Attempted Rebirths

 Recreation of Woodstock: Possible or Not?

As Seen in the picture, The 1979 Woodstock was still filled with hundreds of thousands of people, beer, marijuana, acid, heroin, and Rock And Roll

 These two men are basically the perfect stereotypes of the 1994 Woodstock crowd. Young, excited kids looking to lose their soberness.

As stated previously, the 1999 woodstock consisted of a mud party.

 Here is the Woodstock we all know and love,  the famous 1969 Woodstock and all of its hecticness captured in one photo!

Here is a demonstration of the Baby Boomers attempt at peace. It is a comical yet legitimate attempt to end war.

There have been anniversary reunions for Woodstock 10 years, 25 years, and 30 years after this historic event. The first reunion, in 1979, had several competing events. There was an affair in upstate New York with Johnny Winter and small time artists. There was also a concert at Madison Square Garden featuring Rich Danko with Paul Butterfield, Richie Havens, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish, Kenny Ranking and others. These festivals all contained Rock N Roll, but there were also numerous commercial motives behind these festivals. Many companies such as Pepsi funded the event in the hope of getting their products noticed. 

Fifteen years later there was another festival in 1994. This Reunion was much more of a commercial affair as well with big name bands, and sponsorships. There was a ban of beer and tent poles. There was also no wild camping in the woods, or anywhere else  allowed. This was a poor attempt at a Woodstock revival. Aside from the fact that people were uniting to listen to music, the wildness, and abuse of hallucinogenics, beer, and partying was clearly not present at this revival. People were not searching to find peace and relive the emotions felt in 1969. The 1994 revival took place on the Winston Farm. It was 16,000 acres long and the festival went from the twelth to the fifteenth of August. Among the thirty bands were Aerosmith, The allman Brothers, Aphex Twin, Arrested development, Metallica, and Green Day.

In 1999, in Romey, NY, there was another revival of Woodstock. Musicians such as Sheryl Crow, Korn, Los Lobos, Dave Matthews band, Metallica, and Sugar Ray performed. This Woodstock revival had strictly commercial incentives behind it. At the end of this Woodstock festival, much of the stage, a row of trucks and vendors stalls burned up. Mostly all of the performers at this Woodstock revival were "metal performers" to attract an audience from 18-25 years of age. Some examples of just how commercial this revival Woodstock was can be seen by the $10 burritos, $4 sodas, and $30 dollar Woodstock T-shirts.

 250,000 kids  attended and the crowd jumped on the oppurtunity to be as roudy and crazy as the audience was during the original Woodstock. The festival became more of a nudist camp  when nearly all people in the crowd took their clothes off. Everywhere in site were naked teens and young adults tripping on different drugs. Sewage's were overflowing causing a giant mud pool for the audience to get messy in. Kids began setting fire to huge piles of trash as they danced around naked bonfires. In fact, one of the fires got out of control and spread to a row of 12 parked trucks containing propane cylinders. Soon, all 12 trucks were on fire and the kids were excited by this. They began tearing down parts of the stage and starting even more fires on vendor stalls, cars, and even portable toilets. Finally, police came in and relieved the chaos ending the 1999 Woodstock abruptly.

These kids were just trying to take on the spirit of the audience of the 1960s Woodstock, however took it too far. None of these revivals even came close to competing with the original Woodstock. The audiences of the revival Woodstock's are often described as "being a little rowdy." The 1969 Woodstock people were described as (and i quote) "tripped out zombies who openly snorted Special K." In General, these Woodstock revivals were used more as marketing strategies instead of a sincere attempt to capture the beautiful feelings that were felt in 1969.

The term baby boom is used to identify a massive increase in births following World War II. They were born between 1946 and 1964. Although the past three Woodstock revivals may have been successful in a monetary value, they were a far cry from the original and had zero importance in terms of Rock and Roll. 

When the 2009 Woodstock was being planned, Baby Boomers stressed to focus on the music and atmosphere of the event rather than the financial aspect. Woodstock has always been included when identifying the Baby Boomers Generation. They are and will always be remembered by it. This generation came together  for Rock n' Roll and rebellion. The 2009 Woodstock was, however, unsuccessful due to a lack of money and sponsors. This revival was going to be the one that showed modern generations why the Baby Boom generation was so special. To many of these Baby Boomers (most who are now in their 60s) they wanted to relive all the emotions and special times that Woodstock 1969 provided.

Michael Lang, one of the four men who planned Woodstock 1969, was the man who was preparing Woodstock 2009. The motives for a new Woodstock are described perfectly by Brent Green in his journal "some of the values associated with Woodstock persist within the heart of this generation. These include a belief in the perfectibility of the human condition, yearning for a healthier planet unscathed by industrial and consumer waste, belief in inherent equality across races and cultures, and an atavistic love of rock ā€˜nā€™ roll music that remains forever youthful in spirit despite aging bodies." Three days of peace and music have been buried and stuck in the past. Every five or ten years they have made a slight revival, but they never have truly captured the emmotions that the Baby Boom generation felt. This generation just wanted one last event, before they were too old, to show the younger generations what Woodstock truly was. Woodstock revivals have been used as marketing strategies, however the sole motive of the Baby Boom generation's revival was to remember and re-live the beauty of Woodstock 1969. David Craig speaks for many Baby Boomers when he says "It was a beautiful, beautiful one-time human experience."

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