Music Box (TV Series) Woodstock 99: Peace Love and Rage (2021) User Reviews

Interesting, but Flawed

[acrotinger · 6/10 · 26 July 2021]

Even though I was only 6 years old at the time of Woodstock '99, I've always been interested in learning why exactly the festival failed so spectacularly.

Color me shocked that the root of all evil was aggressive white men and not the total failure of the event promoters to provide an adequate venue and supplies for attendees.

Going to a rock concert is a great place to let out your aggressions but when you're greeted with 100+ degree heat, no easy access to water or shade, and limited staff over a three day period, is a recipe for disaster.

This documentary felt like it was paid for by the Woodstock promoters to point the blame everywhere else but at themselves.

Side note, Moby is the second most pretentious interviewee in this doc right after New York Times journalist Wesley Morris.

Enjoyable But Focused on the Wrong Aspects

[cbrueggemeyer · 6/10 · 26 July 2021]

I thought that this was an enjoyable and entertaining documentary but it watched more like a college film thesis then a true-to-form found footage documentary. While it is always important to highlight the social and cultural ramifications of an event such as this, I felt the filmmakers spent too much time trying to explain what happened during the festival and compare it to modern events.

This is an insanely entertaining and bewildering story to tell and there is real footage of everything that happened - show it to us! I thought this documentary had a very loose and unstructured feeling: it didn't know what it wanted to say but it tired to hard to say something.

I think with a documentary such as this if you just gave a thorough detailing of events with background from performers and attendees then that would be enough. We don't need New York Times writers hypothesizing about why they thought people were angry in the late 90s or concert attendees giving us their "woke" take 20 years after the fact about what happened.

The sheer absurdity of this event is enough to make a compelling and honest documentary. For me, this came down to too much speculation and opinion and not enough objective footage of the event itself (the subject of the documentary).

These comments fit the Woodstock 99 crowd culture lol

[Zedyeti · 8/10 · 27 July 2021]

As someone that attended Woodstock 99 I can tell you it was a $hitshow. Most of what was portrayed in this documentary isn't to make some woke agenda to offend white dudes in 2021 cause this crap did happen so get over yourself. It was a disgusting trash dump, and women did get the worst of it. Sorry if that offends you but it was true. It's a story that needed to be told. It was a recipe for disaster and they should have known better.

Insightful documentary about the "Woodstock nobody asked for"

[paul-allaer · 7/10 · 24 July 2021]

"Woodstock 99: Peace, Love & Rage'"" (2021 release; 110 min.) is a documentary about the Woodstock 99 music festival that derailed into chaos and violence. As the movie opens, it is "August 15, 1969" and we see Michael Lang, co-founder of the Woodstock festival, goofing around at the original festival. We then go the "July 23, 1999", where following a Woodstock festival in 1994, a third edition is held on a closed military basis, on a blazing hot weekend, and with a line-up fill of bands like Limp Bizkit, Korn, Kid Rock, and Creed (no, really!).

Couple of comments: it absolutely blows the mind what a horrible event Woodstock 99 was. From the inherently wrong site (Woodstock on a military basis?), to the artist choices, to the shortages of water and other essential resources, to the debauchery leading to multiple sexual assaults, it all results in a music festival molotov cocktail the likes of which we haven't seen since and maybe never will again. The documentary makers do a good job providing "highlights" of that weekend with perspectives from various talking heads now 20+ years later, including various attendees who were then in their early 20s and now well into midlife, but also the organizers (who continue to maintain that "mostly" things went great) and experts (such as Spin Magazine's Maureen Callahan, who comments that Woodstock 99 was the "Woodstock nobody asked for"). The last 30-45 min. Of the documentary, when things completely derailed, are very grim, with scenes of sheer violence, anarchy and lawlessness. Things were "mostly" ok? Right! Then there are moments like Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst practically inciting a riot right then and there. But of course he wasn't the root of it all, but just a symptom (just like Trump isn't the "root", but just a symptom of a GOP gone horribly wrong). Tickets for Woodstock 99 were $180 (about $300 in today's money) and bottles of water cost $4 (about $6.50 in today's money). Corporate greed gone wild indeed. Amazingly, only months after Woodstock 99, the very first Coachella music festival took place in California, and as it turns out, it was the REAL Woodstock survivor...

