8 ms·

Was '99 any worse than the original? I seem to remember hearing similar unsavory things so I guess why was there an expectation that '99 would be any less tenuo

Was '99 any worse than the original? I seem to remember hearing similar unsavory things so I guess why was there an expectation that '99 would be any less tenuous? Either way, these large festivals are almost a self-parody at this point and all have stories about how the venues were unprepared, the festival goers using them as justification to do all sorts of illegal things and just a general shit show.

nend 4y ago
I can't give a first hand account of either, but yes Woodstock '99 was generally considered much more violent than the original, which was expressed in various ways: vandalism/looting, setting fires, rapes. Maybe the original festival had some similar instances but the intensity and frequency of them was considered much greater in '99.
- boredtofears 4y ago
  https://www.hbo.com/movies/woodstock-99-peace-love-rage https://www.hbo.com/movies/woodstock-99-peace-love-rage This is a great documentary if you want to see video footage of just how much of a disaster it was.
  - kindatrue 4y ago
    I remember hearing about Woodstock 99 in the news during that time. That there were "problems". That documentary was pretty shocking. I hadn't realized it was that bad / chaotic.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
colechristensen 4y ago
I've been to several big festivals and they were run just fine, I didn't see anything I hadn't also seen on busy streets in SF (less actually). People without the proper experience hosting a festival for tens of thousands of people does end in failure, but plenty of festivals are actually prepared and organized for what goes on. If people taking off their clothes and doing drugs while dancing and experiencing music disturbs you, a music festival isn't for you, but it's also one of the oldest organized human activities.
- koheripbal 4y ago
  > I didn't see anything I hadn't also seen on busy streets in SF This is an almost uselessly low bar.
83457 4y ago
I've seen documentaries about Woodstocks and the difference is the market catered to. It went from a fairly chill group of acts and attendees at a venue that was not prepared to aggressive acts catering to young white males resulting in mayhem. https://youtu.be/h62RmIsx6MA https://youtu.be/h62RmIsx6MA
water-your-self 4y ago
There are good festivals happening, its just no longer that kind of music that people gather around.
slillibri 4y ago
I don't hear these types of stories about Glastonbury, or Download, or Coachella, or Rock in Japan or other large festivals that happen (nearly) every year. Am I just not finding them?
- gorgoiler 4y ago
  Glastonbury in the early 90s — before The Fence went up, and while Travellers still got free entry — was pretty iffy in terms of safety. A lot of the demonisation of travellers at the time was apocryphal in the end. It feels like a community that is well and truly over except for the kind of Native Reservation that is Croissant Neuf, a place where middle class teenagers can gawp at the dreadlocked cider drinking crusty savages. You missed Reading off your list. The first time I went to that festival, in the 2000s, was fascinating. I remember being astonished at how combustable solid human waste was when confined in a long drop toilet. Once the “water” content had been boiled off by the initial tire fire it would really start to burn. Jaw dropping.
  - GoodbyeMrChips 4y ago
    Question. By "Travellers" do you mean, 'new age travellers' (aka hippies) or the thieving scrotes who live a 'traditional way of life' badly tarmacing driveways? The former still attend Glastonbury for free (they clean up the site for 'free' entry); the latter are a menace who started to show up and whom I'm glad the fence has now kept out.
- GoodbyeMrChips 4y ago
  Why is this comment downvoted? It is perfectly legitimate. If you disagree with it, post a response, don't just lazily click downvote. This isn't Reddit. Downvoting is for replies that distract from the conversation, not for replies you don't agree with FFS.
subsubzero 4y ago
I don't know, I went to outside lands(SF) for three years straight 2011-2013 and it wasn't too bad, not being able to leave and come back in during the day was horrible(they wanted you to eat over priced food inside the festival) but everything else was pretty great(water stations, bathrooms pretty clean for a festival). I also don't hear alot of bad stuff around Cochella and it has truly massive crowds. I think woodstock 99 really was poorly run which is why we haven't seen another one since.
- fnbr 4y ago
  I went to Outside Lands in 2018 and it was well run except for the crowds- lots of crushing, to the point where it was borderline dangerous to be near the front.
  - subsubzero 4y ago
    Yeah I stopped going as the crowd size kept getting bigger and bigger and it was no longer enjoyable it being as crowded as it was.
chasd00 4y ago
i've been to ACL ( Austin City Limits ) probably a dozen times by now. I would say it's pretty well run or at last as well run as a huge festival can be. There's always going to be people smoking weed or passed out in the bushes at large music festivals. I think the difference in a well run festival is well run utilities ( bathrooms and trash management ) and relief from bad weather like cooling tents, water bottle refill stations and things like that. on the other hand, sometimes things just get out of control. A decade or two ago I was at lollapoloza (not very big) in Dallas at a large amphitheater and for some reason everyone started lightning these huge bonfires all over the place and it just went downhill from there. It just got totally out of control.
lostgame 4y ago
I mean…absolutely. The original Woodstock was as seedy as any other music festival. I used to perform at festivals as a semi-touring musician, but the culture, even at its best, is questionable. I quit when I found serious evidence of human trafficking going on at some fairly mainstream festivals. But I mean, come on. People weren’t setting fire to shit. There wasn’t this massively widespread destruction of property, riots or violence in the original Woodstock. It was just sketch. There’s a huge difference.
GoodbyeMrChips 4y ago
> Was '99 any worse than the original? This statement implies that the two were in some way connected.
- marcAKAmarc 4y ago
  By name
  - drcongo 4y ago
    Same organiser.

