As the 50th anniversary of New York’s legendary Woodstock Music and Arts Fair approaches, talk of an event celebrating the festival has grown, and now Michael Lang, one of the promoters who worked for the 1969 gathering, says that there are “definite plans” for a 50th anniversary event in 2019.
Speaking to the Poughkeepsie Journal (via Stereogum), Lang notes that the plans are “not a done deal yet” but are “very close,” and an official announcement should be expected soon.
Lang goes on to say that the 50th anniversary celebration will represent many of the same values that fueled Woodstock ’69 and the social movements of the time. The original festival was one of the landmark moments in American music and pop-culture history, drawing over 400,000 attendees and offering performances from Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Band, Santana, Joan Baez, Crosby Still Nash & Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival and more.
“We’re hoping to inspire people to speak up and get involved and get out and vote and help us save the planet,” Lang tells the Poughkeepsie Journal. “We are in trouble and it seems like we’ve been brought back in time in a lot of ways. It’s eerie how similar a lot of things are to the way it was in the late ‘60s. Lessons we thought we learned seem to be coming back, unlearned. The progress we learned in social justice seems to be going backwards.”
9 Comments comments associated with this post
OMG
August 5, 2019 at 9:57 amhttp://www.vh1.com/news/53573/phish-coventry-10th-anniversary/
This sounds worse than all the 3 Woodstock’s combined. What a fucking joke of a band…
MarZaPhiGar
November 21, 2018 at 11:51 amAlso, might wanna consider some form if insurance…assuming its going to be in Upstate again…cuz Magnaball…& ’94…&’69…(hon mention Coventry ’04).
MarZaPhiGar
November 21, 2018 at 11:48 amEverything michael lang touches turnsto shit. ’69 looked AWFUL. ’94 WAS awful. ’99 WAS awful. Anybody remember The Husson Project???
Greg
November 20, 2018 at 9:29 amHey “Toby” maybe when you grow up, put on your big boy pants, and try working for a living your perspective will change. Maybe before you are forty. Everybody wants to be a SJW when they are 20. Then reality kicks in. Only unproductive losers like Lang, born with a silver spoon, never grow up, just old.
Eric
November 19, 2018 at 12:17 pmNot again, oh the humanity!!
Greg
November 18, 2018 at 10:17 amYay lets get away from the music and turn it into a social justice warrior event. There can be a huge pound me too presence and anybody accused of anything can be executed. Because we need to “believe” the (non) victims right? I mean due process was so last century. What else-oh yeah let’s invite anifa to pulverize anybody that disagrees with them. Because that is so anti-facist right? I would rather stay home and play records all weekend. Cheaper beer, better smoke, better music, hot tub, etc. It’s funny that Lang want to play Mr. Holy Man after the rapes and chaos of Woodstock 99. Any of you old enough to remember that one?
toby
November 19, 2018 at 3:29 pmBye Felicia… I mean right-wing troll.
test
November 17, 2018 at 1:59 pmGive it a rest, it could never be a 1/10 as authentic as the original in today’s legal & corporate environment. The fact that there is a shrine at the original site that is forbidden to use the Woodstock name tells one everything you need to know. At best it will be a ho hum EDM festival sponsored by Pepsi…
Crystal
November 17, 2018 at 9:44 pmI wouldn’t be so sure about that. I personally think there is a lot of potential in this reunion, especially in regards to the current political and social atmosphere in America.
I’m 23 and I’ve been to my fair share and enjoyed the “ho-hum EDM festivals”, but I can say for myself and my friend group and many others that I have met at these festivals that the experience is starting to become outgrown. It would be refreshing to attend a festival with a purpose, that could ignite our youth to strive to take action to create better future for us and the generations to come. And my sister who is of high school age has many friends who are fed up with the current state of the world as well and want to join causes they can be passionate about in this very same manner.
There is potential for popular artists, old and new, of differing genres to come together and inspire the masses in a way that hasn’t been done before.