"Woodstock 99: Love, Peace and Rage" premiered this weekend on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand, HBO Max, Amazon Instant Video and other streaming services. If you have any interest in Woodstock, or more general in rock history, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Difficult to Write a Review for this Documentary

[bysterbusch · 8/10 · 8 December 2021]

I really enjoyed the content of this documentary but the manner in which it was presented was offensive. It would be interesting to see what the documentary would have looked like if it had been done 5 years ago. The facts of the documentary were fascinating but they were presented through the current media lens that all white men are evil and capitalism should be abolished. These concepts were not as widespread as they are today and seem to be the only avenue that the media can follow. It was disappointing that the story had to be tainted by this. Had it been presented in a less offensive manner it would have received a higher rating from me. It was still worth watching.

Intriguing

[lucaschriskowalski · 7/10 · 13 August 2021]

I had no knowledge of Woodstock 99, this documentary was intriguing and well worth a watch. I mean I am not sold on the "greed" angle that was being painted of the organisers, every music festival has overpriced food and drink, as so every concert, but the lack of proper security and then the rioting towards end should perhaps be a lesson of how not to hold a festival for 300,000+ people on a tarmac.

Rename the documentary Altamont 2.0

[Reviewer99 · 8/10 · 7 August 2022]

I guess the organizers missed the Altamont concert a few months after the original Woodstock.

The most ridiculous statement was from Michael Lang, "There were a few a-holes in the crowd." No Michael there were a-holes organizing and running the event.

UPDATE: Took me back

[evan_lassi · 6/10 · 24 July 2021]

Great documentary overall! It's even more intense looking back on it now than when I saw it on MTV as a 17 year old! But some drawbacks.

I knew there would be political talk thrown into this and I wouldn't have minded but they made it "woke" politics instead of just pointing out how different things were back then. Constantly mentioning 22 year old white college guys got old really quick. Considering almost all the acts, who exactly did they think would be the audience? Pointing out "just 3 females act on 3 separate days," also was unnecessary! How many big female acts were there back then compared to the other acts at the time? '94 didn't have many female acts either, barely any mention of that festival though.

And what does the Coachella festival have to do with anything related to this? UPDATE: Woodstock '99 was so horrible and got some liberal commentary pointing white college kids every 5 seconds, no female acts, violence, fires, etc. Where's the documentary on Astroworld????? Specifically Travis Scott and the death count up to 10.

Doubt that's going to get much attention

Overall, really good.

how much changes in 22 years

[TristramShandy · 8/10 · 5 December 2021]

What most seem to dislike is what I liked the most: seeing 1999 through the lens of 2021. Having been 29 in '99, I remember the time very well, and yet it is so easy to forget how different that time was, from the changing (and relevance) of MTV to how attending anything was different before 9/11 to how blatantly misogynistic society was to how experiencing an event pre-cell phone changed anything from documenting one's time at an event to not having any way to connect to a friend who wandered away in a sea of 100s of 1000s of people. Yeah, some of the commentators are woke to the extreme, and, yeah, the producers seem to want to have it both ways (rail against showing women's naked breasts while constantly showing women's naked breasts), but I was mesmerized by the whole documentary, gobsmacked by realizing that was just two decades ago.

the day the nineties died

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 23 July 2021]

Greetings again from the darkness. Character is revealed in the most unexpected places, and often at a time when one has a bit more freedom than usual. Like the mosh pit at a music festival. You may wonder why I'm disgusted and saddened at what stuck with me after this documentary. Unfortunately, it wasn't the music. Instead the takeaway from Woodstock 99 is that far too many young men easily succumbed to aggressive and animalistic behavior, and worse, seized the opportunity to abuse women who were simply trying to have a good time. Of course, this was 22 years ago. Maybe we feel better about young men today.

Garret Price, the film's director, begins by admitting Woodstock 99 played like a horror film, so we brace ourselves for what's to follow. If you've seen Michael Wadleigh's 1970 documentary about the original Woodstock festival, then you know it's a blend of some of the best live music of the era and a peek at the 'peace and love' counter-culture so prevalent in 1969. To really grasp this version of the 30th anniversary of that first festival, you should know that promoters John Scher and Michael Lang were coming off a very successful and smooth 25th anniversary Woodstock festival in 1994 (Lang was also behind the 1969 festival). 1999 was also the year of the Columbine shooting, we were on the brink of Y2K, and cell phones were quite scarce. The promoters thought was this would be the "last hurrah" for baby boomers. Instead, the festival is referred to as "the day the nineties died."

