The trials and tribulations of Creating Woodstock
A Woodstock documentary 30 years in the making.
The 50th anniversary of Woodstock has come with excess baggage. So much so that some have called the upcoming iteration of the famed festival as "the next Fyre Festival", with bands from the original saying the purported 2019 edition as potentially ruining their legacy. The debacle began over money and an average lineup, but now it seems there is no end to this disaster of a festival.
Perhaps then, it is no surprise that in the 50th year since there are not one but two documentaries that focus solely on the original Woodstock. We have covered the PBS documentary but now, the trailer for Creating Woodstock has surfaced. This long-gestating documentary compiles interviews and footage from the last 30 years with those behind the creation of the festival. Footage includes interviews with the founders of Woodstock Ventures- John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Michael Lang, and Artie Kornfield- as well as interviews with the people responsible for organizing, wrangling, and ultimately convincing the artists to perform at the original festival.
And while the documentary seems devoid of interviews with some of the prominent artists involved, it does promise some interesting, never-seen or told stories from the event. The film's producers have said, Creating Woodstock;
"features never-before-seen private film and rare archival video footage, original interviews with key figures, and uncovered photographs that show just how much went into pulling off the impossible. First-hand accounts of little known stories are woven throughout the film, such as when Jimi Hendrix was stranded at the airport and hitched a ride to the site, or when a bank manager was awoken in the middle of the night to get money to pay The Who, which then needed to be helicoptered to them before they would go on stage – much like the personal supply of strawberries that Janis Joplin required."
Creating Woodstock will see release July 30th. Be sure to check out the trailer above. We can't wait for the 50th anniversary of the 1999 event where Fred Durst will ultimately be asked why he did the festival and inevitably, he will answer, "for the nookie".