Clusterf**k: Woodstock '99 (2022) User Reviews

Greed is the ultimate evil

[crazelord · 8/10 · 5 August 2022]

This doc is very entertaining and really shows you a lot of factors about why 99' was so different than 69'. It was bigger, the music was a lot more aggressive, the culture was different as we were in a post Columbine era, and the event was heald on a sweltering hot decommissioned army base instead of an open field.

But that's the story the people behind the event want you to believe. And those did play a big part in what reved up the crowd. But there are huge festivals in bad weather with angry music in a more dangerous eras (the monsters of metal festival in Moscow was even bigger and heavier right at the end of the USSR and it didn't cause nearly as much chaos).

No what you learn most about what caused the events was the greed. The original Woodstock became what it did bc it unintentionally turned into a free festival. People came and brought their own supplies to share and felt connected and free to cohabit and enjoy the music.

But the producers of this event were so afraid to not make a profit like the original Woodstock, but still wanted to use the name, that they did everything they could to cut corners and force as much money out of the audience.

They took away all their water so they'd have to buy from the vendors, they outsourced all the amenities and food sources to the lowest bidder and turned a blind eye when every price was jacked up for food and water people needed while garbage littered the grounds, they hired young kids to be security, booked bands they knew nothing about just for the name recognition, and lied on camera about the horrifying things going on so they wouldn't have to cancel the show, etc.

And so much more. But even in the restrospective of the interviews today they still all shift blame or act like they didn't know about a lot of the really messed up things going on. Apparently everything was someone else's fault. Even the artists who could have tried to calm the crowd down riled them up when they knew it was dangerous and then claimed ignorance.

So much greed and ego. And this isn't getting to just how depressing it is to see what humans can be in a group and pushed to the extreme, it's like wild animals in a zoo (we live in a society after all). It's not the destruction of the property or sticking it to the producers, that was almost warrented in a way, it's the assault, battery, and more disgusting acts people engaged in on their fellow human beings in the thrall of everything.

Greed and uncontrolled rage building up in the kids there caused this. Woodstock '69 was an enigma and an accident. You can't make that happen. You try to control it and only focus on a profit and this is what happens.

Festivals can be profitable and also take good care of their patrons, I've been to some myself. But this was a case study on how it can all go horribly wrong.

Michael Lang no longer smells like roses after this

[yicketyyackety · 7/10 · 5 August 2022]

So Michael Lang, the organizer of the original Woodstock, sells his soul, if he ever had one, to help put on what he hopes will be a money-making Woodstock II in Rome, NY. The lesson being that we are idealists when young, but realists when we grow up. Unfortunately he and his partners were out of touch with the young people who showed up in 1999, who felt robbed by expensive food and disrespected by "the man." Lang went from hippie to "the man." In the end, this documentary does not tell us if W2 made money, but to many of the attendees it was the event of a lifetime, despite the chaos. Based on this three episode docu, I'm glad I wasn't there.

A bit better than the previous doc

[c5150-86344 · 8/10 · 4 August 2022]

Slightly longer than last year's "Woodstock: Peace Love and Rage" documentary, and the 3-episode chronological format (covering each day) works better and seems more focused. As another reviewer pointed out, this could've been several episodes longer, or at least longer than 45 mins an episode; for anyone who listened to music critic Steven Hyden's 10-episode podcast in 2019 ("Break Stuff: The Story of Woodstock 99") both of these documentaries seem lightweight by comparison. But in the end, I guess there's only so much available footage to use and people to interview.

And to the reviewers who said they never mention Woodstock 94 or blame the organizers instead of the bands, what documentary were you watching? 94 is mentioned in the first episode, and the organizers are painted throughout as being ignorant to the many problems happening, and then spinning the truth for damage control and refusing to accept any blame in the aftermath.

Enthralling Documentary

[fatfil-414-451797 · 9/10 · 5 August 2022]

I happened across this documentary by accident, and being a huge music fan, I was intrigued by the subject. What unfolded was more of a statement of the social status of the US at the time than the music scene. The thing I took away from this was the unbelievable naivety of the organisers, the lack of understanding of the current music scene and the rampant capitalism of the licenced vendors. Back in the '60s, the music scene was all peace and love and hippies. Hendrix, Lennon, Crosby Stills and Nash, Santana. All mellow stuff. Cut to post grunge USA, the music is angry, violent and aggressive. Korn, Limp Bizkit, Chilli Peppers, Rage Against The Machine. Add to that the appalling facilities, price gouging for food and drink and the 100c + weather. It is almost an A-Z of how not to organise a rock festival. The scenes of 300,000 people undulating to Limp Bizkit on stage is mesmerising, and must have been intoxicating for the artists. The organisers seem to ty and deflect blame on the artists for getting the crowd over excited, particularly Korn, Limp Biskitz and RHCP. That is literally their job FFS! Recommended viewing for any music fans, or anyone interested in the Mob Rules mentality.

