"Woodstock 50" bites the dust

[Bob Jersey]

The Aug 16-18 fest, planned for Watkins Glen International (the IndyCar/NASCAR course) in central NY state, blew a deadline to begin selling tickets.

The Bethel Woods Center, the site of the original event, earlier scrapped a parallel event, but still plans to commemorate with separate-ticketed gigs by Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (16th), Santana + the Doobie Brothers (17th), and CCR founder John Fogerty (18th).

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/festivals/8509091/woodstock-50-festival-cancelled?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social (link)

https://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/the-museum/woodstock50anniversary (link)

B

[Tom Wolper]

It's something to contemplate the arc of Woodstock mythology. For so long it was a defining act of '60s youth and a symbol of a coming together of the counterculture. Now it feels so far in the rear view mirror and has little if any significance for young adults. It's no wonder they can't sell tickets.

[Doug Eastick]

I'm not surprised this didn't sell or work out.    I'm in my early 50's and watched a Woodstock documentary in the 1980's -- that's about it.  I appreciate the significance of that original event.   I have no idea what the tickets were selling for $$-wise for the new events.   My 'high popularity' retro concert was Paul McCartney at Coachella 2009.

I've been to Coachella 5 times since 2008.   (It is kind of a family event as my brother (and variations of his family) have gone for a decade).   *THAT* is the current high-end event to go to -- acts, weather, selection, etc.   The shift of 'attending concerts' to 'attending festivals' is the current decade-thang for music and concert goers.    [I will not talk abut social-media-influencers].   For most of the fests, you can pay $300-400 USD for the gate ticket and see 3 days of shows.   Compare that to a single arena show for $100 (?) and a 3 day thing is a deal (even if you can't see all the stages happening).   As for accommodations, decide on your tent, car or hotel -- YMMV.

some big ones.... of the top of my head.

. Coachella

. stagecoach

. Outside Lands (san fran)

. Osheaga (montreal)

. (insert local music fests)

. Ultra music festival (Miami, plus international)

. Austin City Limits

btw - if anyone wants Betamax-HiFi copies of Coachella live feeds from the past 3 years, contact me.  I may know a guy that can dub you a copy.

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[Kevin M.]

I think if they had been able to round up more of the surviving original performers, a 50th event might have been something. Well, maybe not ShaNaNa. I recall Woodstock 25 being a big deal when I was in college, but I also recall it had little resemblance to the original other than the name (if memory serves, the owners of the farm where Woodstock took place even denied access to Woodstock 25). 

As a piece of history, Woodstock was a grand event where counter-culture combined with pop-culture, if not for the first time, then certainly on a massive scale. To dismiss its significance is to dismiss the significance music, drugs, and free love had on that generation. They didn’t end war or levitate the Pentagon, but that generation became hard to ignore after that music festival.

Coachella and Stagecoach are both just down the road from me, and if I enjoyed the heat of the desert or being in confined spaces with large crowds of people who don’t have access to shower facilities, there are certainly musical acts I’d enjoy hearing. But it’ll be years before we can say whether any cultural importance can be gleaned from the modern festivals. The messages of peace, love, and the freedom to be unique might not be overly revolutionary, even in 1969, but I think they resonate louder than anything coming out of the deserts outsides of Palm Springs these days. 

If it can be said that WWII veterans were the Greatest Generation, honorable mention has to go to the generation of hippies that most took advantage of the freedoms (maybe even overindulged) provided by the Allied victory. So many musicians, artists, and writers from that era have left us; it might have been special to see the survivors come together one last time to share a stage. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[JW]

The coverage of the original Woodstock in what we now call the MSM was about the traffic nightmares and potential for disaster with several hundred thousand kids in a loosely organized situation.

The big triumph was that there was no disaster; all those people got along and were able to get through the whole weekend with very few problems, reinforcing the idea that the whole "peace and love" thing could actually work.

I have no idea what percentage of the attendees could actually hear the music, but the organizers did a good job of booking acts, and the recordings (records and movie) turned out to be good.

[bermuda999]

On Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 7:24:36 AM UTC-4, JW wrote:

The coverage of the original Woodstock in what we now call the MSM was about the traffic nightmares and potential for disaster with several hundred thousand kids in a loosely organized situation.

Time/Life was on the bandwagon early and published their famous special Woodstock edition of LIFE on September 6, 1969, less than a month after the festival. That printing was a prime mover in introducing parents AND kids to the festival and the lifestyle and helped mythologize the event way before the film (March 1970) and the music album (May 1970) were released.

[Tom Wolper]

On Tue, Apr 30, 2019 at 7:26 PM 'bermuda999' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Time/Life was on the bandwagon early and published their famous special Woodstock edition of LIFE on September 6, 1969, less than a month after the festival. That printing was a prime mover in introducing parents AND kids to the festival and the lifestyle and helped mythologize the event way before the film (March 1970) and the music album (May 1970) were released.

