Woodstock 1969 Research Paper

Woodstock 1969 was one of the largest concerts of all time and a cultural benchmark for the late 1960s, while Woodstock 1999 was a disaster and marked the cultural end of the 1990s. They are both very well known concerts, but the memories of each are very different. Even though Woodstock 1969 positively affected the music world, Woodstock 1999 was a huge failure and greatly affected Woodstock’s reputation.

Woodstock began on August 15,1969 and it lasted until August 18, 1969 (History). It took place on a 600-acre dairy farm owned by Max Yasgur (History). The farm was located in Bethel, New York (History). To promote the festival, the suggestion of a poster went into consideration. The first poster that was created did not satisfy store

To start things off, Woodstock producers were surprised to hear that the Jeff Beck Group would not be making their appearance to the festival due to their split up on the eve of Woodstock (Dailymail.co.uk). Bob Dylan, an original inspiration for the festival, also never made it. In his condition, his child had been hospitalized over the weekend due to a medical condition (Dailymail.co.uk). Another band that was not able to attend the festival was Iron Butterfly (Dailymail.co.uk). They had gotten stuck at the airport because their helicopter did not arrive (Dailymail.co.uk). "Organizers were worried their hippy heavy-metal music would incite violence" (Dailymail.co.uk). Throughout the festival, 80 arrests were made that involved LSD, amphetamines, and heroin (Foxnews). There was even a death that involved one of the three drugs. A teenager was killed by an overdose of heroin (History). Another teenager was also killed at the festival but it did not involve drugs. The teen was in a sleeping bag and was accidentally ran over by a tractor and killed (History). Along with deaths, eight women at the festival suffered miscarriages (Dailymail.co.uk). In contrast, many babies were also born during Woodstock (Dailymail.co.uk). The last complication of Woodstock was the thunderstorm that formed during the festival. The crowd chanted "no rain, no rain, no rain"

Anti-gun groups were handing out candles to festival goers. The crowd took the candles and started bonfires. This led to even greater problems with vendor’s booths, nearby trailers, and an audio tower going ablaze (huffingtonpost). Seven arrests were made due to disorderly conduct, petty larceny, and reckless endangerment of property (washingtonpost). There were four rapes during Woodstock. People were pushed into the mosh pit, and they “deliberately bumped into each other” (huffingtonpost). There was also a gang rape that occurred during Limp Bizkit's performance (huffingtonpost). “Woodstock ‘99 was one of the biggest debacles in concert history, with 60 concert goers hospitalized due to violence within their ranks, widespread fires, vandalism and looting costing millions of dollars” (sfgate). This disastrous Woodstock was far different than the first