Woodstock 50 Is Officially Canceled, to the Relief of Everyone

Seriously. It's over. They mean it.

Woodstock
Fans sitting on top of a painted bus at the Woodstock Music Festival, Bethel, New York, 15th-17th August 1969. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Woodstock 50 is cancelled, again but this time officially, according to a report in Variety.

After a cancellation by the original financial backer, a denial of said cancellation by Woodstock 50 co-founder Michael Lang, accusations of financial improprieties, a relocation from upstate New York to Maryland, a dismissal of all the original performers and a desperate attempt at rebranding the show as a free event that would raise funds for NGOs, the beleaguered 50th anniversary celebration of Woodstock was called off.

Said Lang in a statement: “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 … due to conflicting radius issues in the DC area many acts were unable to participate and others passed for their own reasons.” He added that was encouraging artists and agents who had already been paid to donate 10% of their fees to the voter registration non-profit HeadCount or “causes of their choice in the spirit of peace.”

To celebrate the new festival’s long-delayed passing, a little Hendrix from the original Woodstock.

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