No rules, it's a wild story.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 10 August 2022]

Woodstock conjures up images of peace, love and unity, Woodstock 99 however conjures up very different images.

Here you'll see what people will do when they're pushed to extremes, those behind this event set this up, wound people up, ripped them off, and failed to control the subsequent fallout.

Incredibly well made with some amazing and shocking footage. Surprising interviews, some of what you'll hear would make Pinocchio look honest.

It's an interesting look at the generation of the time, it may just give you an insight into where we're at in 2022.

Enjoy it for the music, you'll be reminded of some of the amazing tunes from the 90's, an incredible era musically.

The biggest shock comes at the end of Part 3, a very sad moment, sad end to the series.

Well worth watching, 8/10.

Super insightful, insane footage, and some still-outdated perspectives! [+72%]

[arungeorge13 · 7/10 · 4 August 2022]

Ahh, the late '90s. Such a wild time. The rise of nu metal and the rising popularity of alt rock. That was the first time I got introduced to the likes of RHCP, KoRn, Limp Bizkit, and all those names. At a time when popular music was perceived to be soft (and focused primarily on positive feelings alone), these guys who screamed at the top of their lungs delving into deep, inner levels of anguish and distress became more relatable to the average youngster. Back then, there were no smartphones or social media where you incessantly receive validation from. Life was simpler, but it was also still heavily focused around the male gaze (in everything pop culture - and music was no different).

Now, we can't blame the team of Woodstock in their attempt to revive a classic music festival which symbolized peace, love, and harmony in trying times. But the makers of this three-part documentary run us through the finer details - we get to know early on that Woodstock '99 was never meant to work in the first place because it was an attempt at cash-grab with no real sense of organization, safety, security, personal hygiene, or sanitation. You can put big names on a poster and expect people to attend in droves, though no one would remember a show if the music alone was decent.

What makes a days-long concert memorable is firstly of course, the music and its presentation (stage setup, sound systems, pyro etc.). Then comes the F&B, decent sanitary facilities and so on. But more importantly, you coming out alive and healthy at the end of it all is what matters the most (Astroworld and many recent incidents come to mind). Woodstock '99 probably only worked in one aspect alone - getting thousands of people to a single spot all in the name of music (and drugs, and hopes of getting laid, etcetera). Everything else seems like a natural clusterfuck - the choice of location, the ultra expensive food & beverages, the main acts themselves which were focused around riling people up (than calming them down), the lack of a proper security system, and riotous crowds acting like they were ready to raise hell any moment.

It's insane to still see part of the Woodstock team (the OGs i.e.) continuing to blame a few bad apples and not admit how criminally chaotic things got. I'm glad the documentary brings these things to light with crazy footage, insights from people who ran the event and who attended it, and also including the perspective of some of the musicians (good to see you, JD!). If you watched the more recent Fyre Festival documentary and found that amusing, then this one will certainly grab your interest and maybe, even make you look up more content on this infamous event.

The Fyre Festival that happened...

[cathyisa · 8/10 · 5 August 2022]

It develops as an apocalypse anouncement. The conditions of this festival resemble a mix between Mad Max and Spring Breakers. The sexual agressiveness and the hate that you see in those images are overwhelming.

A good watch for those who want to organise a festival on what NOT to do and what is crucial to have onsite.

And just because Woodstock is in the title it does not mean the crowd are hippies... The organisers were so naive and Lang was so careless and uninterested.

Fascinating tale of when greed and incompetence destroy something beautiful

[chunkylefunga · 7/10 · 6 August 2022]

The original Woodstock was a cultural turning point, Woodstock 99 was also a turning point but in the opposite direction.

It's clear from the start that Lang doesn't know what he's doing and that it was only will hardwork of his 3 partners for the original Woodstock that it actually work. Without them Woodstock 99 failed.

John Scher defending all the rapes (especially of children) was just sickening, what an absolute disgrace of a human being.

The tried to capture the hippy magic of the original but then decided to play metal/rock/aggressive musics/bands, so obviously that's not going to bring in a hippy band. They you don't do the festival in a field/farm, the idiots decide to do it on asphalt in 40C heat. Banning drinking being brought in was ridiculous and letting a bottle of water go for $15 (in today's money) was just an absolute joke. No wonder people were kicking off.

