woodstock 50 has finally realized it's dead; festival officially cancelled

[yeezus_christ]

Woodstock 50 has no lineup https://t.co/JagWYVFDEr pic.twitter.com/Ut3idQP4hm
- SPIN (@SPIN) July 27, 2019

• as a follow up to this post artists are pulling out of woodstock 50, which they were no longer contractually obligated to perform at once the venue moved to maryland despite having already been paid by event organizers.
• the latest acts to confirm they are no longer performing at the festival-that-doesn't-know-it's-dead include the raconteurs, santana, the lumineers, and the killers.
• “no bands want to look greedy but most can’t play maryland and don’t want to be involved in an event that is not properly conceived and developed, or risk the health and safety of their fans,” a source who works with a woodstock 50 headliner has said.
• saving the festival now may mean booking an entirely new lineup. whether organizers are capable of pulling that off remains to be seen. woodstock 50’s replacement production company pulled out last week. a festival spokesperson has not responded to spin's request for comment on whether they’ve secured a new replacement. “we made a deal quickly contingent on [organizers] putting a show together and dealing with the fact that we have a show booked on one of those dates,” says seth hurwitz, venues operator for the promotion company that runs merriweather post pavillion. “so now i’m just a venue waiting to see if the promoter with the hold is going to confirm.”

sources 1 | 2 | 3 | 4


Woodstock 50 officially canceled https://t.co/6VBeM50Z3e pic.twitter.com/iHiv4TY89F
- Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 31, 2019

Woodstock 50 is finally, officially cancelled: https://t.co/BBhKwdWTk6 pic.twitter.com/3fXsyPg58g
- BrooklynVegan (@brooklynvegan) July 31, 2019

• well, it's finally been put out to pasture. thanks to doriiansz for the notice.
• original woodstock co-founder, michael lang, confirmed the cancellation in a statement that can be read in full below:
• “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. when we lost the glen and then vernon downs we looked for a way to do some good rather than just cancel. we formed a collaboration with headcount to do a smaller event at the merriweather pavilion to raise funds for them to get out the vote and for certain ngos involved in fighting climate change. we released all the talent so any involvement on their part would be voluntary. due to conflicting radius issues in the dc area many acts were unable to participate and others passed for their own reasons. i would like to encourage artists and agents, who all have been fully paid, to donate 10% of their fees to headcount or causes of their choice in the spirit of peace. woodstock remains committed to social change and will continue to be active in support of headcount’s critical mission to get out the vote before the next election. we thank the artists, fans and partners who stood by us even in the face of adversity. my thoughts turn to bethel and its celebration of our 50th anniversary to reinforce the values of compassion, human dignity, and the beauty of our differences embraced by woodstock.”
• at the beginning of the year, there were two separate, competing festivals in new york state planned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of woodstock on the weekend of august 16th-18th: the official, michael lang-helmed fest at watkins glen that is now finally cancelled, and a second unofficial fest called bethel woods music and culture festival, which was to be produced by live nation and brand communications agency invnt. bethel woods is still holding concerts with original woodstock performers john fogerty and santana, as well as ringo starr and his all-starr band, that weekend, but it’ll be a scaled down version of the “new three-day festival of music, culture and community,” with ted-style talks and special exhibits, that was originally envisioned.

any brave ontders still planning on attending this free show? ya can't really be disappointed that you're getting nothing for free, right?
update: well i for one will miss the mess. looking forward to the fuckshit that's sure to be it's eventual follow up. i added an extra source in case anyone gets that annoying security risk warning when following the link in the hollywood reporter's tweet.