Non-Fiction Essay: Woodstock '99: Degeneration Nation

August 3, 1999
Non-fiction Essay


A couple of not-so-fun facts you probably won't see posted on the official Woodstock '99 web site:

* Approximately 225,000 people each paid the $150 ticket price for the honor of attending the three-day concert in Rome, NY.

* According to a spokesperson for the organizers: one 44-year old man died of a heart attack, 3,000 others received medical attention for anything from heat exhaustion to broken bones and at least 44 people were arrested for "criminal mischief and/or reckless endangerment."

* New York State Police are currently investigating allegations of at least four rapes that occurred at the event. Volunteer counselors working at the festival also reported witnessing many more sexual assaults, and the Rome office of the American Red Cross is said to have treated multiple victims who claimed to have been attacked in the mosh pit. And at least one New York State Police supervising officer has been suspended while Internal Affairs looks into an allegation that has him and seven of his men encircling two women and demanding they remove their clothes.

* By the festivals end Sunday night, the town of Rome was burning and "between 200 and 500 people" were freely looting and rioting.


Once again, our desire to return to a more innocent frame of mind goes up in flames and there's not a "peace candle" in sight. Forget Peace, Love and Understanding; how about simply being able to go out in public and not busting things up and hurting people? Are we just not able to do that anymore?

Like probably everyone else watching CNN, I'm standing here scratching my head asking myself yet again How and why does something like this happen? Did the concert-goers bring this bad attitude into the show with them? Were they looking for a fight from the very beginning? As a society about to enter a new millenium, is this really who we've become, ready to drop our funnel cake and raise our fists at a moment's provocation? According to reporters at the scene, the mostly young crowd was restless right from the start, giving a cold and indifferent reception to the performers that didn't strike their fancy (both Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow got less than polite comments from the crowd) and becoming downright nasty to the acts they weren't familiar with (poor Elvis Costello received the worst of this mass animosity). Kind of hard to feel sorry for this group of people that caused MTV News commentator Kurt Loder to report: "There was a hateful, hostile [feeling] coming off the crowd in waves kids were throwing bottles at each other and at security guards and stagehands. It was just ugly and out of control" To get a feel for what Loder was talking about, one only had to read the day-after postings at Woodstock.com's site: "You screw people out of $4 for water and $10 for a burrito, it's gonna come back and bite you on your fat greedy gluttonous ass." Another one read: "I hope we did as much damage to you as you did to us!"

Granted, the conditions at the show were horrendous. Overcrowded and squalid beyond belief; the overpowering stench from the overflowing Porta-Potties wafting through the air; nonexistent garbage collection; scant no-cost drinking water. Not one person there should have had to put up with even one of these inhumane elements and when you factor in the 100 degree temperatures and exorbitant price-gouging on necessities like food and water, I don't see how anyone could have not seen this trouble coming. Looking back on it all now, it's hard to believe that even one person gave one moment's thought to the planning of this fiasco. And yet I can't help but ask myself Well, what did the crowds expect exactly? We are in the middle of a hotter than average summer and one only has had to go to something like Great Adventure once to know that the promoters of these types of events absolutely thrive on captive audiences such as yourselves and will shove a $6.50 hot dog down your throats even if they have to do it with their own bare hands. Surprisingly, in my research for this article, I've not been able to unearth one single charity that's benefiting from this show. This tells me someone's walking away from this thing having made a lot of money and my anger at the planners and promoters rises a couple of more notches

Lastly, did we really need ignorant musicians like Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst taking the stage and provoking the crowd with shouts such as "Let's all start some shit?" I think not. Now I've talked before about how I believe almost all artists deserve complete creative freedom in pursuing and portraying their chosen craft as they see fit but this kind of behavior just strikes me as irresponsible. Someone should remind Mr. Durst that he is responsible for the things he says between songs, when he's supposedly presenting his "real self" to impressionable audiences. Sing how it might feel like to be an angry young man, Mr. Durst, don't play the part of one between gigs (that's not your job, after all). Not in public. Not in front of the kids. And especially not in front of a group of a quarter million overtired, overcrowded and overheated people that were probably close to their breaking point a full 24 hours before your pampered ass took the stage. I mean, it is still illegal to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater, isn't it?



For information and/or help dealing with issues of sexual abuse, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network operates a toll-free 24-hour hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE. Additional information can be found at http://www.rainn.org/.