{"id":2446831,"date":"2019-07-26T12:56:15","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T18:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=864012"},"modified":"2019-07-26T12:56:15","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T18:56:15","slug":"inside-woodstock-50s-last-ditch-maryland-attempt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/inside-woodstock-50s-last-ditch-maryland-attempt\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Woodstock 50\u2019s Last-Ditch Maryland Attempt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The countdown clock on Woodstock<\/a> 50\u2019s website continues to subtract days, minutes, and hours until August 16th, when the festival would ostensibly kick off. In recent weeks, its harried organizers have been denied permits four times in Vernon, New York, where they attempted to move the beleaguered fest from its original proposed site of Watkins Glen International. And with no venue in place, they have yet to put tickets on sale.<\/p>\n

But much like the original Woodstock, they may be granted a reprieve at the 11th hour. On Thursday, with a mere three weeks to go, Columbia, Maryland\u2019s Merriweather Post Pavilion emerged as the fest\u2019s possible savior<\/a>. But there are still a few italicized question marks that may continue to put the festival in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely could happen here,\u201d Howard County Executive Calvin Ball tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. Ball serves in a role similar to a mayor for the county, whose city of Columbia is situated between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. \u201cIt\u2019s up to the promoter and Merriweather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball, in particular, is excited to potentially have Woodstock 50<\/a> in his backyard. He learned last week that the festival organizers were in talks with the Merriweather venue \u2014 which opened in the summer of 1967 and hosted a Janis Joplin gig three weeks before the original event in 1969. \u201cWoodstock is an icon of peace and music,\u201d he says. \u201cI think when you combine that with the history and foundation of Columbia, focused on peace, inclusion, diversity, and our shared interest in the arts, I thought it was a great opportunity to have a conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

This past Tuesday, he sent a letter to Greg Peck, one of the principal organizers of Woodstock 50, expressing his excitement. \u201cWhen we heard that there was an opportunity to save this festival and bring a piece of American history to our community this summer, we jumped at the chance,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMerriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia is a jewel of Howard County and one of the top music venues in the nation. It felt like such a natural fit to host a historic festival on our storied stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

If all goes well with shoring up the venue, Ball says the county has the framework in place to put on the show. The police, fire, and transportation departments fall under his purview, as does the necessary permitting; these have previously been bugbears for Woodstock 50 at the New York State venues they originally scouted for the festival. \u201cWe\u2019ve had Jazz Fest, Virgin Freefest and many other festivals here that have brought 10s of thousands of people,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have the infrastructure in place.\u201d And he adds, \u201cWe have a history here in Howard County of being efficient and making things happen on very short order when needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

But those newly involved in Woodstock 50 have cautioned to say with absolute certainty that the festival will occur. When a reporter asked Ball, \u201cSo you\u2019re absolutely positive that Woodstock 50 is going to take place?\u201d at a press conference Thursday night, Ball demurred, replying, \u201cHoward County is absolutely positive that we are in talks with the promoter and with Merriwether.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merriweather Post Pavilion was equally cautious in their official statement, sounding almost passive-aggressive in their punting to the Woodstock 50 organizers. \u201cWoodstock 50 approached Merriweather about hosting their event here in Columbia, Md.,\u201d Seth Hurwitz, chairman of I.M.P. and operator of Merriweather Post Pavilion, said in a statement Thursday. \u201cThe Woodstock folks are working on securing the artists now. If the bands come, we\u2019ll produce the show. We\u2019re looking forward to getting an update as soon as Woodstock 50 has one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports of the lineup so far have been grim. Jay-Z, the festival\u2019s highest-profile artist, will not perform in Maryland. And John Fogerty, one of a handful of Woodstock \u201969 alumni, has said that he\u2019s now opting to perform solely at the Woodstock \u201ctribute\u201d on the original festival site. \u201cJohn Fogerty knows where he will be for the anniversary weekend of Woodstock,\u201d his rep said in a statement. \u201cAt only one site \u2026 at the original one \u2014 the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.\u201d On Friday, Woodstock 50 producers released all artists from their contracts, per Billboard,<\/em><\/a> leaving the lineup very much in doubt.<\/p>\n

A rep for Woodstock 50 declined to comment for this article. A rep for the Merriweather Post Pavilion declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Hurwitz reiterated in a Pollstar<\/a><\/em> interview Thursday that he\u2019s just waiting to see which artists will come to the venue. \u201cRight now, I am still waiting on them to present us with a show,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are ready to do a show if they have one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The venue already has Smashing Pumpkins and Noel Gallagher\u2019s High Flying Birds booked that weekend and would have to consider working around that. (A rep for Gallagher did not reply to a request for comment. A rep for the Pumpkins declined to comment.) \u201cWe need to talk to them about maybe being involved [in Woodstock 50] or maybe we wouldn\u2019t do it on that day,\u201d Hurwitz said. The whole thing is a big \u201cif,\u201d but he\u2019s cautiously optimistic. \u201cMaybe [Woodstock] will end up one day or maybe it will end up being three days, who knows?\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s see who they tell me is playing. That\u2019s what I\u2019m waiting for at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, agents are working behind the scenes to figure out whether the dozens of other acts who are still listed on the festival\u2019s lineup page<\/a> (which still mentions Watkins Glen in the artwork) will commit to the move. Earlier this week, Woodstock 50 organizers put in a request to at least one major talent agency to see if they would perform at Merriweather. Rolling Stone<\/em> has confirmed that numerous acts on the original lineup would still get paid even if they declined to perform, as artists contractually have the right to refuse to play the new venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the promoter lines up the various acts with Merriweather, I am going to be prepared and ensure that we have a safe, fun, special event that not only celebrates our history, but sends a message to everyone right now who needs a little bit more peace, love, and unity,\u201d Ball says.<\/p>\n

One big question mark that remains is how many people not only would attend Woodstock 50, but could. Hurwitz has said that the venue could accommodate up to 32,500 people on weekend days \u2014 Ball says that\u2019s because they have expanded the venue in recent years \u2014 but it all comes down to interest. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to go through the permitting process, and we\u2019ll have to see what that looks like,\u201d Ball says about the prospect of tens of thousands of people coming to the venue. \u201cIt will depend on the acts, the time of the acts, when people are coming, but we\u2019ll be well prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the biggest question remains: will anyone actually come? With so much negative press surrounding Woodstock 50, the prospective number of attendees has dropped from an original estimate of 150,000 to 61,000 when it came to permitting at the original venue, Watkins Glen, to a cap of 32,500 people. The original Woodstock attracted between 250,000 people and 400,000 people. Woodstock \u201994 brought in 300,000 to 350,000 people, and even Woodstock \u201999 got 225,000 music fans to upstate New York. But it\u2019s safe to assume that people have grown wary of Woodstock 50 as it has fumbled repeatedly over the past few months.<\/p>\n

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

The countdown clock on Woodstock 50\u2019s website continues to subtract days, minutes, and hours until August 16th, when the festival would ostensibly kick off. In recent weeks, its harried organizers have been denied permits four times in Vernon, New York, where they attempted to move the beleaguered fest from its original proposed site of Watkins […]<\/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-2446831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 08:24:00","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\/2446831","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=2446831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}