Welcome to this week’s Tales from the Turntable! In the past two weeks, we’ve covered two of the biggest festivals in music history, Woodstock ‘69 and ‘94. This week will be a look at the penultimate of the Woodstock franchise.
Note: There are several horrible events that happened during the weekend of Woodstock ‘99, which will be discussed here. If you are sensitive to topics like sexual assault or general violence, please do not proceed.
In 1999, the 30th anniversary year of the original festival, concert organizer Michael Lang decided to throw one more giant musical extravaganza, complete with dozens of the most popular bands of the time. From Friday, July 22 to Sunday, July 25, poor sanitation, lackluster security presence and ruined facilities culminated in a hellish weekend that left thousands injured and several dead.
The artist lineup featured heavier music, as nu metal had taken over rock charts, skyrocketing bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot into the mainstream. From the very first day, problems with the audience had already arrived.
Many began drinking and taking drugs as soon as they got to the campground, leading thousands of intoxicated male fans to hurl crude remarks at several female musicians like Sheryl Crow and Rosie Perez. Crow would later decry the festival as the worst performance she endured and considered leaving early due to the audience’s malice.
As The Offspring took the stage, lead singer Dexter Holland condemned the mass misogyny and sexual harassment that had already become widespread in the audience. Vandalism had already become widespread, with many audience members ripping the wood siding off the stages and using them to crowd surf.
On the first day, bottled water totaled $4 per bottle, which adjusted for inflation is around $7 today. By Sunday, many vendors sold bottles of water for up to $12, or about $21 today. Free drinking water had been provided through many water fountains; however, when tested, the water was found to be contaminated with dangerous bacteria, including E. coli.
Toilets on the campground were overflowing within the first two days of the festival, leading to their contents being spilled out into mud puddles around the site. Due to the extreme heat, many concert-goers would use the mud pits as a way to cool down, leading many to contract diseases or suffer from trench foot due to excessive moisture.
Late Friday night, Korn took the stage, and their performance severely riled up the crowd. Many security guards and attendees saw several horrific events occur during their performances, including fights and sexual assaults. Lead singer Jonathan Davis collapsed from heat exhaustion after their performance, needing to be put on oxygen and given an IV.
When The Tragically Hip opened on Saturday, fans started to pelt the musicians on stage with water bottles in anticipation of Kid Rock’s upcoming performance. Alanis Morrisette played later that day to an increasingly hostile crowd. Many booed the Canadian singer and chanted “Limp Bizkit” over her singing.
Limp Bizkit’s performance occurred late Saturday night, which proved to be one of the most intense moments of the entire festival. Concert staff and local authorities pleaded with the band to keep things civil, which lead singer Fred Durst completely ignored. During the band’s performance of “Break Stuff,” attendees began destroying the stage further. Dozens of people were seen crowd surfing atop pieces of wood, many of which quickly broke, causing several people to fall a considerable height onto fellow concert goers. Durst further riled the crowd with his on-stage banter, telling the audience to “take all that negative energy and put it the f*ck out.” Fans destroyed several structures during the band’s performance and numerous more assaults were witnessed.
Sunday started out relatively quiet, but fans were brooding with anticipation for Red Hot Chili Peppers’ performance that night. Shortly before going on, lead singer Anthony Kiedis was approached by Jimi Hendrix’s sister, who asked for the band to play one of Hendrix’s songs. The band chose to end the night with their rendition of “Fire.” Ironically, earlier in the group’s performance, dozens of bonfires were lit across the campground.
During and after Red Hot Chili Peppers’ performance, what started as severely intoxicated and energetic fans turned into full scale riots across the festival. Emergency vehicles were flipped over, vendors had to evacuate their stands as attendees set fire, tore down or raided their booths. ATMs were destroyed and an estimated $22,000 was stolen. Security ordered Kiedis to return to the stage to quell the audience, to little avail, before calling in state troopers at around 11 p.m.
While this covers the major events that happened during the festival, this article only scratches the surface of the events surrounding Woodstock ‘99, and is regularly remembered as one of the most infamous cultural events of the past 30 years. We’ve looked at 30 years of live music, and while it might not have been the greatest, Woodstock left a lasting impression on modern music and history.