Woodstock 1999

Organization

Michael Lang, one of the organizers of the original Woodstock festival and Woodstock '94, agreed to partner with New Jersey concert promoter John Scher for a thirtieth anniversary festival. A third Woodstock festival was considered a risky proposition after a rain squall at Woodstock '94 (later sardonically dubbed "Mudstock") led gatecrashers to breach fences and attendees to throw mud at each other and the performers, leading to a large financial loss and negative press coverage. Lang and Scher began organizing plans for the festival in the fall of 1998. They originally planned to file applications to have the festival at the Winston Farm site where Woodstock '94 was held. Scher quickly began scouting for multiple high-profile acts of the time to draw media and popular attention. Rome mayor Joseph Griffo received Lang's proposal for the festival and approved it in an effort to revitalize the area and attract funding, holding a press conference with Hillary Clinton to announce the festival once the venue was secured.

Organizers had planned to hold a European leg of the festival in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, on the weekend prior to the festival in Rome. This was ultimately cancelled; Lang stated that more time than available was required in order to be able to hold a safe event.

Performers

Many of the high-profile acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Fatboy Slim, The Offspring, DMX, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Alanis Morissette, Bush, Kid Rock, Rage Against The Machine and Creed were popular or rising artists of the era. While no acts that performed at the original Woodstock festival took the stage at Woodstock 1999, two individuals did; John Entwistle of the Who performed a solo set and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead played with his band Planet Drum. Jeff Beck was scheduled to perform but had to cancel due to a "scheduling conflict". He had been scheduled to perform at the original Woodstock festival; however, his band the Jeff Beck Group broke up the previous week. Although the Doors had rejected an offer to play at the first Woodstock, their guitarist Robby Krieger was a surprise addition to Creed's set, performing the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" with the group. Only five acts on the bill (Collective Soul, Live, Metallica, Sheryl Crow, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers) had performed at Woodstock '94. Korn frontman Jonathan Davis recalled that management group the Firm, Inc. rented a Boeing 737 for his band, Limp Bizkit, and Ice Cube to fly all three artists from Southern California to Syracuse for the festival.

Booking conflicts

Marilyn Manson and Hole were initially reported to be on the bill but both later withdrew. Manson stated he refused the bill due to his band not being offered a prime time slot. Hole were unable to perform due to conflicting tour dates in addition to personal tensions between Courtney Love and Dave Grohl.

Foo Fighters were initially set to perform, but they withdrew to finish work on the album There Is Nothing Left to Lose, and due to guitarist Franz Stahl not yet having been replaced by Chris Shifflett, who joined the band the following month.

Sugar Ray were slated to appear, but they were forced to cancel two days prior due to lead singer Mark McGrath being too sick to perform.

Al Green was also supposed to appear, flying from Nashville in a small private plane, but he backed out following John F. Kennedy Jr.'s death in a plane crash.

Several nu metal bands such as Slipknot, Rob Zombie, System of a Down, Powerman 5000, Static-X, and Deftones were each offered slots, but all were obligated to perform the final two remaining dates of that year's Ozzfest tour in California that weekend. Godsmack and Megadeth were the only two bands from that year’s Ozzfest lineup to accept the offer; both were flown overnight from San Bernardino to Rome for their set on July 25.

Various female performers rumored to perform had conflicting schedules with Lilith Fair.

Numerous bands from the 1999 Warped Tour were also offered slots, but only Reveille and Sevendust accepted.

Facilities

The festival was held on the east side of Rome at the former Griffiss Air Force Base, a designated Superfund waste cleanup site. The U.S. Air Force had decommissioned and closed the B-52 base in September 1995, and the area was later redeveloped as Griffiss Business and Technology Park. During this time, the base was largely unused and in poor condition.

The promoters were determined to avoid the gate-crashing that had occurred at previous festivals. Lang and Scher characterized the site as "defensible", installing a 12-foot (3.7 m) wall of plywood and steel to prevent gate-crashing. Lang later dubbed this the “peace wall” as organizers invited numerous volunteers to paint on sections of the panels. In addition to the wall, approximately 500 New York State Police troopers were initially planned to provide security.

In addition to two main stages, facilities included several alternate stages, a night-time rave hangar, a sports park, and a film festival (sponsored by the Independent Film Channel) held in a former airplane hangar.

