Woodstock Returns for 50th Anniversary This Summer

The legendary Woodstock festival is set to return for three days this summer. The original event’s co-creator, Michael Lang, confirmed that the event will be back at Watkins Glen, New York on Aug. 16-18, almost the exact dates as the first Woodstock 50 years ago.

Woodstock has been revived multiple times since its 1969 iteration to diminishing effect. The most infamous version was the 40th anniversary celebration in 1999. Dubbed “The Day Music Died,” Woodstock ’99’s legacy is plagued by sights of violence and vandalism, plus at least one drug overdose and multiple reports of sexual assault.

“I think the aftermath of ‘99, the imagery of kids sort of dancing around the fire, was more dramatic than the actual event,” Lang told Billboard in 2009 when asked about that Woodstock’s permanent damage. “The problem with ’99 sort of erupted after the last act went off stage, and it was really a couple of hundred kids who were running rampant. I think that it has its ramifications, but I don’t think it did any real damage in that sense.”

So Lang is trying to evoke the spirit of ’69 instead of ’99 for this 50th anniversary, telling Rolling Stone, “With this one, we’re going back to our roots and our original intent.” Though hip-hop didn’t exist in the ’60s, Lang says it will also be represented in this “eclectic bill.”

But potential attendees will have to wait a bit to find out who’s on that eclectic bill. The acts will be announced when tickets go on sale in February.