nend 4y ago

I can't give a first hand account of either, but yes Woodstock '99 was generally considered much more violent than the original, which was expressed in various ways: vandalism/looting, setting fires, rapes. Maybe the original festival had some similar instances but the intensity and frequency of them was considered much greater in '99.

boredtofears 4y ago
https://www.hbo.com/movies/woodstock-99-peace-love-rage https://www.hbo.com/movies/woodstock-99-peace-love-rage This is a great documentary if you want to see video footage of just how much of a disaster it was.
- kindatrue 4y ago
  I remember hearing about Woodstock 99 in the news during that time. That there were "problems". That documentary was pretty shocking. I hadn't realized it was that bad / chaotic.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

colechristensen 4y ago

I've been to several big festivals and they were run just fine, I didn't see anything I hadn't also seen on busy streets in SF (less actually). People without the proper experience hosting a festival for tens of thousands of people does end in failure, but plenty of festivals are actually prepared and organized for what goes on. If people taking off their clothes and doing drugs while dancing and experiencing music disturbs you, a music festival isn't for you, but it's also one of the oldest organized human activities.

koheripbal 4y ago
> I didn't see anything I hadn't also seen on busy streets in SF This is an almost uselessly low bar.

83457 4y ago

I've seen documentaries about Woodstocks and the difference is the market catered to. It went from a fairly chill group of acts and attendees at a venue that was not prepared to aggressive acts catering to young white males resulting in mayhem. https://youtu.be/h62RmIsx6MA https://youtu.be/h62RmIsx6MA

water-your-self 4y ago

There are good festivals happening, its just no longer that kind of music that people gather around.

slillibri 4y ago

I don't hear these types of stories about Glastonbury, or Download, or Coachella, or Rock in Japan or other large festivals that happen (nearly) every year. Am I just not finding them?

gorgoiler 4y ago
Glastonbury in the early 90s — before The Fence went up, and while Travellers still got free entry — was pretty iffy in terms of safety. A lot of the demonisation of travellers at the time was apocryphal in the end. It feels like a community that is well and truly over except for the kind of Native Reservation that is Croissant Neuf, a place where middle class teenagers can gawp at the dreadlocked cider drinking crusty savages. You missed Reading off your list. The first time I went to that festival, in the 2000s, was fascinating. I remember being astonished at how combustable solid human waste was when confined in a long drop toilet. Once the “water” content had been boiled off by the initial tire fire it would really start to burn. Jaw dropping.
- GoodbyeMrChips 4y ago
  Question. By "Travellers" do you mean, 'new age travellers' (aka hippies) or the thieving scrotes who live a 'traditional way of life' badly tarmacing driveways? The former still attend Glastonbury for free (they clean up the site for 'free' entry); the latter are a menace who started to show up and whom I'm glad the fence has now kept out.
GoodbyeMrChips 4y ago
Why is this comment downvoted? It is perfectly legitimate. If you disagree with it, post a response, don't just lazily click downvote. This isn't Reddit. Downvoting is for replies that distract from the conversation, not for replies you don't agree with FFS.

subsubzero 4y ago

I don't know, I went to outside lands(SF) for three years straight 2011-2013 and it wasn't too bad, not being able to leave and come back in during the day was horrible(they wanted you to eat over priced food inside the festival) but everything else was pretty great(water stations, bathrooms pretty clean for a festival). I also don't hear alot of bad stuff around Cochella and it has truly massive crowds. I think woodstock 99 really was poorly run which is why we haven't seen another one since.

fnbr 4y ago
I went to Outside Lands in 2018 and it was well run except for the crowds- lots of crushing, to the point where it was borderline dangerous to be near the front.
- subsubzero 4y ago
  Yeah I stopped going as the crowd size kept getting bigger and bigger and it was no longer enjoyable it being as crowded as it was.

chasd00 4y ago

i've been to ACL ( Austin City Limits ) probably a dozen times by now. I would say it's pretty well run or at last as well run as a huge festival can be. There's always going to be people smoking weed or passed out in the bushes at large music festivals. I think the difference in a well run festival is well run utilities ( bathrooms and trash management ) and relief from bad weather like cooling tents, water bottle refill stations and things like that. on the other hand, sometimes things just get out of control. A decade or two ago I was at lollapoloza (not very big) in Dallas at a large amphitheater and for some reason everyone started lightning these huge bonfires all over the place and it just went downhill from there. It just got totally out of control.

lostgame 4y ago

I mean…absolutely. The original Woodstock was as seedy as any other music festival. I used to perform at festivals as a semi-touring musician, but the culture, even at its best, is questionable. I quit when I found serious evidence of human trafficking going on at some fairly mainstream festivals. But I mean, come on. People weren’t setting fire to shit. There wasn’t this massively widespread destruction of property, riots or violence in the original Woodstock. It was just sketch. There’s a huge difference.

GoodbyeMrChips 4y ago

> Was '99 any worse than the original? This statement implies that the two were in some way connected.

marcAKAmarc 4y ago
By name
- drcongo 4y ago
  Same organiser.