Finances and promotion

Woodstock 1999 was conceived and executed as a commercial venture with dozens of corporate sponsors and included the presence of vendor "malls" and modern accoutrements such as ATMs and email stations. Scher hoped to avoid the large losses that Woodstock '94 had incurred, planning for the 1999 event to turn a profit; this resulted in numerous cost-cutting measures such as the extensive subcontracting of onsite amenities. Advance tickets for the event were priced at $150 (equivalent to $290 in 2025) plus service charges, at the time considered costly for a festival of this type. Tickets purchased at the gate cost $180 (equivalent to $348 in 2025).

There were about 400,000 attendees. A total of 186,983 tickets were sold according to reports shortly after the festival, "a gross take of $28,864,748" at the time. Ticket sales were advertised as being capped at 250,000, the capacity of the venue. It has been estimated that ticket sales were worth $60 million in revenue, but that number appears to have been based on believing there were 400,000 paid attendees. Ticket sales may have been underreported to avoid extra payouts to the city of Rome and Oneida County:Perhaps the discrepancy stems from the deal between Woodstock 1999 promoters and the Griffiss Local Development Corporation (GLDC). MTV cites that the GLDC, the city of Rome, and Oneida County were expected to receive $1 million to host the festival and an additional $250,000 if ticket sales topped 200,000.

Any tickets sold beyond 200,000 would then result in an additional $5 (per ticket) paid to all parties. While it's clear more than 186,983 people attended Woodstock 1999, on paper, only that many tickets had been recorded being sold.

Based on that figure, the promoters wouldn't have been required to dish out the extra money it had promised the GLDC.The promoters stated a figure of $38 million in original production costs, not including damages, fees, or emergency costs. Promoters had originally budgeted the festival at $30 million.

Rome itself became a draw for attendees, who patronized its bars, restaurants, and stores, and stayed in its hotels for the concert's duration. The Oneida County Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated that festival attendees spent as much as $40 million in Rome over the weekend.

Vendors

Vendors paid $500 (equivalent to $970 in 2025) to sell at Woodstock during the four-day festival. Many non-licensed vendors attempted to sell on a smaller scale on the paths to and from the concert and camping areas.

Reception

The festival featured a diverse assortment of acts, early reviews for many of which were positive. The Associated Press deemed Korn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Insane Clown Posse and Rage Against the Machine the "breakout stars" of the festival. Performances by the Offspring, Dave Matthews Band, DMX, Sheryl Crow, and Jamiroquai also received praise. Critical and public attention, however, quickly turned to the poor on-site conditions and the increasingly uncontrolled behavior of the crowd.

Notable moments

Kid Rock remarked on the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal: "Monica Lewinsky is a fucking ho, and Bill Clinton is a goddamn pimp!"

Dave Matthews jokingly addressed the crowd after noticing a large number of topless women present, claiming, "there's an abundance of titties."

During the Offspring's performance of the song "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", Israeli actor Guy Cohen, who had appeared in the song's music video, joined the band onstage for the performance.

The Umbilical Brothers were booed off the west stage while they were performing.

Korn lead singer Jonathan Davis claimed he was suffering severe heat exhaustion following his band's performance. He was briefly given an IV, covered with bags of ice, and put on oxygen after leaving the stage. He described performing the opening song of the set, "Blind", as like "witnessing an immense wave of sound traveling for miles down the runway" with the movements of the crowd.

Ice Cube jokingly claimed he was going to end his set short, but returned to the stage after two minutes, performing fragments of "Straight Outta Compton" and "Fuck tha Police" by his former band N.W.A.

Fred Durst began complaining to the sound technicians after the performance of Limp Bizkit's song "Break Stuff" as his microphone was cut whilst the main sound tower was being evacuated due to the ongoing vandalism. Numerous celebrities were present for Limp Bizkit's set, including Puff Daddy, Kid Rock, Joe C., Jennifer Aniston, Noodles, Jonathan Davis, Fieldy, Lars Ulrich, and Verne Troyer (the latter who introduced the band prior to their set).

Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford lit an American flag on fire during the performance of "Killing in the Name".

Everlast utilized an extensive backing band for his set, and later performed "Jump Around" (his 1992 hit with House of Pain); this was his first concert performance of the song in nearly four years.

