The truth they chose not to make public: what really went on at Woodstock 1999

Today about Woodstock 1999. of the year is said to be one of the most high-profile rock festivals of the late 90-х: hundreds of thousands of spectators, dozens of guest superstars from that era, summer, love and world peace! But few people prefer to tell the truth - to describe the true atmosphere that prevailed at the American military base: for four days people enjoyed not only the music, but also the hellish conditions... The heat, the limited access to water, and the extremely heated environment all combined to turn the holiday show into chaos. Thanks to the film "Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage." the truth was revealed to the world: people who were on stage and backstage in those days revealed details of the cult event, which for a long time they tried not to spread....

Problems with facilities and water

Despite the splendour of the musical numbers, people had to enjoy not only the great and beautiful, but also the down-to-earth commonplace - such as the horrifying smell of the "dirt.". Only it was not just mud, but diluted with all the delights of sewage. Alas, the public toilets overflowed and stopped working during the festival. As a result, the "mud" filled the area of tents, and added its colours to the memories of eyewitnesses... In addition to all this there was the infernal heat. As a matter of fact, she added unnecessary hassle.....

https://youtu.be/ACh04DwnUT0

The organisers of Woodstock decided to capitalise on the heat: they didn't let people into the festival with their own water, but instead sold 4 bottles for a $4.! But even these were not so easy to get because of the shortage of ATMs. Many people turned to alcohol, which cost the same as water. Thus the crowd slowly but surely got drunk in the heat.....

There was no professional security at the festival

Wearing yellow shirts that say. "Peace Patrol."Many of the security guards at the event were young guys with little experience. A lot of the "security guards" came there just to enjoy the music. So proper patrolling of the crowd was out of the question. What is even more fascinating in this whole story is that the fighters for justice followed instructions and confiscated all the necessary supplies of water and food, while psychoactive substances did not bother them in the slightest....

It was not without incident

Gradually the public became... inadequate, to put it mildly. Tired, exhausted by the heat and fuelled by alcohol and other amusement gears - a minor excuse was enough for a crowd of several hundred thousand people to start a riot! Approaching the last day of the festival, the attendees, in their own words, "went through hell and back"! At one point, the performance Red Hot Chili Peppers turned out to be stage arson...

At the end of the festival, candles were distributed to the weary crowd for a well-meaning vigil designed to honour the memory of the victims Columbines. At one point, however, the ritual turned into an arson attack on the venue. In a matter of minutes, small flames turned into large bonfires, and angry spectators broke off pieces of the stage, stole merchandise, overturned food trucks and destroyed non-functioning showers and bathrooms ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers try to appease the public by performing their version of the "Fire" by Jimi Hendrixbut the situation only got worse...

The audience was uncontrollable

Most of the audience Woodstock 1999. of the year - young guys in their 20s. And gradually, under the influence of the heat and lack of basic water facilities, they became angry... Even too angry. When the actress came on stage Rosie PerezThe crowd began to show her the utmost disrespect, shouting obscenities, including threats, from all sides. The result was a dangerous environment for all women: soon the fairer sex began to report assaults... or worse.

In the years since the infamous festival, more and more women have reported assaults and offences by attendees of that event, in what has since become the latest legacy of the failed show...

The cast also felt the tension

Many of the artists who performed at the "Woodstock 1999."later told about how much they wanted the festival to end as soon as possible... From their memories Moby:

"You know - when you spend your whole life in nightclubs and concerts, you develop what's called a sixth sense. I can tell you from 100 feet away what the energy is going to be at a particular venue... And when we got off the bus, I thought, 'Something's not right.'" And this, for a minute, was only the first day of Woodstock! I was making my way through the crowd, and everybody was angry, and everybody was hot, and everybody was complaining... The festival had only been open for six hours, but it had already gone off the rails, you know?"

According to the artists' recollections, after each new performance the audience became angrier and angrier…

MTV employees were fleeing for their lives

Fearing for their lives, the employees MTV really were running away from this sinking ship called "Woodstock 1999.". MTV, which shortly before the festival switched from covering counterculture to mainstream pop music, was seen as the enemy by the tired and embittered public. Their coverage and presence at the festival was not welcomed. From recollections Dave Holmes:

"From the first seconds we got there, we immediately realised: this crowd didn't want us here at all. People were mad at us for taking their MTVs and giving them to their little sister. We were in trouble..."

Eventually the viewers destroyed the equipment and switched to the channel staff itself... "We had to get out of there right away!" - recalled later Kurt Loder.

The festival was held at a military base

Located in Rome, N.Y., at the former base of the Griffiss Air Force, the location initially seemed to the organisers to be an excellent choice for the festival! However, this confidence was soon called into question. And it was not only because a military base is not a good choice for an event dedicated to peace and love: the music stages were far away from each other and the asphalt seemed to intensify the heat. Later Moby will say:

"When I saw all this, I thought, 'What is this? How did this happen? What do you call this, Woodstock?" It would have made a lot more sense to call this festival Army Base Rock'99 featuring Limp Bizkit!"

The plan was to hold "Woodstock 2019"

Despite the notoriety of the festival and the fact that the city of Rome only made money from the event. $200,000.one of the organisers Michael Lang has announced plans for a three-day festival Woodstock'50 in honour of the 50th anniversary of the original Woodstock!

Fortunately, his plans were cancelled after the "a series of unforeseen failures".

That same year, there was an anti-Woodstock event

A few months after the excitement surrounding the failed Woodstock 1999 fiasco died down, in Indio, Californiatook root first. Coachella! The event took place in October 1999and featured popular hip-hop, hard rock and electronic artists. For this reason, the audience was diverse! And happy.

Visitors were given free parking and a bottle of water on entry. The festival was a huge success and was later even named the "anti-Woodstock.".