Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 doc

I've never seen anyone speak reverently of Fred Durst before. Ever.

 

Three of my sibs went to '94, and they reported it was quite a clusterfuck, but they expected that from the get-go and came prepared.

 

Goddamn. I know he was hot that summer but Jesus was he THAT big? Was he start a riot big?

 

“Things like that that go uncontrolled can lead to more chaos.”

That’s the tagline for this documentary

 

Posted about this in the TV thread a couple days ago. I thought “Trainwreck: Woodstock 99” hit all the high (actually, low) points in looking back at the debacle. Greed, violence, Fred Durst, sexual assault … it’s all here.

Watching in 2022, the rampant “bro” culture on display makes you understand where all the MAGA people came from. Twenty one years later, I guarantee some of these same people attacked the Capitol.

 

The woman talking about what happened to her after drinking unsanitary water, the guy talking about the analysis of the water onsite was something you'd expect to see out of a BBC doc on some impoverished part of the world not a fucking music festival in New York state.

Others have mentioned it upthread but I checked the full lineup on Wiki and it wasn't all hard rock, there were loads of acts in others genres (I forgot Canuckistani heroes the Tragically Hip were there) like Elvis Costello, Counting Crows, Dave Matthews and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. But I guess pissed off, tired, sunburned, fucked up kids didn't need much of an excuse by the end of the whole thing.

The surprise guest thing reminded me of the Amnesty International show I saw at Giants Stadium in 1986 (also shown live on MTV), everybody figured Springsteen would either close the show or show up and play with some of the other artists. But there was no sign of him at all.

And I was 29 in 1994 but have no memory of that Woodstock.

 

Two documentaries within a year’s time on the cash grab (among other things being grabbed) that was Woodstock ‘99. Good luck finding something on Hands Across America though.

 

It's like how there were two on the Frye Festival, and those both came out pretty much simultaneously if I recall.

 

See, now, I had no idea those acts followed.

I saw Hammett briefly in a clip and the crowd was chanting a RATM lyric, but I had no idea they were on the bill. They did put it all on Durst.

The LB guitarist had a reno show on DIY Network? a while back. Didn't mind it, was set in Detroit.

 

Shitty music played to shitty people in shitty conditions.

The Venn diagram of Limp Bizkit fans and Kid Rock fans is a single circle. Durst (the original prick with a red hat) was a shit-stirrer who appealed to - and wound up - faux-tough, date-raping bros that looked for any opportunity to feed their ids without consequence.

Just like boomers playing "Born in the USA" on the 4th of July or "Glory Days" after the local high school team wins, that same group, deliberately or not, routinely misunderstood and misappropriated RATM's lyrics and intent for general mayhem.

Metallica is Metallica. They were neck-deep in their Hot Topic phase at the time (although the setlist was pretty damn good) and shouldn't have been anyone's idea of mayhem and rebellion. Wacken and Hellfest go off every year without nonsense like that, largely due to much better organization and a crowd that can handle their metal high.

 

After watching the Netflix doc this weekend, we followed up with the HBO doc. Just cringe worthy, with all the video of girls knocking hands off their boobs and at least one of the organizers saying basically, "if they didn't want to be assaulted, they shouldn't have had their shirts off."

It made me reflect on our national attitude when a hurricane hits a city and the news shows a bunch of black people behaving badly with a bunch of white Americans going, "see! They behave like that!"

Very clearly: Given a situation where participants perceive there is no security and no legal risk, people will behave very, very badly, regardless of color or socio economic status.

 

Finished this last night. Man, Michael Lang did not come off well. Just basically did not want to accept any responsibility for the mayhem that ensued. And handing out candles? JFC, what a daft hippy.

The Chili Peppers coming out and playing "Fire" by Hendrix AFTER the fires had already started is basically all of a piece with this trainwreck.

I was 26 when this took place and living in CT. I don't remember any of my friends and I discussing it as something we'd want to attend, probably because the head line acts were mainly cock rock -- which I can enjoy at the occasional AC/DC concert, but which I'd rather avoid for a three-day festival.

I'm going to the Sound on Sound festival at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT, at the end of September, a two-day affair that's ostensibly a successor to the Gathering of the Vibes, which used to take place at the same location and had many of the same type of chill, laidback acts. There's no camping, which is no problem I live in the next town over, so we can all bolt when we want, come back when we want.

I doubt they'll ever make a documentary about it lol.

Sound on Sound Music Festival | September 24-25, 2022 | Bridgeport, CT