The miscalculation by the promoters was in demographics. The transformation of MTV had skewed to younger viewers, and the "Girls Gone Wild" mentality seemed to feed the fantasy of every young male. "New Rock" featuring bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit played up misogyny, homophobia, and aggression. This was the antithesis of where society is headed today. On top of all that, the sweltering heat and overpriced fluids affected behavior, and a water shortage combined with mud pits that were actually raw sewage turned the festival into a nightmare. And then things got worse.

The 1969 music corresponded to that festival's mission, but thirty years later, Kid Rock in a mink coat and Fred Durst inciting idiocy created a much different environment. Moby is interviewed throughout this documentary offering insight into the festival and how things went wrong. The lineup included only three female acts: Alanis Morissette, Jewell, and Sheryl Crowe, and they were scheduled one per day for the three day festival, meaning many of the other acts seemed to spur the aggression in the massive crowd of 400,000.

With nostalgia non-existent, commercialism booming, and what Jewell terms "fake rage" the calling of the day, rioting, looting, fires, and sexual assaults became the festival's legacy. Price's film (produced by former sportswriter Bill Simmons) allows us to watch how quickly things go sideways, and any thoughts of peace and unity disappear. It's quite a snapshot in time of a generation and culture that was spinning out of control.

Streaming on HBO Max beginning July 23, 2021.

Great

[mikeiskorn · 8/10 · 4 August 2021]

I wish I could give this documentary a full 10 out of 10 but some of the comments made just made my blood boil. Yes we all know that there were tragic outcomes from the festival but here in these new generation people talk about it just doesn't sit right with me. Otherwise it was a fantastic documentary great highlights of the music.

In stark contrast to 66, whos to blame?

[chrislawuk · 7/10 · 28 July 2021]

I didnt feel singled out as a white male. I would have been around 22 at that time. Its a fair discussion from that angle, as you can clearly see the audience was predominantly white male. It covers most sides of things, and I felt it was balanced, maybe too much so. It may have suited a longer duration, as it did seem a bit rushed. Violent Misogyny was something prevalent in the music scene well before even grunge.

Going back to the 80s you had leading bands, who certainly wrote Misogynistic songs. The first album I bought was G'N'R Appetite for Destruction. In the inside cover you have that famous cartoon of the lady being raped by the flying alien. What stands out here is the stark contrast between 1969 and 1999. Certainly times changed and it can be hard to remain optimistic when you compare these to concerts.

I am sure in 1966 they had their own set of problems, the were jut more humble in handing them. Where were they putting their excrement back in 66. Probably pooed in their t-shirts, wrapped it up and stuck it in their handbags.

Glad they didnt try and fully blame Limp Bizkit, which seems to be the most widely conceived belief (google it). Not that I am a big fan. It seems to have been a melting pot of socio-political cultural issues, bad planning, and extreme heat.

Completely Misses The Issue

[daviddilligaf · 5/10 · 22 August 2021]

I was looking forward to this documentary, having previously studied Event Management and being a regular attendee of music festivals.

Whilst it was really interesting to see so much footage from this infamous event, the documentary crew sadly spent less time focusing on the fact that terrible organisation and conditions were the clear catalysts for the chaos that occurred, and instead were too busy giving air time to washed up DJs like Moby who just wanted to blame it all on Limp Bizkit and white dudes.

Odd that no other metal festivals of that era turned out the same way if it's just white nu-metal fans who were to blame. There were some absolutely horrible people in that crowd, without a doubt, but this documentary would've benefitted on diving deeper into mob mentality and conditioning rather than just trying s desperately to pin it on artists and their fans.

Interesting look back

[Echobelly · 7/10 · 25 July 2021]

This movie was an interesting look back at Woodstock 99 and what led to it being such a disaster. One of the co-founders, John Scher comes across horribly. I wish they had gotten more interviews, but they did well with what they have.

There were a few eyerolly takes from social critics, but they made plenty of valid points. It's not "woke" just because you don't like it. How do people that constantly complain about wokeness function in society? What an exhausting way to live.

