Woodstock 50

Woodstock 50 was a planned American music festival originally scheduled to be held on August 16–18, 2019, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The event was intended as a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, a landmark festival that was held August 15–18, 1969, in Bethel, New York. Just prior to its cancellation, it was announced the event had been reduced from three days to one day. Woodstock 50 was canceled on July 31, 2019, after a series of permit and production issues, venue relocations, and artist cancellations. Overview Artists initially announced for the Woodstock 50 lineup included The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Halsey, Miley Cyrus, Robert Plant, The Raconteurs, Cage the Elephant and Janelle Monáe. The lineup also included several musical acts that had performed at the original 1969 festival, such as Dead & Company (featuring three members of the Grateful Dead), John Fogerty (with Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969), Santana, David Crosby (with Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969), Melanie, John Sebastian, Hot Tuna (featuring two members of Jefferson Airplane), Canned Heat and Country Joe McDonald (lead singer of Country Joe and the Fish in 1969). Woodstock 50 and its lineup were officially announced in March 2019 but tickets were not released for sale on a previously scheduled date. In late April 2019, a financial backer claimed the festival had been canceled, which was disputed by organizers. Conflicting media reports ranged from allegations of financial and legal difficulties to an inability to secure proper permits from local officials. In May, a judge ruled that the financiers had no right to cancel the festival, allowing the event to proceed as planned. The festival was to take place at the Watkins Glen International racetrack but in June 2019 the venue announced the event would no longer be held there. The concert's location was moved to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland on July 25. The next day, all of the artists who had been initially announced as part of the festival's lineup were released from their contracts. Background