Woodstock 2019: Iconic festival will return this summer for 50th anniversary
Woodstock 50 is scheduled to take place in August in the State of New York
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Your support makes all the difference.The spirit of Woodstock is alive again – or at least it will be in August, when an official music festival will mark the 50th anniversary of the “three days of peace and music” that marked the summer of 1969.
One of the organisers of the original Woodstock Music and Art Fair has confirmed that an anniversary event is set to take place.
Woodstock 50, as it is dubbed, will occur on 16, 17 and 18 August 2019 in Watkins Glen, New York. The 1969 festival unfolded on the same dates at a farm in Bethel, New York, where an unofficial commemorative event has also been planned.
“The bird of peace is back,” reads an official Instagram announcement of Woodstock 50, next to an animated, modernised version of the iconic festival logo of a bird standing on a guitar neck.
Headliners for the event have yet to be announced.
Michael Lang, one of the co-creators of the original Woodstock festival, told The New York Times he wants social activism to play an important part in the anniversary event, and that he hopes performers will include pop stars, rappers, and legacy bands.
“Coachella’s got its thing, as does Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza,” Lang said.
“But I think they’re all missing an opportunity to make a difference in the world. They’re all perfect places for social engagement and for fostering ideas, and I think that’s lost.”
About 400,000 attended the original Woodstock event in 1969. Organisers of the anniversary festival are currently thinking of selling about 100,000 three-day passes.
Lang declined to discuss budget matters with The New York Times. He did point out that in 1969, organisers only paid a total of $135,000 for all performers, adding: "Times have changed."
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