WATKINS GLEN, NY – Michael Lang, co-creator of the original Woodstock festival, who has also been promoting Woodstock 50 set for Aug. 16-18, 2019 at Watkins Glen International race track in Watkins Glen, NY, has been scrambling to keep the plans for the event alive after investors Dentsu Aegis Network announced their decision to pull out of the event on April 29.
A long roster of contemporary headliners, along with a few acts that performed during the original Woodstock event in 1969, had been announced for this year’s festival, but Dentsu Aegis Network’s late April pullout, followed by the announcement May 1 that production partner Superfly would also not be involved in the event, raised questions of whether Woodstock 50 could proceed as originally envisioned.
Dentsu Aegis Network, which had been supporting the original Woodstock 50 festival plan through its Amplifi Live subsidiary, reportedly expected a turnout of as many 150,000 festival goers at the Watkins Glen site. The attendee count was scaled back to between 75,000 and 100,000 so that the site, which is almost twice as far away from New York City than the original Woodstock festival grounds, could accommodate overnight campers.
Although top acts announced for the event included Jay-Z, The Killers, Chance the Rapper, Imagine Dragons, Halsey and Miley Cyrus were announced as part of the broader festival lineup on March 19, Dentsu Aegis Network issued a press release announcing the event’s cancellation on April 29, effectively releasing artists from their respective contracts to perform at the event, according to reports.
Tickets to the event were expected to go on sale to the public on April 22, but as of May 6, no tickets for the event have been offered. Securing the necessary permits for the event, which had become a key factor behind the last minute cancellation of Phish’s Aug. 2018 Curveball festival planned for the site, is another hurdle promoter Lang faces, according to reports. Despite the challenges, the event is being promoted with optimism at www.woodstock.com.
And even if tickets to the big festival at Watkins Glen have not been offered to the public, calling the viability of that event into question, smaller events commemorating Woodstock’s 50th anniversary appear to be a definite go, including performances planned at the Bethel (NY) Center for the Arts, situated near the original festival location, Aug. 15-18, with performers including Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, Santana with the Doobie Brothers and John Fogerty. Tickets to those concerts are now available at www.bethelwoodscenter.org.
