The spirit of summer music festivals

There is no better manifestation of the summer spirit than multiple days of musical groups and hundreds of thousands of their fans, all assembling under different beliefs and opinions in order to celebrate one thing: music.

This is quite a fairy-tale observation, given the riots, violence, and drugs that are all infamously known to cater such an event. Yes, there is violence. Of course, there are drugs.But there are also fellow fans and music, and when you mix all of these together in the correct amount, you’re in for one hell of a good time.

The good times began in 1969, when four young businessmen with unlimited capital (Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld) sold nearly 400,000 tickets to a little festival we now know as Woodstock.

This first incarnation of the particularly famous festival came to life despite military conflict overseas and racial conflict at home. It has since come to symbolize the counterculture of the youth of the 1960s for these reasons.

The festival’s promoters had planned for only about 200,000 attendees. Because of this, fans were forced to endure shortages of food and water, and the lack of enough portable toilets and first aid tents. Despite these conditions, the largest crowd of people ever assembled during that time period gathered under the motto "Three Days of Peace and Music" to enjoy the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Janis Joplin.

Though a few, mostly spontaneous concerts featuring lesser acts took place in ’79 and ’89 to celebrate anniversaries of the original, the only notable attempts to rehash the vibe of original festival are Woodstock ’94 and ’99, both of which failed to do so.

Woodstock ’94 is mostly known for the mud fight that ensued between Green Day and about 200,000 fans, during which bassist Mike Dirnt was mistaken for a stage-crasher and tackled by security, knocking out several of his teeth. Despite this, the festival itself was an overall success and featured many favorable performances by artists such as Aerosmith and Bob Dylan.

Woodstock ’99 led the festival franchise down a darker path, being best remembered for reports of violence, rape, and ultimately the fires that forced the show to be closed by riot police. The conditions of the festival had foreshadowed these events from day one.

Just as with Woodstock ’69, promoters for Woodstock ’99 had failed to provide enough first aid tents and portable toilets. 100 degree heat plagued the crowds, with no shade readily available. However, it seemed to be the mass commercialism that turned the supposed mood of peace and love to one of anger and hatred.

In ’69, fences were purposefully removed because the promoters wanted to create a "free" atmosphere. In ’99, promoters installed a 12 foot plywood and steel fence in order to keep out non-paying customers. In ’69, tickets were $18 (about $75 today). In ’99, they were over $150. Fans were forced to buy single servings of pizza for $12, along with bottles of water for $4. Live coverage of the event was available only through the purchase of a pay-per-view channel.

There has yet to be another ode to Woodstock, and for good reason. Although I believe the spirit of the original Woodstock could be tapped in by many artists and fans alike, those with the financial means to promote a new Woodstock would only see it as an opportunity to score a corporate dollar. It is this kind of attitude that plagues music festivals today.

Many festivals and their corporate sponsors tend to trade in a safe, peaceful, and loving environment for one that will provide the most profit. Though there are a large amount of notable exceptions to this generalization, I think we’d be wise to leave Woodstock on the shelf, "honor" it by throwing a record on the turntable, and playing air guitar to our favorite Hendrix song.