Woodstock '99

Woodstock '99 (also called Woodstock 1999), held between July 22 and 25, 1999, was the second large-scale music festival (after Woodstock '94) that attempted to emulate the original Woodstock festival of 1969. Like the previous Woodstock festivals, it was held in upstate New York, this time in Rome (roughly 200 miles (320 km) from the site of the original event). Approximately 400,000 people attended the festival.

Cable network MTV covered the concert extensively and live coverage of the entire weekend was available on pay-per-view. Excerpts from the performances were later released on compact disc and DVD. Unlike the previous two incarnations of Woodstock, Woodstock '99 was portrayed by the media as being marred by violence, rape, and fires.

The concert was performed at the former Griffiss Air Force Base, a Superfund site.

Prior to the concert, the promoters of the event were determined to avoid the gate-crashing that had occurred at previous festivals. They characterized the site as "defensible," describing the 12-foot plywood and steel fence intended to keep out those without tickets. Along with the fence, about 500 New York State Police Troopers were hired for additional security. In addition to two main stages, secondary venues were available. These included several alternate stages, a night-time rave tent, and a film festival (sponsored by the Independent Film Channel) held in a former airplane hangar.

Woodstock '99 was conceived and executed as a commercial venture with dozens of corporate sponsors, and included the presence of vendor "malls" and modern accoutrements such as ATMs and e-mail stations.[ Tickets for the event were priced at $150 plus service charges, at the time considered costly for a festival of this type. There were about 400,000 attendees

The city of Rome itself, especially the downtown area and the commercial areas adjacent to the festival site, became a major draw for attendees, who patronized its bars, restaurants, and stores and stayed in its hotels and motels for the duration of the concert.

Violent actions occurred during and after the Saturday night performance by Limp Bizkit, which included fans tearing plywood from the walls during a performance of the song "Break Stuff." Several sexual assaults were also reported in the aftermath of the concert.[8][12][13][14][15] The band's vocalist, Fred Durst, stated during the concert, "People are getting hurt. Don't let anybody get hurt. But I don't think you should mellow out. That's what Alanis Morissette had you motherfuckers do. If someone falls, pick 'em up."Durst said during a performance of the band's hit song, "Nookie", "We already let all the negative energy out. It's time to reach down and bring that positive energy to this motherfucker. It's time to let yourself go right now, 'cause there are no motherfucking rules out there."

In contrast, partway though the song, Durst encouraged the crowd to become angry. Durst later stated in an interview, "I didn't see anybody getting hurt. You don't see that. When you're looking out on a sea of people and the stage is twenty feet in the air and you're performing, and you're feeling your music, how do they expect us to see something bad going on?"Primus member Les Claypool told the San Francisco Examiner, "Woodstock was just Durst being Durst. His attitude is 'no press is bad press', so he brings it on himself. He wallows in it. Still, he's a great guy."

Violence escalated the next night during the final hours of the concert as Red Hot Chili Peppers performed on the east stage, and Megadeth on the west stage. A group of peace promoters, led by the anti-gun violence organization Pax (later renamed the Center to Prevent Youth Violence), had distributed candles to those stopping at their booth during the day, intending them for a candlelight vigil to be held during the Chili Peppers' performance of the song "Under the Bridge". During the band's set, the crowd began to light the candles, some also using candles and lighters to start bonfires. Hundreds of empty plastic water bottles that littered the lawn area were used as fuel for the fire which had spread to both stages by the end of the performances.

After the Chili Peppers were finished with their main set, the audience was informed about "a bit of a problem." An audio tower had caught fire, and the fire department was called in to extinguish it.

Back onstage for an encore, the Chili Peppers' lead singer Anthony Kiedis remarked how amazing the fires looked from the stage, comparing them to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. The band proceeded to play "Sir Psycho Sexy", followed by their rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire". Kiedis later stated in his autobiography, Scar Tissue, that Hendrix's sister had asked the Chili Peppers to play "Fire" in honor of Jimi and his performance at the original Woodstock festival, and that they were not playing it to encourage the crowd.

Many large, high bonfires were burning before the band left the stage for the last time. Participants danced in circles around the fires. Looking for more fuel, some tore off panels of plywood from the supposedly inviolable security perimeter fence. ATMs were tipped over and broken into, trailers full of merchandise and equipment were forced open and burgled, and abandoned vendor booths were turned over and set afire.[20]

MTV, which had been providing live coverage, removed its entire crew. MTV host Kurt Loder described the scene in the July 27, 1999, issue of USA Today:

It was dangerous to be around. The whole scene was scary. There were just waves of hatred bouncing around the place, (...) It was clear we had to get out of there.... It was like a concentration camp. To get in, you get frisked to make sure you're not bringing in any water or food that would prevent you from buying from their outrageously priced booths. You wallow around in garbage and human waste. There was a palpable mood of anger.

After some time, a large force of New York State Troopers, local police, and various other law enforcement arrived. Most had crowd control gear and proceeded to form a riot-line that flushed the crowd to the northwest, away from the stage located at the eastern end of the airfield. Few of the crowd offered strong resistance and they dispersed quickly back toward the campground and out the main entrance.