Stop raining on the parade!

[JimmyTreeX · 9/10 · 25 July 2021]

Ok so I'm 30 minutes in and the last 7-8 were unnecessary "wokeness." Took a non-racist moment with DMX, and made it racist, then immediately jumped into womanizing. Both accompanied with that somber music.

STOP IT!

I was15 in 99, and my father paid for the pay per view, so it brings back great memories, so no matter what it gets a 9. Would have gotten a 10 if it wasn't for the deliberate negativity.

A good doco, polluted somewhat by customary racial palaver

[fantard · 7/10 · 1 August 2021]

A by-the-numbers, sometimes opinionated documentation of the goings on at the infamous 1999 Woodstock event: a well-known, festival that was created in the late 1960s, as a way for youths' to "rage against the machine" through music; as well as the drug fuelled love-in it has often been wistfully (and selectively) recounted as.

This analysis is a relatively balanced account... Albeit, as implied by the review title, tainted by the now nauseating bent of American documentary-makers to twist themselves into knots to try and paint every historical event with a racially tarred brush -- which comes off as especially cynical in this feature. In addition, the divisive rhetoric along the lines of sex were at times, to a lesser degree, also irksome. Thankfully, these instances only rear their capacious heads a few times during the 105-minute rumination, and are not a deal-breakers as such; nor even for those sensitive to such toxic, political issues.

For the viewer uninitiated with what transpired over those few, fateful days in July '99, they should find this vivisection enlightening, and even entertaining -- snippets of the acts are played throughout. For those who have opinions already formed regarding the dubious eventuations of what was meant as a celebration, and instead turned into something resembling a Bacchanalian assault orgy (perhaps appropriately enough, given the locale -- Rome, New York), may not find anything new presented here. Even so, it's still worth a watch. 7/10.

An Honest Look at the Madness

[matthewreid-95654 · 9/10 · 24 July 2021]

Woodstock 99 doesn't utilize hindsight as an inditement of the festival, but rather an honest look at how we (society) should've seen the events of that day coming. It doesn't over-vilify those who participated in the carnage, but rather provides a reason as to why.

My only complaint of this powerful documentary is that they didn't hold the festivals creators accountable enough. They were underprepared to host such a large gathering. This, paired with the commercialization of the Woodstock name, only empowered those in attendance to act out. The documentary does a good job of explaining this, but doesn't hold those in authority accountable enough. I imagine that accountability was traded for their participation in the doc.

The editing is perfect! The footage is powerful. The story is unbelievable. This is definitely a must-watch.

Poor interpretation, incoherent analysis

[oakesjascha · 6/10 · 8 August 2022]

Ostensibly about greed, ineptitude, naïveté of promoters and organisers. This was my era; I was a 23yrs old. The woke mind virus never sleeps. All you need to do is run a slightly different scenario and this would not have happened. This is what the elites do - blame everyone but themselves. Like trump, they blame the people who elected him instead of the kleptocrats and the losers that allowed it. Here, they blame the kids, the culture of entitlement and the white man. Truly astounding how people continue to get these things wrong...

Ah yes, the WHITE HATS!

[mbourque74 · 9/10 · 30 July 2021]

This is how it was in '99, nothing to do with race, was the music, stop with the white guilt already. I was 26, I saw the transition first hand. Left a Limp Bizkit/Korn show in March 2000 shirtless and bloody wondering wtf just happened and where were the people from the Blink 182 days harmlessly shoving each other and slam dancing. Went from potheads running into each other, stage diving or crowd surfing at show in the early 90s, to sh!tfaced white hats in an absolute rage giving a bloody beatdown to anyone who was near them type mosh pit. Limp and the Bizkits, Rage against the machine and other thrash/death metal cookie monster music filled the void when Boy Bands and Brittany Spears took over MTV. I still remember the endless commercials of 9/9/99 MTV music awards hosted by Brittany Spears! This one genre was was force fed day and night. Headbangers ball was dead, no one could understand the lyrics of Grunge music ( RIP Lane, Scott, Kurt and Chris, I guess there won't be a next time). It was the perfect storm. And also don't forget, this concert was in NY, the NYC/NJ area does not foster a common decency attitude. I have avoided the choice words to describe the concert goers from this area.

