Woodstock '99: Festival of "peace" and Music
Woodstock 1999, held July 23-25, 1999 was the second rock concert (after Woodstock '94) that attempted to emulate the success of the original Woodstock concert of 1969. Like the previous concerts with the same name, it was held in upstate New York, this time in Rome. The entire weekend was available on Pay Per View. The concert, with an estimated 220,000 attendees, was marred by eruptions of violence, sexual assault, and looting. Though many concertgoers reported enjoying the event, the consensus was that it failed to emulate the "peace and love" environment of 1969, and it was also economically unprofitable. There were several reasons why Woodstock concertgoers were unhappy. Foremost were the prices: Tickets to the 3-day event were $150 (leading to graffiti along the lines of "$150 = Too Much") and food prices were high. Also, concertgoers learned that the field where the concert was held, a former U.S. Air Force installation (Griffiss Air Force Base), was a Superfund hazardous waste site.
Public water fountains were available, but many were destroyed and others were guarded by "mud people", who would throw mud at anyone wishing to access the available water.
Poor sanitation and security, the lack of available water, and 90-degree heat led to a dangerous concert environment. Recognizing the dangerous situation, many water and food vendors requested permission to sell their goods at cost, but the Woodstock organizers refused, as granting this permission would represent lost profits. This put the vendors rather than the concert organizers at risk in the event of violence.
Prior to the concert, the promoters of the event, determined to avoid the gate-crashing that had occurred at previous festivals, had described the site as "defensible" and proudly described the 12-foot plywood and steel fence intended to keep out those without tickets. About 500 New York State Police were hired for security. They also recruited volunteer security from New York City, many of whom walked off the job by disappearing into the crowd.
Allegedly, some of the violence and looting began during Limp Bizkit's performance of the song "Break Stuff," which many critics of the concert blamed for the violence. However, the violence truly escalated in the final hours of the concert as Red Hot Chili Peppers attempted to perform their hit "Under The Bridge". A group of peace promoters had distributed candles to those stopping at their booth during the day, intending them for a for a candlelight vigil to be held during the Red Hot Chili Peppers' performance. Instead, the crowd used them to ignite bonfires.
After Red Hot Chili Peppers was finished with their set, the audience was informed about "a bit of a problem". The delay power caught fire, and the fire department was called in to put the fire out. In response to this, the audience started to sing the lyrics to the Bloodhound Gang song: Fire Water Burn, the lyrics goes: We don´t need no water, let the motherfucker burn. Burn, motherfucker, burn. Then, the band came back on stage, and performed two more songs, which was Sir Psycho Sexy, and a cover of the song Fire, by Jimi Hendrix. Soon after they left the stage a riot broke out in which fences were torn down and burned, ATMs were tipped over and broken into, and vendor booths were looted, turned over, and set on fire. MTV, which had been providing live coverage, removed its entire crew. MTV host Kurt Loder described the scene in the July 27, 1999 USA Today:
"It was dangerous to be around. The whole scene was scary. There were just waves of hatred bouncing around the place, (...) It was clear we had to get out of there. It was like a concentration camp. To get in, you get frisked to make sure you're not bringing in any water or food that would prevent you from buying from their outrageously priced booths. You wallow around in garbage and human waste. There was a palpable mood of anger." Police later reported that at least four rapes had occurred during the concert. Seven arrests were made on the final night of the concert and, afterward, police reviewed video footage, hoping to identify and hold accountable looters who, amid the chaos, had not been arrested. Some one-dozen trailers, a small bus and a number of booths and portable toilets were burned in the fray. Five people were injured.
Public water fountains were available, but many were destroyed and others were guarded by "mud people", who would throw mud at anyone wishing to access the available water.
Poor sanitation and security, the lack of available water, and 90-degree heat led to a dangerous concert environment. Recognizing the dangerous situation, many water and food vendors requested permission to sell their goods at cost, but the Woodstock organizers refused, as granting this permission would represent lost profits. This put the vendors rather than the concert organizers at risk in the event of violence.
Prior to the concert, the promoters of the event, determined to avoid the gate-crashing that had occurred at previous festivals, had described the site as "defensible" and proudly described the 12-foot plywood and steel fence intended to keep out those without tickets. About 500 New York State Police were hired for security. They also recruited volunteer security from New York City, many of whom walked off the job by disappearing into the crowd.
Allegedly, some of the violence and looting began during Limp Bizkit's performance of the song "Break Stuff," which many critics of the concert blamed for the violence. However, the violence truly escalated in the final hours of the concert as Red Hot Chili Peppers attempted to perform their hit "Under The Bridge". A group of peace promoters had distributed candles to those stopping at their booth during the day, intending them for a for a candlelight vigil to be held during the Red Hot Chili Peppers' performance. Instead, the crowd used them to ignite bonfires.