The original Woodstock wasn't about money and it had even less regulations and security. People were giving out their food and drink for free. Woodstock 99 you'd be lucky to get a slice of bread for less than $5.

I'm glad they didn't do any other Woodstocks after this as Lang clearly was riding on the coattails of his original peers, and the greedy corporates pigs as responsible for it's death. Thank God Glastonbury still knows how to do it right.

Good documentary

[jldivelbiss · 8/10 · 3 August 2022]

The producers of this event are ego, money-hungry maniacs. My dad always told me growing up that if someone is blaming other people consistently, to look at them closely, because there is a reason they are pointing to everyone but themselves. Sort of like wolves in sheep's clothing but these guys are all about taking money from the sheep.

Sidenote: it was cool to see some bands that I grew up with and then promptly realizing I don't miss those days at all.

Not for the faint hearted

[esjacobs · 7/10 · 5 August 2022]

The documentary itself I found good, lots of original footage. Well told, from few angles and the story is pretty self explanatory as is written in other reviews how messed up it was. Missed some people taking responsibility but hey what else was new. It was my first time watching something about the Woodstock festivals, so don't have anything to compare it to. But wow the images are intense and I could feel the adrenaline just from watching it, found it quite scary. 3 episodes is enough.

Not quite the documentary of the century

[peterkowalski · 8/10 · 3 August 2022]

Let's just say it right now and get it over with - Trainwreck: Woodstock 99 is easily one of the best documentaries Netflix nas come up with in recent years; it's partly because most of those has been utter crap, but in a way, Trainwreck can really hold up its own. And if you're a fan of seeing things go south (and you are, aren't you, why else would you be here?), then you'll enjoy every bit of this one.

But of course, Oscar for best documentary short contender this one is not. And it isn't for the lack of trying - it's properly produced, nicely put together, with a clear vision almost till the end. Because -much like the event it's trying to portray- it's towards the end where things really start to fall apart. Are there repercussions? Ramifications? What do we really feel about the festival, 20+ years later? Have we learned anything or, was this documentary -again, much like the event- just an excuse to see s#it burn? Is saying, no plans for another Woodstock, really it?

A good documentary is a pure and simple art form - it's a music piece, an opera. It must come together effortlessly and it must make sense from the start till the end - here, you're left with an unfinished symphony. Unless this has always been the idea. Much unlike the even it's trying to portray.

A Compelling Look at This Trainwreck

[tkdlifemagazine · 7/10 · 5 August 2022]

A compelling look at the 1999 Rome NY attempt to revitalize Woodstock 30 years later. Some great interviews from John Scher, Michael Lnag, Ananda Lewis, Jewel, and more. Terrific footage of the original Woodstock, the 94' flop, and this crazy event. I generally think most documentaries today are too long, but this one seems to have enough to hold your interest, especially if you are from the MTV era. While they keep calling this concert Woodstock I don't see to as Woodstock. I see it as an imposter-trying to capitalize on the nostalgia of the original. I am not sure why I do not remember the details of this disaster but this movie did bring back a lot of memories from the era.

So what happened after?

[rufusmcd · 1/10 · 23 August 2022]

After nearly three hours of seeing what a train wreck the festival was you would think there would be info about what happened afterwards. Who cleaned the the mess? How much did they make? Were there any lawsuits? Arrests? Deaths? Etc... Nope , not one bit of info except for the promoter died three months after the documentary was filmed.

Good Documentary - BAD Event

[Maxax777 · 8/10 · 4 August 2022]

The documentary is good - but the event itself - was just a massive failure on soooo many levels! Everyone from the artists, to the promoters, to the fans - all pitched in together to create a massive embarrassment, and a shameful event! There's nothing good that can be said about Woodstock 99 - it's just a terrible example of human greed and depravity!!!

Greed Loses Out

[tomtpcarpe · 8/10 · 3 August 2022]

I think it's appropriate that Michael Lang and the rest of the Woodstock 99 producers ended up losing money on the festival. This documentary clearly shows their greed and total disregard for the young crowd (estimated at 400,000) that attended. The trouble really began in the middle of day two, but was ignored by the team of men running the show. Some of the artists that performed inspired the already angry crowd to near anarchy. If you remember Woodstock '69, watch Woodstock '99 to see how far down the rabbit hole we had fallen at that point in time. Lang and the rest, including the offending artists, should be ashamed.

Well presented but still missing content.

[Mauseum · 6/10 · 10 August 2022]

I'll start with that there's probably 3 more episodes worth of content that could have been included here. This doco does a decent job at showing the carnage that was Woodstock '99 but misses facts that would have really made this documentary great.

Although they talk at the end about the 4 rapes/sexual assaults, there were more reported to police. There were three people who died at the festival, although only one was due to the extremes itself.

