I know, you must be shocked – but the 50th anniversary of Woodstock is officially off.
After revealing a lineup that left something to be desired, concerns grew with a promised ticket onsale date came and went with no ticketing announcement. Then, the promoters funding the festival announced the fest was canceled and they were pulling funding. Woodstock creator Michael Lang pushed back and even went to court. The court ruled that the funders were not allowed to cancel the fest but were absolutely allowed to take back their nearly $18 million in funding.
Lang persisted, promised new funding would be gotten and the show would go on. Except, then the new funders pulled out. The promoters still tried to secure another venue, but were denied on safety concerns. With time running out on a planned performance next month, today they finally made the call that it just wasn't happening.
But don't think they ran out of excuses.
"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," founder Michael Lang said in a statement. "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 [voting encouragement organization] HeadCount to do a smaller event at [Columbia, Maryland's] Merriweather Pavilion to raise funds for them to get out the vote and for certain NGOs involved in fighting climate change."
Here was the initial lineup before everything broke down.
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