Woodstock 50 “highly unlikely” to go ahead after having permit denied for new venue
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Woodstock 50 “highly unlikely” to go ahead after having permit denied for new venue

The news comes less than a month after Woodstock 50’s original venue backed out of the festival, which followed on from May’s news that the primary funding partner for the event had also pulled their support for the event. 

 

According to Variety, the organisers at Woodstock 50 applied to hold their mammoth event at Vernon Downs in upstate New York, but their permit was turned down on the basis of the organisers being extremely disorganised – which, honestly, comes as a fucking huge surprise, because Woodstock 50 has been all smooth sailing since being announced earlier this year. 

 

Oneida County Administrator Anthony Picente Jr. told Variety that the likelihood of the event occuring was “highly unlikely”, citing the unorganised mess of Woodstock 1999 in his response to promoters – “We could have done this with a year or 16 months advance [planning], but to do it in three to six weeks is really a near impossibility from a public safety and health standpoint. As someone who was here for [Woodstock] 1999 , some names have changed but it’s largely the same situation.”

 

 

In an official statement, Woodstock 50 LLC President Greg Peck claimed that the festival is still set to go ahead, expressing his confidence that the event would be a ‘safe, world-class festival’ – “We understand the public safety and traffic concerns of the local community. We have been working diligently over the last several weeks to secure the permits needed to hold the festival, and will continue to work with Law Enforcement and Public Safety Officials to present a cohesive safety and traffic plan that will be satisfactory in addressing the concerns. We appreciate the honest feedback from the Town of Vernon and will continue to address their comments as we enter the final planning phases for Woodstock 50. We are confident that this careful planning and consideration of community concerns will result in a safe, world-class Festival.’’

 

Woodstock 50 is set to kick off over the weekend of August 16-18, with headliners including Imagine Dragons, Santana, Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z and The Killers.

 

Reacquaint yourself on all the Woodstock 50 drama here