We arrived at Woodstock '99 to beautiful green grass, lots of punk ass kids, and music.
It was unbelievable the amount
of people that attended-- some 250,000 they said
and Anita and I were sure
that we didn't see the same two people twice.
There were that many people.
Here we are at the East Stage with Kid Rock, who definitely rocked.
Geiorge Clinton put on a phenominal show at the West Stage.
Day two brought more garbage.
I was disapointed that the organization that planned
Woodstock didn't at least
make an effort to provide ample garbage cans, nor
at least have ONE person
cleaning up the trash.
People dressed up in extravagant outfits and it was great.
This lady called herself
Xena in passing and was a vendor selling fetishwear.
Upon showing her the photo,
she commented that her boobs sagged, but it was a sign of age.
The porta-potties were also
a place to "shower" in faucets that spouted up in the air.
It was a place to get relief
from the sun and heat as there wasn't a tree on the site that
one could sit under to seek
refuge from the sweltering heat. Just sitting adjacent to buildings and
shifting as the sun did
was the only place to find comfort... or here, with the water from the
faucets and the wonderful
aroma of the porta potties.
This was day two of garbage.
If you think that this was a lot, I wish I had taken a picture on Sunday.
Let's just say that there
was more garbage than grass.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers
came on and gave a good show. There were people everywhere and
earlier that day we were
all given candles to light at the show. I must say that seeing the Chili
Peppers play
and having that many people
with candles in the air was spectacular.
But then things got out of
control. Here is one of the dozen fires that was started by
punk ass kids that were
given candles and had ample kindling and trash to feed it.
The disaster at Woodstock
'99 was, in my humble opinion, the fault of not only the people who
started them, but the fault
of the organization itself. We had a good time, but the prices of food
and water
and the fact that they exploited
what Woodstock was supposed to be about by charging
ungodly amounts of money
for water ($4-$5), ice ($15 a bag), burrito ($10), etc is unheard of.
For $37.5 million dollars
in ticket sales alone, the people at Woodstock '99 should have been provided
at the very least, ample
garbage facilities. Not once while being at Woodstock did I see any person
from
the organization performing
any cleanup. It was evident on the second day, that the garbage and restroom
situations
were only to get worse.
I do not agree with what happened... the fires, looting, and vandalism
in general, but can't
help but see how it all
happened, and how the organization has effectively destroyed, with this
event, the
peace and love aura synonomous
with the word Woodstock.
I encourage you to check
out the following Real Video clip on the MTV site:
http://www.mtv.com/nav/intro_news.html