Woodstock – Skin Back Alley

Woodstock founder Michael Lang has said that he is considering organising a 50th anniversary festival for 2019.

Speaking to Rolling Stone and denying that there will be a 45th anniversary event his year, Lang said: “I think we’re certainly done until the 50th. We’re starting to think about it now.” He also revealed that several sites are currently being considered in North America.

The original festival took place in Bethel, New York in 1969, and featured career defining sets from the likes of The Who and Jimi Hendrix. Several anniversary events have been held since, most recently in 1994 and then 1999. The 1999 festival became infamous as a result of rioting during sets from Limp Bizkit and then Red Hot Chili Peppers, with New York State Troopers having to be called in to quell the violence.

Lang has previously said that he doesn’t think the organisational failures of previous anniversary events will affect any new festival: “When people think [of Woodstock] they don’t think ’99 or ’94. They think [of] the ’69 event. I think [1999] has its ramifications, but I don’t think it did any real damage in that sense.”

The 1994 event saw the site turned into a mudbath due to adverse weather conditions. During Green Day’s set the band famously started a mud fight with the crowd leading to a stage invasion which saw security mistaking the band’s Mike Dirnt for a fan and tackling him onstage, leading him to seek emergency dental treatment.