In an exclusive interview, Woodstock 50 organizer Michael Lang tells us about canceling the festival, where it all went wrong and how he hopes to stage another concert this fall
50 was cancelled, festival founder and co-organizer Michael Lang sounds surprisingly at peace. “I’m disappointed,” he says. “But I’ve been sort of prepared.”were probably also not surprised. The planned three-day event was announced in January featuring headliners like Jay-Z, the Black Keys, Imagine Dragons, Halsey, Miley Cyrus, and dozens more but was plagued with problems and controversy from the start.
It just pretty much went off the rails from the beginning. They weren’t cognizant of the timeframe for how these things have to get done and how much work has to get done. So they waited for months before signing [production company] Superfly [who was hired to help produce the festival], which was tasked with getting the permits. Then when they pulled the plug, everything sort of stopped. The government agencies stopped. Everything stopped for six weeks.
Walk us through your initial meeting with Dentsu and what was the first indication that the relationship was starting to turn? After Dentsu separated its ties from Woodstock 50, Watkins Glen was associated with the festival for many months. What was the status then? Jay-Z was one of the earliest artists to back out of Woodstock 50. Photo credit: Scott Roth/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
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