Problems

Environment

Temperatures in Rome on the weekend of the festival were in excess of 100 °F (38 °C). The former Griffiss AFB included large areas of concrete and asphalt with little or no shade, placing the entire facility within its own heat island; this not only caused temperatures to rise during the day, but also kept them elevated at night. The East and West stages were 2.3 miles (3.7 km) apart, forcing festivalgoers to walk a long distance across hot concrete surfaces. Camping space across the grassy areas quickly became scarce by the middle of the first day, forcing numerous attendees to camp on the hot asphalt surfaces. In an effort to find shade, concertgoers took refuge from the heat under tractor-trailers or tables. In a 2021 interview, Noodles of the Offspring sardonically criticized the facility for its unsuitability for the festival: You know there was a festival ground in Germany that was literally built by Hitler, and we've played there a buncha times, great venue, buncha fun. That airbase was less hospitable than a place built by Nazis.

Concessions

Numerous budget cuts were made during the hiring and delegation process for concession vendors; organizers were forced to lease services from numerous subcontractors, whose contracts gave them complete control of pricing. Concessions sold by onsite vendors were regularly marked up to inconvenient prices; bottled water was sold for $4.00 (equivalent to $7.73 in 2025). Supplies of food and water dwindled over the three days of the festival, which vendors took advantage of to raise prices; by the third day of the festival, booths charged up to $12.00 (equivalent to $23.19 in 2025) for water bottles. As an alternative, festival-goers faced a long walk or cramped travel via looping buses to Rome's modest shopping areas, where stores had long lines and low stock. Most outside food and drink was confiscated by security, though several concertgoers reported that security often overlooked or were bribed to ignore attendees bringing in various drugs. Attendees stood in long lines to access the free water fountains, until frustration led numerous concertgoers to break the pipes to provide water to those in the middle of the line. As a result, numerous mud pits began forming around the concert site. The groundwater and soil at the site had been contaminated by heavy metals and toxic chemicals such as trichloroethylene and PCBs from its time as a military installation, hence its designation as a Superfund clean-up site.

Sanitation

The number of portable toilets installed proved insufficient for the number of attendees. The toilets and showers soon became unusable and overflowing, and male guests resorted to urinating on the side of the toilets or behind vendor stalls. Sewage from the toilets flowed into the mud pits and camping areas, mixing with water from the broken pipes and creating an odor strong enough to be smelled five miles away. Many attendees began jumping into the mud pits and water troughs to stay cool in the intense heat, unaware of the contamination; this led to many cases of trench mouth and trench foot. The Oneida County Health Department analyzed a sample of the free drinking water, finding it to be contaminated with E. coli and other bacteria.

An insufficient number of trash cans were provided on the site, and concertgoers eventually began overturning the cans and drumming on them or rolling them across the field. Subcontracted sanitation workers often failed to appear for their duties, allowing trash to pile up throughout the site.

Security

The festival's lackluster security was another source of blame for violence and poor conditions on site. To further cut costs—and avoid "the influences of the government or of the police state," according to Lang—organizers did not hire conventional security officers, instead sourcing adolescents and young adults from a nearby job agency to serve as the "Peace Patrol." Nearly all of the Peace Patrol officers lacked any prior experience in security or law enforcement. All Peace Patrol officers were unarmed, and most seemed uninterested in performing their duties. Many security employees simply sold their spare security shirts to other concertgoers or abandoned their posts entirely; some Peace Patrol guards alleged that others had utilized their positions to demand sexual favors from women in the audience. Many of the officers reported unruly conduct from their peers within the first day of the festival, including the theft of personal items from employees and guests. Some security guards confiscated camping supplies from people entering the gates; some confiscated alcoholic beverages which they then drank themselves. Numerous attendees entered with fake passes, few of which security confiscated. A large number of attendees had also smuggled drugs or other illicit substances into the festival, which the Peace Patrol often ignored or allowed onto the grounds in exchange for a bribe.

Sexual assaults

Extensive substance abuse and poor security, along with a perceived culture of misogyny, contributed to widespread abuse of female concertgoers throughout the festival. During the Offspring's performance, singer Dexter Holland condemned the crowd's behavior after witnessing numerous women being groped in the audience, as did Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay during their sets. At least five rapes and numerous other sexual assaults and incidents of sexual harassment at the festival were officially reported, though it is widely believed that a far greater number of unreported incidents occurred. Eyewitnesses reported a crowd-surfing woman being pulled down into the crowd and assaulted in the mosh pit during Limp Bizkit's set. During the post-show rave on Saturday night, an apparently intoxicated man stole and drove a maintenance truck into the rave hangar through the crowd during Fatboy Slim's set, in which staff reported seeing a teenage girl being raped; Fatboy Slim and his entourage were asked to evacuate the premises immediately, and fled to a nearby airport and flying out the following morning. A volunteer also reported seeing a gang rape during Korn's performance.

