It's not our fault, that's all I can say, it was amazing, man, Welcome to watch mojo and today we're discussing the untold story of Woodstock 99.

We are going to get out of here.

I think we're going to go time to go for this video.

We're looking at the festival's history legacy and the events that occurred in 1999 Between August 15 and 18 of 1969, Bethel New York hosted what is arguably the most iconic music festival in American history.

Woodstock was a monumental success that mirrored the changing American culture of the time.

There's been no trouble.

300,000 people, many notable bands and artists performed at the event including grateful dead creedence, Clearwater Revival, the who and Jimi Hendrix.

Just to name a few, many future Woodstock festivals followed, but none quite managed to replicate what made the original So special organizers tried to recapture the cultural magic in 1999.

For the fittingly titled Woodstock 99 it was to be held in new york's city of Rome, which is nearly 150 miles to the north of the original Woodstock site in Bethel.

I can't imagine a better line up for the music that I love right now and they're all in one place and it's called Woodstock.

And I get to go.

However, there were some major differences between this Woodstock and the original.

Aside from distance between them.

I mean, you had two main stages that we're a mile from each other.

There on a black tarmac in the middle of nowhere.

I mean think about the irony of Woodstock on a military base, ticket prices and capacity issues, cost problems, passes for the multi-day festival bought in advance were $150.

The equivalent of around $250 today plus service charges.

This was considered steep for the time, even for a once in a lifetime experience like this and those purchased at the gate were even more expensive.

Of course, like the original Woodstock, many people may have snuck in either through creative physical means or by making fake passes and tricking inexperienced security guards.

Kind of anyone that was semi lucid and could write their name, was eligible to be a security guard.

It's estimated that upwards of 400,000 people attended the festival yet just under 187,000 tickets were Reported as sold.

This enormous discrepancy has been studied extensively and it's suspected that the festival planners under reported the amount of tickets sold so they could pocket the profits.

In fact, to this day, many people argue that it was this kind of runaway greed that influenced the entire tone of Woodstock 99 and resulted in its infamous conclusion peace and love equals capitalistic venture.

You see concertgoers weren't just opening their wallets for the tickets.

Any food was taken from us, any drinks, actually, any drinks were taken from us.

Food and water were supposedly confiscated going into the venue.

And the price of these necessities inside was exorbitant.

A single bottle of water reportedly cost $4 or a little over $7 in 2022 when the beer Is the same price of water as a kid.

If if I had a choice, I would choose the beer too.

And then on top of that, the alcohol is actually dehydrating you further.

Many left the festival and traveled into the town of Rome to get supplies, but soon the local stores were flooded with festival attendees.

As a result, they quickly ran out of stock.

The water problem was exacerbated by the extreme heat.

If you don't like heat, don't come to Woodstock 99 it is temperatures soared as high as 100 degrees.

What's more instead of a lush farm like Woodstock 69.

The 1999 festival was held on an old Air Force base, which meant lots of hot concrete and little shade.

Hundreds of people were treated for dehydration and heat exhaustion were hot or sweaty.

Were tired, we didn't sleep, but we're not starting on the best footing to start our three day of adventure, you know, free water was provided via fountains, but these had enormously long lines with wait times ballooning to half an hour.

In some cases.

Eventually the festivalgoers turned to breaking the pipes to get water.

Additionally, there weren't enough toilets for the massive inflated crowd and they weren't properly maintained.

So they began to overflow.

The water spraying from the broken pipes mixed with bodily waste and created a sludge that people had to step through to use facilities.

Some people even took mud baths to have some fun and cool off not knowing that they were slathering themselves in human waste.

It was also reported that the drinking water was tainted by excrement and we haven't even discussed the music.

The original Woodstock is an indisputable symbol of the peace and love, counterculture movement and the bands of the time certainly reflected that general attitude.

We're all sort of looking at each other saying, Holy what, what is about to happen here?

However, rock music and teens in general were in a very different space.

By this point in 1999 Columbine had just happened a few months before the issue of gun violence was really starting to come to focus.

As a result, Woodstock 99 was packed with performers like korn limp biscuit, the offspring and rage against the machine due to all these factors, an undercurrent of aggression pervaded the festival almost from day one and it increased with each passing day as concertgoers continued to live through these less than ideal conditions.

Violence ultimately broke out during limp biscuit's performance on the evening of saturday, july 24th after some provocation by the band's lead singer fred Durst, The crowd went wild and let out their frustrations by moshing, assaulting women and ripping apart the sound towers like seeing where zombies are coming over the castle walls.

People were rocking back and forth and there was plywood and they're trying to rip it off.

The bad behavior continued into the wee hours of the night as the post show rave also incl violence and assaults on sunday night.

The aggression continued into the red hot chili pepper set.

The crowd was excited by the rumors that a mysterious unnamed artist might be performing.

To end the show, attendees used candles intended for a reflective vigil to start bonfires around the venue to give flames to an audience that is three days into being treated like animals.

It was not a very smart decision.

After the chili peppers played their encore song fire by Jimi Hendrix, things really started to get out of hand And when it became clear, there was no mystery closer the wheels came off entirely.

Security fences were destroyed and their wood was added to the fires ATMs were looted and over $20,000 in cash was stolen, vendor and merchandise.

Booths were rated and set ablaze, an entire speaker tower was ripped from the ground and toppled over.

It took hundreds of police troopers in riot gear to control the crowd and put an end to the Pandemonium.

At this point, it was, it was an emergency expected deaths when the smoke literally cleared on Woodstock 99 what was left was an infamous reputation aside from the damage to the site.

Police investigated instances Of sexual assault that occurred at the show.

Three people died, including two from the heat.

The third was hit by a car outside the venue, dozens were arrested for negligent and violent behavior.

And over 5000 medical cases were reported by the New York State Department of Health.

Accounting for well over 1000 cases per day.

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While the causes for this disaster are multifaceted, It seems everyone blames someone else.

They took zero responsibility.

Their take was this was just a few bad apples.

Some pointed the finger at the band's particularly limp biscuit and the red hot chili peppers for supposedly encouraging bad behavior and not doing enough to dissuade the crowd from acting out.

Some blamed the concertgoers themselves with organizer, john share calling them, quote the lunatic fringe that had quote lots and lots of angst there.

The lunatic fringe, that segment of the population was both entitled and uh, fearful of growing up.

Many, however, cite the greed of those who sought profits above all else as the culprit whatever the case, the disastrous festival tarnished the reputations of not only the Woodstock brand, but also an entire generation's music and attitudes to this day.

Woodstock 99 is seen as a symbol of nineties angst taken to its extreme.

Woodstock is done.

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