ABC AudioMusic fans were thrilled when the star-studded lineup of the Woodstock 50 event was announced in March, but little did anyone know then that the planned 50th anniversary celebration for the historic 1969 festival would never come to fruition.
Co-produced by original Woodstock organizer Michael Lang, Woodstock 50 was to have taken place August 16-18 at Watkins Glen International racetrack in Watkins Glen, New York. The lineup featured an impressive array of artists from different genres and eras, including quite a few musicians who played the original event, among them Santana, David Crosby, ex-Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty, Canned Heat, Country Joe McDonald, John Sebastian, and Melanie.
Other acts on the bill included and the Grateful Dead spinoff group Dead & Company, Robert Plant and the Sensational Shape Shifters, The Killers, Imagine Dragons, The Zombies, Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z, The Lumineers, Chance the Rapper, Greta Van Fleet, Halsey, Common, Gary Clark Jr., Cage the Elephant and Janelle Monáe.
The lineup was announced at an invite-only event held at New York City’s famous Electric Lady Studios that featured interviews with and performances by Fogerty and Common.
However, in late April, Dentsu Aegis Network, the company that was funding Woodstock 50, announced that it was canceling the festival because it didn’t believe it could be “executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock Brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees.”
Woodstock 50 organizers insisted that Dentsu didn’t have the right to cancel the festival and subsequently won a court ruling supporting their claim. In May, the organizers announced they’d found a new financial backer, but in June, Watkins Glen International racetrack and the company producing the event both announced that they no longer would be involved in the festival.
Organizers then attempted to secure a permit to stage Woodstock 50 at the site of Vernon Downs racetrack in Vernon, New York, but their bid was denied in July by local officials.
A last-ditch effort was made to hold a smaller-scale version of the festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, but on July 31, Woodstock 50 was officially canceled.
“We are saddened that a series of unforeseen setbacks has made it impossible to put on the Festival we imagined with the great lineup we had booked and the social engagement we were anticipating,” Lang said in a statement.
While an official 50th anniversary Woodstock event didn’t happen, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the venue located at the site of the original 1969 festival, did hold a series of special concerts on August 16, 17 and 18 that included performances by Fogerty, Santana, Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band and more.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.