Insane footage, too many talking heads

[markthespoon · 7/10 · 8 August 2022]

The video of the festival is unbelievable and terrifying. Thankfully music festivals are much better organised now, maybe overly corporatised and sanitised but at least the safety of the attendees is given proper priority. And surely nobody misses nu-metal.

Where the documentary fell down somewhat is that too much time was spent on pretty spurious attempts to draw wider lessons about American society in the late 90s. What ultimately Woodstock 99 proved was that if you keep a load of knuckle-headed drunken idiots in a totally unsuitable environment for three days, there's a big risk they'll go feral. That is at root of what happened, not that people were depressed that Kurt Cobain was dead, or angry about Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, or whatever other deeper causes were suggested.

Irony in these reviews

[petterstrobaek · 8/10 · 4 August 2021]

I think the documentary had a great structure and really showed how the late 90's were. I don't see how people have a problem with the message of the documentary that the "peace & love" that the first festival was built on didn't correspond with the 99' festival. If you're mad that they tried to make "woke political points" about feminism and morals whilst literally seeing groping and rioting caught on film, I hope you don't have kids is all i'm saying.

Does not make out of touch baby boomers look good.

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 26 August 2022]

Seems when we hear about peace and love etc from the 60's it ends up being riots and violence. Irony of how violence starts out with peace, love and tolerance. The original Wood stock had the creators try to recreate the 69 event 30 years latter. The Netflix documentary explains how not looking at mistakes from the past when the 69 event which was declared a disaster area was the only thing Woodstock 99 managed to recreate. Lack of fresh water, over flow leaky bathrooms, lack of food, and profiteering created a churning youth disaster. Woodstock 99 trying to have a counter cutler event 30 years latter not realizing times change was evident in the documentary. Having naked, topless women, drugs, booze, sex and no or little security in the 90's what could go wrong? Well Woodstock 99, Love and Rage answered the question. The bands from 99 were not flower power and reflected that times that changed and giving candles to an angry crowed for a symbolic gestor how out of date the Peace and Love event was. The profiteering mixed with a hedonistic rage could be explained away as Woodstock 99 disastrously conclusion explains why there will never be another Woodstock. Will not call the documentary woke, or men's fault!

The message I got from Woodstock 99 was! This is what happens when peace, love and moral relativism (no boundaries) philosophy is applied to real life. The documentary is more of a warning then a judgmental message. 7 stars.

My Wife and I are now 70 years old and attended the 1969 and 1999 Festivals

[Watson99 · 3/10 · 8 August 2021]

My wife and I discussed the things that were most memorable. The positive - great music and everyone was pleasant with the exception of a small percentage of attendees that decided to wreck the place! Yes...the music was energizing and that is why we attended.

The negative - horrible port-o-cans! We took showers and we drank the free water. What they do not mention and we were there, unlike the "journalists" who were not, is that the locals and people that did not pay for tickets were the ones that started tearing down the poster wall. They had been outside the walls for hours and were doing their best to disrupt the event because they could not gain entry without tickets. Yes, there was violence just as there was in 1969, which was not all about love, peace and music despite the "memories" they try to project. 500,000 attendees and possibly 50 were starting fires and 150 were breaking things. Woodstock 1969 was a far worse experience than 1999!

A Bit of Revisionism

[richeborn · 7/10 · 14 April 2023]

I enjoyed this documentary but you need to take some of the 2021 commentary with a grain of salt. I am not sure that there is a direct connection from Woodstock 1999 leading to the election of Donald Trump.

Also, I am not sure how Fred Durst is directly responsible for riots. If only he had played some Kumbaya, My Lord everything would have been better. Please ignore the failure of logistics and greed by the event organizers.

I think the one direct connection you could draw out of it is the Fyre Festival. All those interviewed in those documentaries were pinning the blame on someone else as well, but at least Woodstock 1999 pulled it off.

Once last thing I gleaned from it is that Moby is a pretentious wimpy b*tch.

Most solid Woodstock '99 Docu out there

[michiganave_p · 9/10 · 5 August 2022]

Of the many podcasts and few other docu's out there about the disastrous festival, this seems to be the best produced one and tells the story best.

It is raw, unedited and very profane all around, but that is what makes it good. The interviews were many and deep, all the way from staffers, guests and the bands themselves.

Skip the other documentaries and go to this one first if you are short on time.