Timeline of incidents

Friday, July 23

Unruly behavior from those in attendance at the festival was present as early as the second day. Numerous male concertgoers began chanting "show your tits" at actress Rosie Perez as she introduced DMX alongside actor Stephen Baldwin. Annoyed by their chanting, she retorted, "I ain't showing y'all shit!" DMX later performed the song "My Niggas" and had the crowd chant along with him; media outlets later reacted to this in confusion and outrage, as the overwhelmingly white audience chanted the word "nigga" along with him.

The "show your tits" chant returned during Sheryl Crow's set, with Crow responding, "You'd have to pay a whole lot more than you paid to get in to see my tits." Crow reported that one audience member had thrown feces at her during her performance of "My Favorite Mistake". She would later criticize the performance and the festival due to the behavior of the crowd, and stated that she had considered ending her set early out of disgust. She recalled the performance as the "single worst gig I have ever had" in 2019.

A fan threw a soda bottle at the Offspring singer Dexter Holland during the band's performance of "Have You Ever", but he continued performing unfazed. Toward the end, before their performance of "Self Esteem", Holland condemned sexual misconduct in the crowd after witnessing numerous women being groped and later said: "...if you're a girl and you have a guy passing over you, do me a favor and grab him by the balls."

Halfway in their set, the Offspring lined up five dummies with the faces of each member of the Backstreet Boys in front of their drum riser during a break in between songs. Holland then began hitting the dummies with a plastic baseball bat, and the crowd joined in by throwing water bottles at them. Some commentators have highlighted this incident as part of a pattern of sometimes violent rockist sentiment and machismo expressed by the festival's male performers and attendees, while others felt that it was hypocritical for MTV to promote the festival's heavier rock acts while featuring boy bands such as the Backstreet Boys on its television and radio programming.

To protest the exorbitant price of onsite concessions, Insane Clown Posse taped $100 bills to several beach balls and kicked them into the crowd during their performance. Members of the audience then fought over the money.

Saturday, July 24

During the Tragically Hip's performance opening the festival's second day, numerous fans anticipating Kid Rock's performance pelted the band with bottles. Attempting to divert attention from the bottles, frontman Gord Downie began humorously singing "O Canada" in appreciation for the large amount of Canadian fans present waving Canadian flags. Many other fans in the crowd then began booing the band and singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in response.

Ryan Miller of Guster recalled performing in front of a hostile crowd displeased with the band's set. Drummer Brian Rosenworcel felt they were unfit for the lineup, as most in attendance were impatiently waiting for nu metal or hip-hop acts such as Limp Bizkit or Ice Cube: "There was this aggressive culture to both the artists that they chose and the audience that they drew, and that is not Guster's bread and butter. ... We were a melodic band and [the others were] Limp Bizkit and Korn and even like DMX [and] I was like, What did we get ourselves into?"

Alanis Morissette noted the apathy of the crowd during her set, as a large majority of fans in attendance were waiting for Limp Bizkit's performance; some began booing and chanting "Limp Bizkit" near the end of her set as they grew impatient.

Appalled by the prices of concessions, Kid Rock and Wyclef Jean asked the audience to throw their empty water bottles onstage in between songs.