After Red Hot Chili Peppers was finished with their set, the audience was informed about "a bit of a problem". The delay power caught fire, and the fire department was called in to put the fire out. In response to this, the audience started to sing the lyrics to the Bloodhound Gang song: Fire Water Burn, the lyrics goes: We don´t need no water, let the motherfucker burn. Burn, motherfucker, burn. Then, the band came back on stage, and performed two more songs, which was Sir Psycho Sexy, and a cover of the song Fire, by Jimi Hendrix. Soon after they left the stage a riot broke out in which fences were torn down and burned, ATMs were tipped over and broken into, and vendor booths were looted, turned over, and set on fire. MTV, which had been providing live coverage, removed its entire crew. MTV host Kurt Loder described the scene in the July 27, 1999 USA Today:
"It was dangerous to be around. The whole scene was scary. There were just waves of hatred bouncing around the place, (...) It was clear we had to get out of there. It was like a concentration camp. To get in, you get frisked to make sure you're not bringing in any water or food that would prevent you from buying from their outrageously priced booths. You wallow around in garbage and human waste. There was a palpable mood of anger." Police later reported that at least four rapes had occurred during the concert. Seven arrests were made on the final night of the concert and, afterward, police reviewed video footage, hoping to identify and hold accountable looters who, amid the chaos, had not been arrested. Some one-dozen trailers, a small bus and a number of booths and portable toilets were burned in the fray. Five people were injured.1. Intro 2. I'm Gonna Start This 3. My Niggas 4. It's a WarFuckin' Wit D 5. Stop Bein'Greedy 6. It's all Good 7. No Love For Me 8. Damien 9. Tell Me How You Feelin' 10. Keep Your Shit the Hardest 11. How's it Goin' Down 12. Get at me Dog 13. Ruff Ryders Anthem 14. Slippin'Prayer 15. Ready to Meet Him
1. No Shelter 2. People of the Sun 3. Know Your Enemy 4. Broken Man 5. Vietnow 6. Bullet in the Head 7. The Ghost of Tom Joad 8. Bombtrack 9. Wake UP 10. Bulls on Parade 11. Freedom/Township 12. Killing in the Name
1. Holy wars 2. In my darkest hour 3. Reckoning day 4. A Secret Place 5. Angry Again 6. She-Wolf 7. Solo M.Friedman 8. A Tout le monde 9. Almost honest 10. Use the Man 11. Trust 12. Sweating Bullets 13. Symphony of destruction 14. Peace sells 15. Crush 'Em
1. Plane Crash 2. The Ghost of Ralph's Mom 3. Spaz Medicine 4. Nebraska 5. Bring It Back Home 6. New Y 7. Mom 8. New York City 9. Can't Seem To Find 10. Spine Of A Dog Buster 11. I Wanna Be Sedated
1. Just Like This 2. Show Me What You Got 3. Counterfeit 4. 9 Teen 90 Nine 5. Thieves 6. Stuck 7. Rearrange 8. Break Stuff 9. Nookie 10. A Lesson Learned 11. Faith 12. Just Like This
1. Blind 2. Twist 3. Chi 4. Got The Life 5. Good God 6. A.D.I.D.A.S. 7. Porno Creep 8. Shoots and Ladders 9. Justin1 0. Beg For Me 11. Freak On A Leash 12. Be With Me Down 13. Faget 14. My Gift To You
1. Keepaway 2. Get Up, Get Out 3. Bad Religion 4. Situation 5. Untitled 6. Whatever
1. Torn Ode In America 2. Unforgiven 3. Say I 4. Illusion 5. Faceless Man 6. My Own Prison 7. One Roadhouse Blues -Robbie Krieger made a special guest appearance - 8. Riders On The Storm 9. What's This Life For
1. Where The River Flows 2. Precious Declaration 3. December 4. speech 5. Crazy Train 6. Simple 7. Heavy 8. Blame 9. Generate 10. I Will Follow 11. Gel 12. speech 13. Shine
1. Around The World 2. Give It Away 3. Scar Tissue 4. Emit 5. Remmus 6. Soul To Squeeze 7. If You Have To Ask 8. Suck My Kiss 9. Tiny Dancer 10. Right On Time 11. Californication1 2. Me and My Friends 13. My Lovely Man 14. Easily 15. Under The Bridge 16. Sir Psycho Sexy 17. Fire
1. #41 2. Two Step 3. Two Much 4. Rhyme And Reason 5. Don't Drink the water 6. Tripping Billies 7. All Along the Watchtower 8. Ants Marching
1. So What/Master of Puppets 2. For Whom the Bell Tolls 3. Fuel 4. King nothing 5. Bleeding me 6. Sad but true 7. Turn the page 8. Wherever I may roam 9. One 10. Fight fire with fire 11. Nothing else matters 12. Seek and destroy 13. Creeping death1 4. Die Die Die My Darling 15. Enter sandman 16. Battery
Videos
Metallica: One So what - Master of Puppets
Rage Against The Machine: Bulls On Parade Killing in the name of
Labels: Dave Matthews, Dave Mustaine, Godsmack, Jewel, John Frusciante, Korn, Megadeth, METAL, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Morello
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posted by zazafromjohor at 6:24 PM
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