Earlier Tuesday, Woodstock 50 sent an email addressed from founder Michael Lang to members of its mailing list insisting that the commemorative festival has not been canceled.
“Woodstock never belonged to Dentsu, so they don’t have the right to cancel it. Woodstock belongs to the people and it always will. We don’t give up and Woodstock 50 will take place and will be a blast,” wrote Lang.
The email comes following the announcement from Dentsu, the main Woodstock 50 investor, on Monday that the festival had been canceled due to permitting issues and concerns over planning progress.
In an email to The Sun, Ithaca promoter Dan Smalls ’92 wrote how the festival “seemed rather haphazard from the get-go.” However, he also noted how this haphazardness “seems to be Woodstock’s trademark. And, well, they’ve often pulled it off despite the seeming chaos.”
Despite the optimism from the Woodstock 50 camp, Superfly, the Woodstock 50’s production company, pulled out from the festival Wednesday. And, according to a Rolling Stone article published Wednesday, “a source who has worked on many festivals over the last 20 years tells Rolling Stone the loss of Superfly is ‘catastrophic.’”
Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z, Chance the Rapper and The Killers were among the artists set to perform at the commemorative festival. Santana, who performed at Woodstock ’69, was also booked on the festival ticket.
This post will be updated.
Peter Buonanno is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at [email protected].