Woodstock 50 announced its lineup in March and promised tickets would go on sale in April. The day the tickets were supposed to go live came and went, but the tickets themselves never became available to the public. Of course, this led to fans assuming the festival was cancelled. Then a few days later, festival financial backers Dentsu announced they were pulling funding and the show was indeed cancelled. Though there were still insubstantial statements floating around that it wasn't cancelled, but nothing ever official was made.
At least until now. According to Rolling Stone, Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang has released a newsletter to everyone on the Woodstock mailing list, saying he's going to find a way to make the festival work.
"Dear Woodstock Friends,
"It seems in a way that history is repeating itself. In July of 1969 we lost our site in Walkill and with only a month to go we managed to move to Bethel. Woodstock was going to happen no matter what!
"This time around, Woodstock's new hometown, Dix & Watkins Glen, NY and New York State have been really wonderful. I went door to door to talk to the neighbors. Some remembered Summer Jam back in '73 and were worried about history repeating itself. But they opened their doors to us and we talked it out. Many of those people have reached out over the last 24 hours with messages of hope and encouragement.
"The venue, Watkins Glen International, have been totally supportive and professional. Yesterday, our financial partner, Dentsu-Aegis, made the decision to pull out and informed us that they were cancelling the festival at the same time they let the press release go public.
"We have yet to understand why they would try to prevent the festival from happening by seemingly undermining us in this way. It is one thing to decide for oneself that it is best to move on, but it is entirely another thing to try and close the door on us. Yesterday, I couldn't help but relive that moment 50 years ago — it was 'déjà vu all over again'!
"Supporting the principles of activism and sustainability are too important to be derailed by shortsighted partners. We continue our work with NYS, Schuyler County and various parties to keep things on track. Woodstock never belonged to Dentsu, so they don't have a right to cancel it. Woodstock belongs to the people and it always will.
"We don't give up and Woodstock 50 will take place and will be a blast!
"Thanks for Listening, Michael"
Meanwhile, TMZ has their own take on why the investment firm bailed.
Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Amplifi Live — the investment arm of Dentsu Aegis Network — pulled out after it got word capacity for the concert venue shrunk by 50% — from 150,000 to 75,000. The reason for the change — Watkins Glen city officials said a big chunk of the land needed to be used as campgrounds to accommodate concertgoers.
We're told Amplifi Live needed a minimum of 100,000 attendees to make a go of it, so the company pulled the plug.
After Amplifi pulled out, Lang told us he wasn't throwing in the towel, hoping to snag another investor. But, he just ran into even more problems, because we're told the festival's production company, Superfly, will no longer be involved.
Not that I'm saying it's definitely going to be, but this seems like it has the potential to turn into another Fyre Festival, doesn't it?
