{"id":2444221,"date":"2019-05-15T12:44:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T18:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=835699"},"modified":"2019-05-15T12:44:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T18:44:26","slug":"war-over-woodstock-organizers-former-investor-spar-in-court-over-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/war-over-woodstock-organizers-former-investor-spar-in-court-over-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"War Over Woodstock: Organizers, Former Investor Spar in Court Over Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All-star concerts commemorating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock<\/a> are scheduled to start three months from tomorrow. But the fate of the biggest planned festival may be decided this week following two days of court hearings in New York State.<\/p>\n

Last week, Woodstock LLC, the organizers of the festival, filed a petition for an injunction against Dentsu Aegis<\/a>, the Japanese advertising and marketing company that was set to finance the festival. On April 29th, Dentsu issued a press release effectively canceling the festival, writing that \u201cdespite our tremendous investment of time, effort and commitment, we don\u2019t believe the production of the festival can be executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock Brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees. As a result and after careful consideration, Dentsu Aegis Network\u2019s Amplifi Live, a partner of Woodstock 50, has decided to cancel the festival.\u201d The company subsequently took back $18 million in funding placed in a festival account.<\/p>\n

In its suit, Woodstock LLC accused Dentsu of attempting to kill the festival and demanded the return of funds. In court papers of its own, Dentsu cited \u201cWoodstock 50 LLC\u2019s (\u2018W50\u2019) and [co-organizer] Michael Lang\u2019s misrepresentations, incompetence, and contractual breaches,\u201d which \u201chave made it impossible to produce a high-quality event that is safe and secure for concertgoers, artists, and staff. The production company has quit<\/a>, no permits have been issued, necessary roadwork has not begun, and there is no prospect for sufficient financing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival, tentatively set to be held August 16th through 18th at the Watkins Glen International Speedway, features a lineup including Jay-Z, Imagine Dragons, Miley Cyrus, Chance the Rapper, Halsey, and many others. But to date, tickets have not yet been put on sale and permits haven\u2019t been secured that was intended to accommodate three days of camping at the venue.<\/p>\n

Both sides argued in court Monday and Tuesday that the other party had done them wrong \u2014 and, most urgently, made cases for who had the right to cancel the festival. The Woodstock LLC team, headed by high-powered attorney Marc Kasowitz, built its argument around a simple premise: that according to the contract, Woodstock 50 could only be nixed if both sides jointly agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s plain as day \u2026 they had no right to cancel and take money out of the account,\u201d Kasowitz argued. (To make his point, his presentation included blow-ups of the contract mounted on easels.) Woodstock LLC\u2019s lone witness, Woodstock 50 partner and hotel developer Gregory Peck, admitted that the festival needed the funds \u201cin a matter of days\u201d and that it \u201ccannot proceed\u201d without them. (Lang himself did not appear in court.)<\/p>\n

The Dentsu team painted a picture of a festival with escalating costs (the budget soared from $25 million to $49 million) and safety concerns that forced the company to exercise a \u201ccontrol option\u201d\u2019 to cancel the event. (In what amounts to a nuclear option, Dentsu could take control of, and possibly shut down, Woodstock 50 if the organizers engaged in a \u201cserial breach\u201d of the contract.) DJ Martin of Dentsu\u2019s Amplifi Live division, confirmed the company saw Woodstock 50 as a global opportunity \u2014 which could include putting on Woodstock festivals around the world \u2014 and that \u201cif it failed, it could remove us from that business.\u201d Martin said they took the $18 million back to ensure the money wasn\u2019t used by Woodstock organizers to pay \u201cother vendors.\u201d During the hearings, the number of potential festival attendees was also an issue; Lang\u2019s original estimate of 150,000 was later downgraded (by now-departed production company Superfly) to 65,000, and Dentsu itself sought to adjust the budget by reducing the three stages at the site to two.<\/p>\n

