Woodstock '94

Lore & Background

The 1994 concert was scheduled for the weekend of August 13–14, with a third day (Friday, August 12) added later. Tickets to the festival cost $135 each. The weather was hot and dry on Friday but by early Saturday afternoon storms rolled in. The rains turned much of the field into mud.

The event took place on Winston Farm, just west of Saugerties, New York—about 100 mi north of New York City and 70 mi northeast of the original 1969 festival site near Bethel. Elsewhere, 12,000 people who had attended the original Woodstock festival celebrated its silver anniversary at the 1969 site. Though only 164,000 tickets were sold, the crowd at Woodstock '94 was estimated at 350,000. The size of the crowd was larger than concert organizers had planned for and by the second night many of the event policies were logistically unenforceable.

The major issues related to security, when attendees arrived, left or returned to the site, and the official concert food and beverage vendor policy which initially restricted attendees from entering with supplies of food, drinks, and above all alcohol. With the concert site mostly enclosed by simple chain link fences, there was hardly any difficulty for many attendees to enter freely with beer and other banned items. The security staff, along with the entrance and exit staff, could not continue reasonable monitoring of the increasing number of people entering and exiting while at the same time maintaining safety, security, and a peaceful atmosphere.

Three deaths at the festival were confirmed. An unidentified 45-year-old male died on Saturday of suspected diabetes complications. On Sunday, a 20-year-old died of a ruptured spleen. Organizers also confirmed 5,000 were treated at medical tents and 800 were taken to hospitals.

Nearly 24 million households bought pay-per-view for the festival, making it the highest-grossing pay-per-view musical event ever at the time. The festival was followed by Woodstock '99, also in New York at Rome.

Reader's Guide

Performers and notable events during the festival: Friday, August 12 – North Stage: Roguish Armament with Rekk, Master of None, 3, Futu Futu, Abba Rage, Lunchmeat, The Paul Luke Band, Peacebomb, The Goats, Huffamoose, Orleans, Blues Traveler, Jackyl, Del Amitri, Live, James, King's X, Sheryl Crow, Collective Soul, Candlebox, Violent Femmes, Ravestock, Aphex Twin, Deee-Lite, DJ Spooky, Doc Martin, Frankie Bones, Kevin Saunderson, Little Louie Vega, The Orb, Orbital, Soul Slinger, DJ Scotto.

Notable Events: Day 1 – Jackyl took the stage early on Friday. Lead singer Jesse James Dupree took the stage with a bottle of whiskey and poured alcohol onto the crowd. He then started smoking marijuana and on a close up he shotgunned the joint into the camera, with copious amounts of smoke filling the screens and the stage, at which point the crowd cheered. Dupree then lit a stool on fire onstage and cut it up with a chainsaw.

He also pulled out a rifle and started firing into the air but cut his hand, which started bleeding. As Dupree wiped his forehead, a streak of blood was left across his head. Aphex Twin's performance was cut short when promoters "disconnected" him mid-show for signing a fake name on a contract, which would forfeit PolyGram's rights to his performance. Saturday, August 13 – North Stage: Joe Cocker, Blind Melon, Cypress Hill, Rollins Band, Melissa Etheridge, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Aerosmith.

South Stage: Nenad Bach, The Cranberries, Zucchero, Youssou N'Dour, The Band featuring Hot Tuna, Bruce Hornsby, Roger McGuinn, Rob Wasserman, and Bob Weir, Primus featuring Jerry Cantrell, Salt-N-Pepa, Vinx. Notable Events: Day 2 – Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon took the stage in his girlfriend's dress and appeared to be tripping on acid during the band's performance and post-show interview with MTV. Nine Inch Nails had the largest crowd density at the event, overshadowing many of the other performers.

Just before going on stage, they wrestled each other in the mud and went on to perform completely wet and covered in mud. In the post-performance interview, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor claimed he thought his band's performance was "terrible" due to technical difficulties on stage.

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