Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94, often called the "commercial Woodstock" or "Mudstock", was a music festival organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival of 1969. It was promoted as "2 More Days of Peace and Music." The famous poster used to promote the first concert was revised to feature two birds perched on a guitar (instead of one).
The concert was scheduled for August 13 and 14 of 1994, but a third day (August 12) was added.
The event took place on a large field in Saugerties, New York, about 100 miles (160 km) north of New York City. The site is only 10 miles (16 km) from Woodstock, New York and it was originally proposed as the location for the 1969 concert. Permission to use the property was not granted the first time around, so the first concert was instead held in Sullivan County, much farther from the namesake town of Woodstock.
The crowd at Woodstock '94 was estimated at 350,000.[1] A smaller crowd, estimated at 130,000, attended a competing 'unofficial' but free concert at the site of the original Woodstock Festival in Bethel, NY. In 1994 the weather was similar to that in 1969: rainy. By Saturday much of the entire field had turned into mud. The Bethel festival was produced by Richie Havens, Ken Lauber, Bernard Fox and Gene Perla and all the contributing artists.
The festival was followed by Woodstock 1999.
Performer List
Friday, August 12
North Stage
South Stage
Ravestock
Saturday, August 13
North Stage
South Stage
Sunday, August 14
North Stage
South Stage
Notes on performers
- Performers from the original Woodstock appearing at Woodstock '94 were The Band, Santana, Joe Cocker, Country Joe McDonald, John Sebastian, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash. Additionally, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane, and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, all Woodstock alumni, also appeared at the latter festival, performing with the Band on guitar; bass; and guitar and vocals, respectively.
- Green Day Bassist Mike Dirnt had some of his teeth knocked-out by a steward at the event who tackled him to the ground believing he was a crowd member, rather than a performer near the end of their set.
- Green Day's frontman Billie Joe Armstrong started shoving mud into his mouth whilst launching mud back at the crowd during their performance of 'Paper Lanterns'.
- Nine Inch Nails were considered to have the largest crowd density at the event, overshadowing many of the more mainstream bands of the time. Just before going on stage they had wrestled each other in the mud and they went on to perform completely wet and covered in mud as can be seen in the video.
- Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss were offered 1 million dollars to reunite with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley to headline the show, but they declined.
- The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed in lightbulb costumes for the first few songs of their set. Later in the set they would all dress up as Jimi Hendrix had at the original Woodstock. The lightbulb costumes are now on display at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Several of the artists, including Green Day and Cypress Hill, skipped at least one Lollapalooza tour date in order to appear at Woodstock '94.
- Peter Gabriel headlined the North Stage on the last night and closed Woodstock '94.[4]
- Pepsi was the presenting sponsor, distributing millions of free Woodstock '94 guides nationwide.
- Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon played Woodstock in his girlfriend's dress, while tripping on LSD.
- In the interview after their performance, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor claimed he thought his band's performance was "terrible".[5] Reznor admitted that while he disliked playing at such a large show, it was done for the money: "To be quite frank, it's basically to offset the cost of the tour we're doing right now."[6]
- Aphex Twin's performance was cut short when promoters "disconnected" him mid-show for signing a fake name on a contract, which would forfeit PolyGram's rights to his performance.[7]
- Aerosmith's Joey Kramer, Joe Perry and Steven Tyler were at the original Woodstock festival in 1969.
- After being injured in a traffic accident in 1966, and his subsequent disappearance from the popular music scene, Bob Dylan declined to go to the original Woodstock Festival of 1969, even though he lived in the area at the time and the festival had been put in his backyard to try and get him to come out and play. He set off for the Isle of Wight Festival the day the Woodstock festival started, and performed at Woodside Bay on 31 August 69. Dylan, however, did accept an invitation to perform at Woodstock '94, and was introduced with the phrase: "We waited twenty-five years to hear this. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bob Dylan".[8] According to various critics, Dylan's performance was one of the greater moments of the festival, and represented the beginning of another one of the new phases in his lengthy career.
- During Primus' performance of the song "My Name Is Mud" the audience responded by pelting the band with mud, which singer /bassist Les Claypool ended by informing the crowd that "You know, when you throw things on stage, it's a sign of small and insignificant genitalia." Claypool claims that he still has mud in his bass cabinets to this day.
- Rumors circulated during the festival that The Rolling Stones were to make a surprise appearance because they were scheduled to play a concert in New York that weekend.
- Woodstock '94 has also been referred to as Mudstock, or Mudstock '94, partly due to Green Day's performance, during which guitarist and lead vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong started a mudfight with the crowd. The situation quickly spiraled out of control, with many fans jumping onstage. This resulted in the security team mistaking bassist Mike Dirnt for a fan and tackling him, resulting in Dirnt requiring emergency orthodontia.
- Johnny Cash, the only living person at that time to be inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was also invited to perform but, after learning that he would not be performing on the main stage, declined to appear.
- Alice in Chains were on the initial bill of the festival. However, the band pulled out due to the continuing drug problems of lead singer Layne Staley. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell made a special guest appearance with Primus on the song "Harold Of The Rocks".
- Todd Rundgren had a multimedia performance in the festival's "Surreal Field" several times during the course of the entire festival.[9]
Recordings
References
See also
External links