It also missed the opportunity to speak to many more artists about their experiences. They never went into the details about how much money was made from the festival, how many staff (security) were there to handle things, what plans did they have in place for things if they went wrong, what type of infrastructure did they have to stop the back of the crowd from just pushing upon people in front of them, how far the stage was from the audience for safety etc.

It also didn't touch on from perspective and realisation now, that they still didn't do anything wrong. Like who called in the state troopers, was that the festival or did they say that they needed to take control? The questions didn't push them to answer majorly tough questions and certainly make them have to answer if they have any accountability to what occurred.

There's questions and content that really could have made this doco more insightful and how it impacted festivals from then on out throughout the 2000's. For example, Limp Bizkit had a teenage girl die during their performance in Australia due to poor crowd control as well as Fred Durst not listening to security during that moment to stop the show (you can find this content on YouTube). The invention of the two barrier system/D ring set up. Draw comparisons of greed with FYRE Festival. Maybe even a quick bit about the deaths of concert goes at Astroworld.

I know they couldn't have included this in their doco but recently in Australia, Splendour in the Grass have just shown the exact same type of greed through not putting in place the resources to help festival goers.

There was a a lot left to explore and even get insight into, but either they didn't want to do it or just didn't. I'm going to watch the HBO version and see how it compares.

A good example of human nature

[kmary0622 · 9/10 · 16 August 2022]

I write apocalyptic fiction so I love documentaries that show how how quickly people give in to that animalistic nature. My husband and I often go back-and-forth about things like this because I think people are basically bad and will flip pretty quickly given the right circumstances and he thinks people are basically good. I thought this was a fantastic example of how quickly people can switch to an animalistic/selfish violent nature and it really does validate all of the books I've written about the apocalypse and how people will react.

Secondly, I don't believe there are so few sexual assaults. I think thousands of women were sexually assaulted during this train wreck of a weekend a c just didn't report it. I cannot begin to imagine the trauma that has come out of this event.

Ok- We knew going in to watching this,it was going to be nothing short of a dumpster fire.

[ts-0000 · 7 August 2022]

Was it shocking? No! Was nothing,but greed-fest '99.. This laid it out clearly,from denying even water unless bought on site.

Was disgusting how those in charge acted,especially in the aftermath.. Curious if any had to pay,for those injured & so forth.

Overall something to watch or a how-to-video,when you want a success event & what you should/shouldn't do.

More to it than that!

[krashramone · 7/10 · 14 October 2022]

They didn't touch on the lack of resources enough- clean toilets and showers! By day two we left and found a place to shower at a local park; just couldn't take it anymore! And even though we paid for the entire event, we could never find a way back in. They had it all sealed off. After driving in circles for hours, we gave up and angrily left.

Maybe that was a blessing in disguise after seeing the horrors of day 3.

And they were correct on the ridiculous prices. Most of us were under 30 and didn't have a fortune to spend on simple bites to eat and waters.

These promoters really should be ashamed of themselves, but they obviously won't take the blame.

All your favorite throwbacks

[bethanyprior · 10/10 · 3 August 2022]

All your favorite throwbacks from the 90s including a truly superb glow up from the real life Beavis and Butthead. I can't believe I'm the same age as these people.

Solid but limited

[jellopuke · 6/10 · 9 October 2022]

A look at Woodstock 99 and the hell that went down after the show ending.

This does a solid job of looking at the ill fated Woodstock 99 from inception to building to execution, interviewing lots of people and with lots of archival footage. What it doesn't do well is follow the actual timelines of band performances, ignores huge acts and fudges a few facts to place more blame of a few people and not others. Like how come nobody even mentioned Rage Against the Machine when people were literally chanting their lyrics during the riot?

Also, talking about Fight Club, which came out well after this show was a little disingenuous.

Overall though a good doc about greed and corporate ruin.

The documentary is well made, but it leaves you feeling angry, sad and angry again

[mariarammstein · 8/10 · 3 August 2022]

On one hand a must watch, on the other an enraging documentary.

Watching this, and growing up the ninetees music era, enjoying it to its fullest, I can't help but wonder what has become of all the godfearing American people that were there. Environmentalists ? Bankers ? Homeless ? Family men ? Soccer moms ? Politicians

Some people who participated to this documentary still seem to find it all very funny

You do get to see how Beavis and Butthead are doing these days. They aged terribly.

The first title of this documentairy would have been a much better fit, "trainwreck" is way too mellow for this huge disaster. Greed, lust, pride.gluttony, wrath, sloth and a lot of drugs, alcohol and no water respectivily crowd and organisation, all present.