Violence and vandalism would considerably escalate during the evening's performance by Limp Bizkit. Concertgoers also began moshing violently, visibly destroying nearby structures, and crowd-surfing by utilizing the plywood barriers. Frontman Fred Durst addressed the crowd following the song "9 Teen 90 Nine" after being approached by festival staff: "They wanna ask us to ask you to mellow out a little bit. They say too many people are getting hurt. Don't let anybody get hurt, but I don't think you should mellow out. Mellowing out? That's what Alanis Morissette had you motherfuckers do. If someone falls, pick 'em up." The tension ultimately boiled over during their performance of "Break Stuff". Durst briefly riled up the audience before the song by asking if they liked NSYNC, earning numerous boos and jeers. During the song's breakdown, Durst addressed the crowd: Time to reach deep down inside, and take all that negative energy, all that negative energy, and let that shit out of your fucking system. You got girl problems? You got boy problems? You got parent problems? You got boss problems? You got job problems? You got a problem with me? You got a problem with yourself? It's time to take all that negative energy, and put it the fuck out! Once the breakdown ended, concertgoers immediately began destroying smaller buildings adjacent to the stage and aggressively moshing or punching each other. A large number of attendees also began ripping plywood off the perimeter fence as they attempted to surf on the broken panels; this resulted in several pieces collapsing, dropping crowd surfers onto other fans and possibly crushing them. Terrified of the hostile crowd, several stage technicians assigned to cover the central sound tower placed a sign reading "The Alamo" below the cameras. The technicians were eventually ordered by the grounds crew to evacuate their post. Following the conclusion of the song, the broadcast team muted Durst's microphone while medical staff took in numerous injured concertgoers. Durst addressed the crowd again during a performance of "Nookie", telling the audience: We already let all the negative energy out, it's time to reach down and bring that positive energy to this motherfucker. It's time to let yourself go right now, 'cause there are no motherfuckin' rules out there. Following "Nookie", Durst walked to the edge of the stage and asked the crowd to assist him as he attempted to crowd-surf on the broken plywood. Security implored Durst not to crowd-surf, but he was undeterred as he asked the crowd to pass him a panel of plywood, on which he later sang "Faith", closing the band's set. Durst later explained that he had wanted to demonstrate himself enjoying the performance with his audience. Following the set, he was approached by Limp Bizkit manager Peter Katsis and several police officers who informed him that the plywood was ripped off buildings after fans had destroyed multiple structures during his band's performance. John Scher would later vilify Durst for his actions on numerous occasions, noting that numerous staff members had approached Durst between songs, asking him to calm the crowd.

Sunday, July 25

Due to continually deteriorating conditions, violence and misconduct escalated further throughout the final day. In a 2021 interview, Jewel recalled a feeling of dread during her performance due to the audience's tension and bitterness; she described them as "really tired and very depleted." She, her manager, and the road crew immediately returned to their tour bus and fled the site following her set. Fans had begun regularly throwing bottles at the stage during her set, as well as Creed's earlier in the day. Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose recalled his band being escorted by numerous security guards to the stage for their set as attendees grew increasingly violent following Jewel's performance. Numerous witnesses recalled noticing a growing frequency of fights and property damage across the facility during Godsmack's performance.

The tension came to a head during the concert's final hours, as Red Hot Chili Peppers performed on the east stage and Megadeth performed on the west stage. One fan shone a laser pointer at Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine in the middle of their performance, prompting him to criticize the crowd's behavior. A group of activists, led by the anti-gun violence organization PAX, had distributed candles to those stopping at their booth during the day, intending them to be lit for a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Columbine High School massacre during the Chili Peppers' performance of "Under the Bridge"; this had not been mentioned to or approved by local firefighting authorities. The crowd began to light the candles during the Chili Peppers' set, with some using them to start bonfires. Plywood and trash strewn around the site were used to fuel the fires, which had spread to both stages by the end of the Chili Peppers and Megadeth performances. After the Red Hot Chili Peppers finished their main set, the audience was informed about "a bit of a problem"; an audio tower had caught fire. The local fire department was called in to extinguish it, though they refused the call, fearing the audience. Shortly after the tower began burning, a large group of concertgoers climbed the base of its scaffolding, and the tower then collapsed onto the field.

Rome Mayor Joe Griffo pleaded with the Chili Peppers to return to the stage and calm the crowd in the midst of the chaos. Frontman Anthony Kiedis exclaimed that there was nothing he could do to quell the aggressive crowd as the fires continued to grow. After the band were convinced to return to the stage, Kiedis remarked of the fires, "Holy shit! It's, uh, Apocalypse Now out there."

Fatalities

Three deaths occurred during the festival.

On Friday, a 44-year-old man, identified as Scott L. Stanley of Hyannis, Massachusetts, succumbed to heat exhaustion in the campground. An attendee of Woodstock 1969, Stanley was in attendance with his 16-year old foster son and other friends. The cause of death was later determined to be a heart attack.

