Original Woodstock organizer Michael Lang has confirmed that the legendary festival will return this summer in celebration of its 50th anniversary, Rolling Stone reports. The three day festival will be held in Watkins Glen, New York on August 16-18. Lang is keeping the lineup mum until tickets go on sale in February, but he promises concert goers can expect a lineup where “hip-hop and rock and some pop and some of the legacy bands from the original festival” will be represented. So far, he says 40 acts have been booked across three stages.
Although the original Woodstock co-creator didn’t reveal any specifics, but he did promise that some of the younger artists will stage “celebrations of artists from the original Woodstock.” Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, The Who, The Band, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Jimi Hendrix are among the artists who performed legendary sets at the festival in 1969.
“Having contemporary artists interpret that music would be a really interesting and exciting idea,” Lang told Rolling Stone. “We’re also looking for unique collaborations, maybe some reunions and a lot of new and up-and-coming talent.”
Lang also assured fans that this won’t be a rehash of the Woodstock ’99 fiasco which ended in fires, riots, and E. coli infections.
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“Woodstock ’99 was just a musical experience with no social significance,” Lang said. “It was just a big party. With this one, we’re going back to our roots and our original intent. And this time around, we’ll have control of everything.”
Although the festival won’t be held at the original site in Bethel, New York, the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts announced that they will be holding their own anniversary celebration this August. The event promises “three days of memorable experiences will include live performances from prominent and emerging artists spanning multiple genres and decades, and TED-style talks from leading futurists and retro-tech experts.”