During the testimony, numerous intriguing details emerged. According to Peck, eight acts \u2014 including Jay-Z, the Killers, Miley Cyrus and Santana \u2014 were each paid over $500,000. Dentsu reps admitted the company had already spent $32 million on the festival, including $23.5 million to the acts; he also said Lang continued to book acts even after the budget was pared down along with the smaller attendance numbers. Martin said at that point it was no longer a profitable festival, but that the company saw financial opportunities in sponsorships: \u201cMaybe we\u2019d break even,\u201d Martin said, \u201cbut it wouldn\u2019t be a $25 million loss.\u201d Peck said a temporary mass gathering permit is still being discussed with Watkins Glen International, possibly next week.<\/p>\n

Peter Office, CEO of the Dentsu-affiliated MKTG, which served as a liaison with the production companies, detailed what would be involved in turning the speedway in Watkins Glen into \u201ca city for three to five days\u201d for Woodstock 50. Due in part to excessive rainfall that canceled a Phish concert at the same venue last year, the plans, he said, called for four water tanks (each holding 250,000 gallons) and acompanying distribution system, along with installation of showers and other amenities for the campers. Asked how much time would generally be needed for such preparation, Office noted \u201ca minimum of a year to 18 months,\u201d far less time than Woodstock 50 has had.<\/p>\n

To get a sense of the terrain in and around Watkins Glen, Office said Superfly had initially relied on photos on Google Maps. But since the photos were taken this winter, Superfly didn\u2019t have an accurate sense of the grounds and its issues until snow disappeared in March. \u201cWith the snow melting, they saw more of the land and saw it was less functional than originally thought,\u201d Office said.<\/p>\n

Early in the hearings, Justice Barry R. Ostrager frequently overruled Kasowitz\u2019s objections to questioning of Peck and expressed moments of exasperation. When Peck talked about the cultural significance of Woodstock, Ostrager shut him down: \u201cThis is a business transition. I don\u2019t want to hear in his testimony how important [Woodstock] is to the world.\u201d When Kasowitz made the claim that \u201cterminating their contract is different from cancelling the festival,\u201d Ostrager retorted, \u201cI understand your argument \u2014 I don\u2019t fully accept it.\u201d At times, Ostrager was also confused about Lang\u2019s exact role (at one time asking if he was an employee of Superfly).<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the testimony, a pivotal moment arrived when Kasowitz got Martin to agree that both Woodstock LLC and Dentsu would have had to jointly cancel the festival, and that earlier wording in a contact about reasons for exercising that option (\u201cto be determined\u201d) was not included in the final draft of the agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a business transaction,\u2019 Martin said. \u2018We too full control to minimize any additional losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you get to unilaterally cancel the festival, take money back from the festival account and you get to keep all rights?\u201d Kasowitz responded sarcastically. \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n

When the hearing concluded soon after, Kasowitz emerged brimming with confidence, telling reporters the festival would \u201cabsolutely\u201d go on. Dentsu\u2019s legal team stayed behind, looking deflated and declining to answer any questions at that point (despite Ostrager lifting the media gag order placed on them).<\/p>\n

When the hearing ended, Ostrager announced he would make his decision in 24 to 36 hours, which come down to security vs. contractual obligations. During the hearing and in court papers, Dentsu reps raised concerns about crowd safety at Woodstock 50 \u2014 from the installation of emergency exits to New York State troopers\u2019 concerns about traffic. (According to reports, the troopers were also worried about the construction of a pedestrian bridge at the site.) Will those issues be enough to make the court override the explicit joint-cancellation wording in the contract (and Dentsu\u2019s admission that it didn\u2019t comply with that part of the agreement)?<\/p>\n

To paraphrase one of the original Woodstock performers, Country Joe McDonald, this summer\u2019s concerts are either fixin\u2019 to die or fixin\u2019 to survive.<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All-star concerts commemorating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock are scheduled to start three months from tomorrow. But the fate of the biggest planned festival may be decided this week following two days of court hearings in New York State. Last week, Woodstock LLC, the organizers of the festival, filed a petition for an injunction against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2444221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 04:52:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}