So over the past few months there has been a ton of buzz in the festival world that Woodstock‘s 50th anniversary was coming. We heard rumors of a 50th Anniversary Woodstock Festival and even leaked lineups. Then after all of that we finally got an announcement for the Bethel Woods Music & Culture Festival taking place at the spot of the historic 1969 festival grounds. We assumed this was it, but there’s a major clarification to the story.
There is another Woodstock 50th Festival, and apparently this one is the official one. Michael Lang, Producer and co-creator of the original Woodstock in 1969 in producing an official anniversary, but not at Bethel Woods. He put out the following statement.
“While the original site in Bethel remains close to our hearts, it no longer has the capacity to hold a real Woodstock Festival. I’m delighted that Bethel Woods is doing events in the coming year to celebrate what we brought to life in 1969 and I encourage people to visit the Museum and concert venue.”
In the next few weeks Lang will be announcing plans for the “real” Woodstock 50th Festival to bring back the spirit and energy of the 1969 original. So now there will be 2 competing Woodstock 50th Anniversary Festivals and that is pretty much the most 2019 thing they could do to update the event.