Add a couple of artists, bands that are contributing, enthousiasming the chaos and violence

The concert industry must have learned a lot of this "how not to organize a festival" Woodstock 99 disaster although I wonder if they really learned a lesson, especially when money becomes the main goal. Hence Love Parade Germany, Astroworld.

It's a miracle "only" three people died.

This is hard to rate: the docu is painting a realistic picture, but the content is horrible, so the rating is purely for the quality of the series.

How not to make a festival guide

[albertkuc · 7/10 · 7 August 2022]

I've heard before that W'99 was a failure and that Limp Bizkit was framed for that. My worst dreams I couldn't have predicted how bad it really was and how incompetent and greedy organizers can be.

The 3 episodes are a collection of failure after failure from start to finish, and what the consequences you may expect of every stupid decision. I don't understand how Michael Lang and especially John Scher avoided imprisonment for what they did. Their combined mindset of stupidity and greed concluded as a hell on earth event and throught the entire document they haven't acknowledge pity once.

There are some fantastic interviews although I feel there's a lot missing. Out of the provided I would say the highlights are Scott for filmig the last night events, Cody for the peace patrol perspective, Sara for honesty from start to finish and Lee Rosenblatt as the biggest voice of reason for the management.

Polish Woodstock rip off (Przystanek Woodstock currently called Pol'and'Rock, as they no longer have rights to refer to the original name) which takes place since 1995, and for years now gathers 400k+ attendants, has it's own imperfections and accidents. No brainer for that scale of the event. My point is that it is possible to make it work and provide a safe environment for everybody including children. Instead Woodstock 99 is now a guide HOW NOT TO make a festival.

Going back to Limp Bizkit. After watching one and a half episodes you can already see how bad things were. So David Blaustein mentioning that Fred Durst's ego fumed the crowd was the biggest lie of the entire document and made me question everything else he said. What was the standard Limp Bizkit performance for years, somehow got framed as provocative at the event. This document is clearly missing some words from Fred Durst himself. Every other artist interviewed, mention that they were not told what is going on.

Putting any blame on the attendants, weather, lineup is just disgusting. I have a lot of questions regarding other things, such us how it is possible that people were refused to bring in their water, while so many drugs made it to the festival. How the water supply got mixed up with feces. How big of an idiot you have to be, to even think that giving candles and fire to drunk and drugged people, sounds like a good idea. And why Sara was not allowed to answer whether she would attend the event once again.

Huge props for a lot of camera footage, but same as the interviews, I believe there is a lot content they were not allowed to show us.

The early 20s is not an age of reason compared to late 90s

[sendspamhere-68868 · 2/10 · 4 September 2022]

So here we are again. Like the last year's HBO documentary, the villains of the past are our present day villains: the toxic masculinity, the angry white man and their awful music and the corporate greed (as seen through the eyes of 2020s corporate greed).

The said corporate greed stretched this documentary to three episodes and it's beyond imagination how similar in scope this is to the HBO self contained feature and how they checklist the same checkboxes of modern documentary making. If the HBO's is an average and flawed opinion-piece, this one is just lazy on not improving upon the former.

The lack of hard numbers on anything is very telling on its journalistic quality. It's like the filmmakers agreed to not talk about it. No number on profits, damages, casualties, arrests. The real victims themselves were pushed under the rug. It's really empty.

Maybe we can wait another 10 year to look at Woodstock '99 again. Then we can choose to blame what happened solely on the incompetent organizers.

Entertaining and thought provoking

[thekarmicnomad · 8/10 · 17 August 2022]

So the people behind Woodstock 69 naively decide to give it a go for 99.

A great music festival all about freedom and love and throwing off your inhibitions.

Unfortunately, no one mentioned to the main guy that things have changed since 69

Back in the sixties people were actually repressed - even straight white men were restricted in what they could say, do, or wear - for everyone else it was much worse.

Plus at any moment you could be packed off to Vietnam for a run through the jungle.

Now in 1999 for the most part everyone can pretty much do most things.

There is no segregation, there are women in the armed forces, gay people on TV and there is sex everywhere you look - a time traveller from the 60s would have kittens!

So, in 1999 - where is there to go when you invite free people to shrug off the few restrictions they do have?

Have a little sing-song and maybe unbutton your tunic?

Oh, yes and for fun lets make this event on a really hot day, remove access to water, security and sanitation - throw in piles of drugs, kegs of alcohol and high energy bands that sell themselves on pushing back against authority.

Well nothing bad surely can happen?

This is a well made documentary that follows the disaster of Woodstock 99.

It is detailed and interesting - it is good to get the honest opinions of people who attended.