All You Need To Know About Woodstock 2019

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All You Need To Know About Woodstock 2019 50 years ago, a bunch of people with money and vision got together to make a musical event happen. Some of them, like producer Michael Lang, had some prior experience as a promoted – Lang co-organized a pop music festival on the US’ East Coast with decent attendance. After a series of discussions and ideas rolled around, they decided to organize a series of concerts over a weekend featuring artists that were known to frequent the area. They had to work hard to get the first band to sign – it was Creedence Clearwater Revival, agreeing to play for $10,000 – but from then on, everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. As the lineup improved, the number of interested people grew – the organizers sold 186,000 advance tickets and expected to have around 200,000 attendees. They were wrong. The music festival organized on a dairy farm in Bethel, near the Catskill Mountains, over an August weekend in 1969 attracted more than 400,000 attendees and created a trend that led to the emergence of everything from Canada’s best late-summer festivals to massive events like Coachella and Burning Man. The event came down in history as “Woodstock Festival” and became not only the basis for a lucrative industry but a pivotal movement in the history of popular culture and music. Now, 50 years after the original event, the time has come for a revival.

Woodstock: 50 years later

Woodstock 50 will be a three-day festival, just like the original, according to an announcement made earlier this year by the original’s promoter, Michael Lang. It will take place at Watkins Glen, 80 miles outside of Syracuse, New York, between August 16 and 18. According to Lang, more than 60 artists have already been booked to perform at the event, with a lineup to cater to a variety of tastes, covering everything between hip hop and country. Most of the performers will be contemporary, Lang said, but attendees can expect “unique collaborations” and “tribute performances breathing new life into some of Woodstock’s iconic moments”. “The Woodstock 50th Anniversary will be about sharing an experience with great artists and encouraging people to get educated and involved in the social issues impacting everyone on the planet,” said Lang. “It’s so inspiring to see young people today channeling their passion into causes they care about. That’s something that’s always been a part of Woodstock’s mission, and it’s a big focus at the 50th festival.”

The competition

Another event – not organized by Lang and thus deemed unofficial – will take place over the same weekend in Bethel, New York, the site of the original event. This will consist of a series of live concerts of a variety of performers, like Ringo Starr, Carlos Santana, and the Doobie Brothers.

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