Troubled festival may see other acts drop out
John Fogerty is the first artist to officially drop out of the troubled Woodstock 50. The troubled festival just secured a new venue at Columbia, Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, 250 miles from the originally announced Watkins Glen in Upstate New York, but Fogerty is having his own 50th anniversary celebration.
“John Fogerty knows where he will be for the anniversary weekend of Woodstock,” Fogerty’s camp tells Variety. “At only one site… at the original one – the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. As he says in his song ‘Who’ll Stop the Rain,’ written upon returning from Woodstock – ‘NO MORE CONFUSION ON THE GROUND.’”
Fogerty, along with Santana and Dead & Company, were three acts originally set for Woodstock 50 who also performed at the original in 1969. However, language in the artists’ contracts don’t require any artist to perform since the event’s venue was changed, but they still get paid either way.
Shortly after his Woodstock 50 appearance was announced, Fogerty’s camp released details about his own 50th anniversary celebration that would see him performing at the original Woodstock site in Bethel, NY, on the same day of the week, he played 50 years earlier on Sunday, August 18, 1969. Fogerty will join the center’s Season of Song and Celebration with a show mirrored after Creedence Clearwater Revival’s historic set at Woodstock exactly 50 years later. Fogerty’s much anticipated performance was to close out Woodstock’s anniversary weekend.
“When John took the call from the organizers in 1969 and was asked to play a festival called ‘Woodstock,’ John accepted,” his reps state. “So now, 50 years later, John is going back to the original site where his name appears on a plaque commemorating that weekend. John will celebrate his own 50th Anniversary as well as Woodstock’s, together at Bethel on August 18. Back at the original site that he stepped foot on 50 years ago, nearly to the day!”
More than 80 artists were announced in March — later than expected for an event of this magnitude — including The Killers, Miley Cyrus, The Lumineers, The Raconteurs, Sturgill Simpson, Greta Van Fleet, Jay-Z, Imagine Dragons, Halsey were announced to perform. The Black Keys were initially announced as performers, but pulled out before all of the canceled chaos began. As of press time, none of the other acts have publicly pulled out of the event.
The Woodstock 50th anniversary celebration has been troubled since its announcement in January. Tickets did not go on sale as originally planned in March after organizers failed to obtain the proper permits for three day fest, causing original investor Dentsu Aegis Network to “cancel” the event.
In June, the Woodstock 50 team secured Oppenheimer & Co. as financial investor to complete the financing for the festival following a legal victory, after it was ruled that original investor Dentsu had no right to cancel the three day anniversary festival. However, organizers lost the initial Watkins Glen venue shortly thereafter, causing even more concern.
