The music festival Woodstock ’99 opens on July 23, 1999. The festival—timed to the 30th anniversary of the original Woodstock—attempts to bring the spirit of peace, music, and love to a new generation; instead it devolves into three days of scorching heat, raw sewage, misogyny and greed in upstate New York.
Woodstock ’99 was organized by John Scher and Michael Lang, one of the co-founders of the original Woodstock. Unlike the 1969 festival, organizers hoped to make money on this anniversary celebration. The venue was Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York, which a Rolling Stone reporter described as “the least rock and roll venue imaginable,” full of concrete and airplane hangars and barbed wire. Poor planning and the desire to turn a profit led to a miserable experience on the scorching tarmac, where temperatures soared over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Portable toilets overflowed with raw sewage, contaminating the available running water. Water bottles cost $4 apiece.
