Woodstock ’99 was a debacle on all accounts. The epic festival meant to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original 1969 Woodstock festival that went down in history as three days of “peace, love and happiness,” (with some bad trips due to some questionable LSD thrown in) got its own words. According to Rolling Stone, the 1999 festival was dubbed “the days the Nineties died.” 

The problems were many. It was late July and it was hot. Water was $4 a bottle and free water from fountains was limited. Adding to the heat was a hot tarmac since the event was held at a shuttered Air Force base, and there were long walks between the stages, per Rolling Stone. 

Some of the bands fed off the energy of the overheated crowd and incited them to get wilder and to be destructive. In the pre-Me-Too climate, chants of “Show Your T*ts” were hurled at women everywhere. Volunteers with the New York State Troopers and local police walked off the job and according to Rolling Stone, there were multiple sexual assaults, but out of 44 arrests, only one person was charged with that crime. 

Finally, after days of extreme heat and frustration with the poorly run festival, the crowds started fires and flipped cars. They used merch tents and vendors set-ups to add fuel to the fires. Overall, the whole thing was a disaster. But the worst part is that three people lost their lives. 

All three Woodstock '99 deaths had different causes

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