When our permits were pulled by the Town of Wallkill for the original site location in 1969, it was barely a month before the mid-August festival weekend. I was convinced we were done for, but Michael Lang assured me that there was “no scarcity in the Universe” – he was certain we would find a new site and somehow pull it off. At that juncture, we had sold about 186,000 tickets and anticipated that maybe 200,000 people would attend.
Michael was right. In an era before cell phones, email and the Internet [yes—we did have landlines, walkie-talkies and cars!], Eliot Tiber lured us up to White Lake with permits and the promise of a new site. We found Yasgur’s Farm and—miraculously—everything fell into place.
But the greatest miracle of all—in hindsight—was the Peace and the Sharing.
After the concert, Max Yasgur described it as a victory of peace and love. He spoke of how nearly half a million people—with potential for disaster, riot, looting and catastrophe spent three days with music and peace on their minds.
Yasgur said: “If we join them, we can turn those adversities that are the problems of America today into a hope for a brighter and more peaceful future.”
It is sad to realize that our current reality is so much darker than Yasgur’s hopeful dream.
Mounting a festival that created a small city of 400,000 people in 1969 was Easy-Peazy by comparison to the dangers we face in this current moment. We were not challenged by the all-too-real possibility of domestic terrorism that looms over every city in America now, in 2019.
Woodstock ’69 morphed into a free event at the last minute, as we prioritized the construction of the stage and sound-system over and above building fences and gates.
There is no such freedom in America today: Adequate safety precautions would mean airport-style security: gates with metal detectors and sufficient man-power to run them. That sort of infrastructure comes with a significant price tag.

In his work on Woodstock 50, Michael Lang was able to gather a wonderful line-up of talent, but the venues he pursued rejected the event due to the lack of an effective Public Safety Plan.

I believe the dissolution of Michael’s Woodstock 50th was a blessing in disguise: While the majority of us would love to “get ourselves back to the Garden,” the territory of a pop-up 400,000-person city for a 3-day music festival appears to be too treacherous in 2019.

Woodstock ’69 showed us what was possible. For the time being, let’s continue to unite and share here online…

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