Organisers pull the plug on Woodstock 50

Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland: where Woodstock 50 was due to be held. Pic: Creative Commons/Reality truth

The verdict many fans had been anticipating has finally been confirmed, the festival has been cancelled with various reasons given

Organisers have confirmed that Woodstock 50 will not go ahead due to “unforeseen setbacks”. The announcement will come to no surprise to fans as trouble has been brewing since April, when the main investor originally announced the festival’s cancellation claiming they couldn’t ensure the safety of artists, staff and attendees.

However, organisers fought back against that verdict and continued planning the event, which was due to take place between 16-18 August. Jay-Z, The Killers and Miley Cyrus had been confirmed to play, but when those acts started to pull out the final nail was hammered into Woodstock 50’s coffin.

The festival had stated that 100,000 tickets would be available for the upstate New York event, but prices were never revealed. There was further confusion as the event was moved to Maryland and then organisers told fans the festival would be free but the line-up wasn’t certain.

It’s 50 years since the original Woodstock took place in 1969. Performances by Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin have since gone down in music folklore. However, in a statement, organisers were forced to concede:

“Woodstock 50 today announced that the three-day festival to celebrate its 50th anniversary has been cancelled,” the organisers said. “We are saddened that a series of unforeseen setbacks has made it impossible to put on the festival we imagined with the great line-up we had booked and the social engagement we were anticipating.”

The event is another name on the list of recent festival disasters. The infamous Fyre Festival, which was the subject of a Netflix documentary, was billed as an idyllic island party for the rich and privileged before it was revealed to have been a scam. VestiVille was cancelled hours before it was due to take place this week, with festival-goers arriving to the disappointing news. And Livewire Festival in Blackpool boasted Lauren Hill as a headliner before “investor issues” forced organisers to pull the plug.

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