If you were one of the music fans who paid $150 and made the approximately hour-and-forty-minute drive from Albany to Rome in July of 1999 for the second reboot of the Woodstock festival, you might have just spent the last 22 years trying to forget that Woodstock ’99 ever happened.
Well, we hate to be the bearers of bad news, but HBO Max is about to bring it back, front and center.
On July 23, the paid streaming service will release Woodstock ’99: Peace, Love, and Rage, a film documenting all of the music and mayhem that took place the weekend of July 22–25 on the grounds of the decommissioned Griffiss Air Force Base.
From the get-go, the festival, which saw performances by an eclectic mix of the era’s artists, including the Roots, Rage Against the Machine, Moby, the Offspring, Sheryl Crow and the Insane Clown Posse, was marred by hotter-than-hot weather conditions, lack of access to potable (and cheap) water and overflowing port-o-potties. Mix in bands with anger-fueled lyrics, 400,000 heat-stroked fans with a penchant for ultraviolence, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers literally covering Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” as the outdoor venue was set ablaze, and you had an end-of-the-decade powder keg waiting to blow.
The film, which was directed by Garret Price, will feature interviews with organizers Michael Lang and John Scher, as well as culture critics Wesley Morris, Maureen Callahan and Steven Hyden. The film will also include firsthand accounts of the event by musicians such as The Roots’ Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Korn’s Jonathan Davis and Creed’s Scott Stapp, as well as festival attendees.