To emphasize my point about Woodstock 50, let's make this differentiation: Woodstock the concert, Woodstock the symbol, and Woodstock as a brand. There are promoters who latched on to Woodstock as a symbol and have repeatedly tried to turn it into a brand. I remember going to a shopping mall theater in August of 1979 to watch a special (actually not so special) showing of the Woodstock film. Then there were the two concert events which may have featured good music and enthusiastic crowds but did not become symbols or build a Woodstock brand. Now promoters wanted to do a Woodstock 50 event but it turns out the brand has no value for younger audiences whether or not the event would conjure up memories of the original concert.

As for legacy bands doing a concert, it would depend on how many original members there are and what shape they're in. If Creedence is going to be there without Fogarty, they might do a good set but it serves more as a reminder of how things have changed rather than how awesome they were. I heard in a recent podcast about a legacy band going on tour and someone said he thought the only original member was the roadie.

[Bob Jersey]

"Idol" tried to (re)capture the alleged magic, and, per sometimes-"Sopranos" costar Maureen (Mrs Little Steven) Van Zandt, failed miserably...

B

[Kevin M.]

Idol is the exact opposite of counter-culture. Idol is a pasty white guy covering a Little Richard song. Idol is the Muzak version of The Doors. 

Can’t imagine why they’d miss the mark. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Bob Jersey]

Moi, April 29th:

After multiple tries, they've struck out again, this time with Vernon Downs, horsey track/casino/hotel between Syracuse and Utica near Interstate 90...

https://variety.com/2019/music/news/woodstock-50-permit-third-denial-vernon-downs-1203276140/ (link)

The guys from the sports radio station in my town always gripe about how tough it is to get into Hamilton, NY to cover Lehigh sports teams' visits to Colgate University, a league rival... this ain't too different.

B

[Bob Jersey]

A Maryland outdoor venue, Merriwether Post Pavilion, near good highways and a mall between Baltimore and Wa(r)shington, has stepped up to take the event, as of now still to be held that same August weekend, but the talent lineup of which is still far from determined...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/woodstock-50-relocate-maryland-merriweather-post-pavilion-863681/ (link)

IYC, John Fogerty won't move his scheduled appearance there from Bethel Woods:

https://variety.com/2019/music/news/john-fogerty-becomes-first-woodstock-50-artist-to-publicly-exit-festival-1203280815/ (link)

(It took me north of 30 minutes just to post this on GG web. This dinosaur Win7 box HAS to do certain things during the day, and nothing I have or can obtain will reprioritize it.)

B

[Tom Wolper]

This has to be some sort of scam. Nobody in their right mind can believe it's possible to put together a major music festival with less than a month to work out logistics.

Bob: I don't know what your tech budget is like but I recommend going to Costco, Walmart, Target, or Best Buy and buying their cheapest tablet, assuming you have access to WiFi from your internet provider.

[Bob Jersey]

Tom Wolper, to moi, in part, today (7/26):

Bob: I don't know what your tech budget is like but I recommend going to Costco, Walmart, Target, or Best Buy and buying their cheapest tablet, assuming you have access to WiFi from your internet provider.

Notebooks are closer to my style. (I have significant vision issues) I think the WiFi options are good here.

B

[Adam Bowie]

I do like Chromebooks (I'm typing this on one). If you can do what you need to do in a browser then they're really good. Not so great if you need to use specialist software - edit videos or whatever - but for general email and browsing, they're perfect. And quite a few of them are pretty cheap.

Adam

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[Tom Wolper]

Walmart.com has Chrome books starting at $60 for refurbished and $74 for new. Compared to a new desktop that's not a lot of money and you won't be dealing with the Windows 7 lags which will only get worse as apps and programs are written for machines with higher capacities.

[Bob Jersey]

Tom Wolper, in part, last Friday (7/26):

This has to be some sort of scam. Nobody in their right mind can believe it's possible to put together a major music festival with less than a month to work out logistics.

It's been shut down, again. "Time simply ran short," said promoter Greg Peck.

https://people.com/music/woodstock-50-canceled-unforeseen-setbacks/ (link)

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[Tom Wolper]

I'm relieved to see this. There was no chance of putting together a working festival on that timeline and if it hadn't been cancelled it would be a sign that the promoter was keeping the idea alive in order to scam sponsors.

[Bob Jersey]

With plenty of help from classic-media firm Rhino, Philadelphia public-radio outlet WXPN (at least one of their outposts is within pickup distance of my brother Allen's car radio) will air a to-the-second recreation of the original repertory played on Max Yasgur's farm beginning this Thursday (8/15) just after 5PM east...

https://thekey.xpn.org/2019/08/08/xpn-presents-woodstock/ (link)

Hope they've accounted for the streaming demand...

B

[Tom Wolper]

PBS's American Experience aired a two hour documentary about last week that's worth watching. It might be available on the website or the app. PBS is arbitrary about what goes behind a paywall and what stays free. They broke up the festival into days and showed Polaroids of the bands that played each day. Let's just say there was an awful lot of filler.