For the record, I didn’t light the fire.