On Saturday, 24-year-old David DeRosia collapsed in the crowd during Metallica's performance. Concert medical staff initially tried to treat his seizure and what they suspected to be a drug overdose. DeRosia was transported to the Air Force base medical center and then airlifted to University Hospital in Syracuse. A little more than an hour after he had collapsed, DeRosia's body temperature was 107 °F (42 °C). The following afternoon, he fell into a coma; he died at 12:09 pm on Monday, July 26, having never awoken. The autopsy report ruled the death accidental, and listed the cause of death as hyperthermia aggravated by cardiomegaly and obesity. In 2001, DeRosia's mother filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court against the promoters of Woodstock 1999 and six doctors who worked at the event, maintaining that DeRosia died because of the concert promoters' negligence in not providing enough fresh water and adequate medical care for the attendees.

Tara K. Weaver, a 28-year-old woman from Troy, New York, was struck and killed by a speeding car while walking along an access road to leave the concert.

Aftermath

Reports suggest that 42 to 44 people were arrested over the course of the festival. Ten state troopers and two state police supervisors were reportedly demoted or suspended for their behavior at the festival:A supervisor of two state troopers who had posed with naked female attendees was suspended; a New York State prison guard was charged with sodomizing a 15-year-old girl during the riots; 253 people had been treated at area hospitals. The official numbers of fans treated on-site is between 4,000 and 4,500, yet Dr. Richard Kaskiw, one of the few area doctors who worked the medical tents, says that he was told by Vuoculo—who issued the official stats—that the numbers were far higher, the 8,000 to 10,000 range.The New York State Department of Health reported 5,162 medical cases related to the festival.

After the conclusion of the festival, members of the National Organization for Women gathered outside the New York offices of one of the promoters to protest the sexual violence against women which had occurred. Police investigated four instances of rape that occurred during the concert. In October 2000, a woman sued Oneida County and Michael Lang for personal injury over sexual assault at the festival. Numerous lawsuits were filed against the organizers over the poor environmental conditions of the festival.

The New York Times solicited festival performers Rage Against the Machine for their opinion on the controversies surrounding the festival. Guitarist Tom Morello wrote in Neil Strauss's Times column on August 5, 1999:

Hey man, leave the kids alone. I've had enough of the frenzied demonization of young people surrounding Woodstock '99. Yes, Woodstock was filled with predators: the degenerate idiots who assaulted those women, the greedy promoters who wrung every cent out of thirsty concertgoers, and last but not least, the predator media that turned a blind eye to real violence and scapegoated the quarter of a million music fans at Woodstock '99, the vast majority of whom had the time of their lives.

The post-festival cleanup of the site took three weeks. Organizers spent an estimated $78,000 re-sodding the stage and mosh pit areas. Approximately 12 trailers, a small bus, and a number of booths and portable toilets were damaged by fire in the fray. Some of the trailers had coolant or propane tanks that exploded.

Legacy

Less than a week after the conclusion of Woodstock '99, Los Angeles concert promoters Goldenvoice (later AEG) announced the inaugural Coachella festival in Indio, California, with an emphasis to distance themselves from the unrest and damage that unfolded in Rome, including offering free water bottles and parking to those in attendance.

The Simpsons poked fun at the festival's incidents in the episode "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", in which Otto attends the festival; his clothes catch fire and he refuses to pay $8 for a bottle of water, only to be saved by a girl who uses her water bottle to extinguish him.

In 2000, the Insane Clown Posse held the inaugural Gathering of the Juggalos as a response to Woodstock '99 with the first edition taking place from July 20–21 at the Novi Expo Center in Novi, Michigan.

Event schedule

During the four days of the festival, various bands and artists performed on one of the three different stages: "West Stage", "East Stage", and "Emerging Artists Stage".

Recordings

Music from Woodstock 1999 was released on a two-disc compact disc set, Woodstock 1999. The album features 32 performing artists and was released on Epic Records on October 19, 1999.

A DVD of concert highlights entitled Woodstock 99 was released in March 2000. It features the more positive aspects of the concerts with one song each from 29 of the participating acts, along with interviews from the musicians and concert-goers.

Most of the Bush performance is available on the DVD The Best of '94–'99.

Documentaries

The Ringer produced an eight-part documentary podcast series about the festival entitled Break Stuff: The Story of Woodstock '99.

The documentary Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage, directed by Garret Price, premiered on July 23, 2021, on HBO and HBO Max.

On August 3, 2022, Netflix premiered a three-part documentary miniseries entitled Trainwreck: Woodstock '99, featuring interviews with concertgoers, journalists present at the festival, artists who performed at the festival, and co-promoters John Scher and Michael Lang.