The Untold Story of Woodstock 99
The Untold Story of Woodstock 99
MsMojo Can Fix It: Rewriting Lane Kim's Story on Gilmore Girls
Between August 15th and 18th of 1969, Bethel, New York hosted what is arguably the most iconic music festival in American history. Woodstock was a monumental success that mirrored the changing American culture of the time. Many notable bands and artists performed at the event, including Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix, just to name a few. Many future Woodstock festivals followed, but none quite managed to replicate what made the original so special. Organizers tried to recapture the cultural magic in 1999 for the fittingly-titled Woodstock '99. It was to be held in New York’s city of Rome, which is nearly 150 miles to the north of the original Woodstock site in Bethel. However, there were some major differences between this Woodstock and the original (aside from distance between them). Ticket prices and capacity issues caused problems: passes for the multi-day festival bought in advance were $150 - the equivalent of around $250 today, plus service charges. This was considered steep for the time - even for a once-in-a-lifetime experience like this - and those purchased at the gate were even more expensive. Of course, like the original Woodstock, many people may have snuck in, either through creative means or by making fake passes and tricking inexperienced security guards. It’s estimated that upwards of 400,000 people attended the festival, yet just under 187,000 tickets were reported as sold. This enormous discrepancy has been studied extensively, and it’s suspected that the festival planners underreported the amount of tickets sold so they could pocket the profits. In fact, to this day, many people argue that it was this kind of runaway greed that influenced the entire tone of Woodstock ‘99 and resulted in its infamous conclusion. You see, concertgoers weren’t just opening their wallets for the tickets. Food and water were supposedly confiscated going into the venue, and the price of these necessities inside was exorbitant: a single bottle of water reportedly cost $4, or a little over $7 in 2022. Many left the festival and traveled into the town of Rome to get supplies, but soon the local stores were flooded with festival attendees. As a result, they quickly ran out of stock. The water problem was exacerbated by the extreme heat: temperatures soared as high as 100 degrees. What’s more, instead of a lush farm like Woodstock ‘69, the 1999 festival was held on an old Air Force base, which meant lots of hot concrete and little shade. Hundreds of people were treated for dehydration and heat exhaustion. Free water was provided via fountains, but these had enormously long lines, with wait times ballooning to half an hour in some cases. Eventually, the festival goers turned to breaking the pipes to get water. Additionally, there weren’t enough toilets for the massively inflated crowd and they weren’t properly maintained, so they began to overflow. The water spraying from the broken pipes mixed with bodily waste and created a sludge that people had to step through to use facilities. Some people even took mud baths to have some fun and cool off, not knowing that they were slathering themselves in human waste. It was also reported that the drinking water was tainted by excrement. And we haven’t even discussed the music. The original Woodstock is an indisputable symbol of the peace and love counterculture movement, and the bands of the time certainly reflected that general attitude. However, rock music and teens in general were in a very different space by this point in 1999. As a result, Woodstock ‘99 was packed with performers like Korn, Limp Bizkit, The Offspring, and Rage Against the Machine. Due to all of these factors, an undercurrent of aggression pervaded the festival almost from day 1, and it increased with each passing day, as concert-goers continued to live through these less-than-ideal conditions. Violence ultimately broke out during Limp Bizkit’s performance on the evening of Saturday, July 24. After some provocation by the band’s lead singer, Fred Durst, the crowd went wild and let out their frustrations by moshing, assaulting women, and ripping apart the sound towers. The bad behavior continued into the wee hours of the night, as the post-show rave also included violence and assaults. On Sunday night, the aggression continued into the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ set. The crowd was excited by the rumors that a mysterious unnamed artist might be performing to end the show. Attendees used candles intended for a reflective vigil to start bonfires around the venue. After the Chili Peppers played their encore song - “Fire” by Jimi Hendrix - things really started to get out of hand. And when it became clear there was no mystery closer, the wheels came off entirely. Security fences were destroyed and their wood was added to the fires. ATMs were looted and over $20,000 in cash was stolen. Vendor and merchandise booths were raided and set ablaze. An entire speaker tower was ripped from the ground and toppled over. It took hundreds of police troopers in riot gear to control the crowd and put an end to the pandemonium. When the smoke literally cleared on Woodstock ‘99, what was left was an infamous reputation. Aside from the damage to the site, police investigated instances of sexual assault that occurred at the show. Three people died, including two from the heat (the third was hit by a car outside the venue). Dozens were arrested for negligent and violent behavior. And over 5,000 medical cases were reported by the New York State Department of Health, accounting for well over 1,000 cases per day. While the causes for this disaster are multi-faceted, it seems everyone blames someone else. Some pointed the finger at the bands - particularly Limp Bizkit and Red Hot Chili Peppers - for supposedly encouraging bad behavior and not doing enough to dissuade the crowd from acting out. Some blamed the concertgoers themselves, with organizer John Scher calling them “the lunatic fringe” that had “lots and lots of angst.” Many, however, cite the greed of those who sought profits above all else as the culprit. Whatever the case, the disastrous festival tarnished the reputations of not only the Woodstock brand, but also an entire generation’s music and attitudes. To this day, Woodstock ‘99 is seen as a symbol of ‘90s angst, taken to its extreme.
