Woodstock 50 Is Still Happening, I Guess? But In Maryland And Not With Jay-Z
Woodstock 50 has been a mess, but after what feels like an eternity of trouble and setbacks and what seemed like a beeline towards Fyre Festival Failure, it may being things around. Sort of. Not really. It’s being reported that the music festival has finally secured a permit to actually happen, but the thing is, by this point some of the artists who were scheduled to perform have probably found other things to do. One person who most likely will not be in attendance is Jay-Z.
Woodstock 50, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, is still scheduled for the weekend of August 16. The lineup they originally announced included Jay, Miley Cyrus, Janelle Monae, Halsey, Chance the Rapper, The Killers–everyone. But then came the issues…
They had venue problems, and their main investor decided to screw over Woodstock 50 and was allegedly poaching artists for the Olympics, or something. And they were accused of stealing money. Then the venue fell all the way through and it was like: “Okay, now what? No money and no place?” Well, Woodstock 50 is one scrappy motherfucker and they clawed themselves back from that and got a new investor and promised to find a new venue. And they did find a new venue! …But it didn’t pan out either. So it was like, okay will this ever happen? Well surprisingly, it seems like yes!
Pitchfork says the new show will go on as planned between August 16 and August 18 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. It may have found a venue, but will their be performers whose schedule is still clear for less than a month from now? Two performers they don’t have anymore are Jay-Z as well as John Foggerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
TMZ says that Jay-Z and John have both pulled out of festival. Jay-Z was arguably the most famous performer on Woodstock’s set and he was supposed to close the 3 day festival. Who knows why Jay-Z pulled out, maybe he has something better to do, maybe he just wanted to be sure he’d get paid–but John definitely found something better to do and will be in Bethel, New York performing at a different event. The rest of the lineup for the music festival is no longer confirmed either, so I guess we’ll soon find out who of those mega-celebrities is down to go to Maryland in a few weeks.
Honestly, don’t book your flights yet kiddos, getting the venue should really be on of the first things you do, not a crunch-time save. I’d be shocked if this festival gets even a quarter of the people they’d previously announced. You think going to the Fyre Festival was embarrassingly stupid? Imagine if you were there to perform?
Pic: Wenn.com