The Woodstock 99 Disaster, Captured In 33 Photos Of Chaos And Destruction
It was the 30th anniversary of the most iconic music festival in history. Like the original 1969 Woodstock festival before it, Woodstock 99 was meant to be a three-day celebration of peace and music. Instead, it became a hotbed for sexual assault, property destruction, and manmade infernos that necessitated riot police.Get a glimpse of this chaos in the Woodstock 99 photos below, then discover the full story behind recent historys most infamous music festival:Click here to view slideshowWoodstock 99 was held July 22 to 25 at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York. More than 220,000 people attended, temporarily making Rome the third-largest city in the state. But organizers left them to combat 100-degree temperatures atop a tarmac runway virtually on their own. And $4 water bottles led to fiery tempers.As chronicled in the HBO documentary Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage, the music itself had changed from the acid-induced psychedelia of the '60s to the rage-fueled resentment of the '90s. Multiple sexual assaults and rapes went unchecked as 700 people suffered heat exhaustion. Crowd members overturned cars and set them on fire.In the end, outnumbered security and state troopers had to wrangle festival-goers across the charred remains of a what looked like a battle ground. And, as the Woodstock 99 photos in the gallery above showcase, while groups like Korn and Limp Bizkit scored the pandemonium, some security simply gave up.How Woodstock 99 Went From Rock To RiotsBefore the first note was played, Woodstock 99 already seemed like a cynical endeavor. Event organizers set ticket prices at the high price of $157 to see a lineup of acts with no obvious relationship to each other. Among them were Limp Bizkit, Alanis Morissette, The Offspring, The Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow, James Brown, Kid Rock, and DMX.Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect/Getty ImagesFred Durst performs atop a piece of plywood that has been ripped from the venue walls and used to crowd surf.It was a stark contrast to the cohesive lineup of the original 1969 Woodstock Festival.This was no unified bastion of anti-war artists who united their fanbases. And John Entwistle, the bassist for The Who and one of the only performers who had actually played the original Woodstock, was relegated to the "Emerging Artists" stage.Few attendees has prepared for the heat wave. With bottled water priced out of reach for many and few public water stations, drinking fountain lines took hours. There was a 1.5 mile walk between the two main stages across sweltering tarmac, during which many people fainted from heat exhaustion. Even the most harrowing images from Woodstock 99 could never capture the oppressive intensity of the heat. And with temperatures only going up, tensions rose rapidly.And the actions of Woodstock 99 performers didn't help. Insane Clown Posse caused a frenzy by throwing $100 bills into the crowd. Kid Rock had to end his set early after he told the audience to throw anything they could in the air and they began pelting him with water bottles. Female artists, meanwhile, were met by chants to "show us your tits." On the ground, the scene was even more sinister. Festival volunteer David Schneider recalled seeing a 100-pound girl being pulled into a mosh pit and violated by two men."Due to the congestion of the crowd, she felt that if she yelled for help or fought, she feared she was going to be beaten," the police report read. Andrew Lichtenstein/Sygma/Getty ImagesPandemonium on July 25, 1999, as captured in one of dozens of disturbing photos from Woodstock 99.Even some musicians who have since positioned themselves against the misogynist chaos of the festival were less critical of the atmosphere at the time. "In the dance area, where there were no rock bands, the vibe was terrific," said Moby, who performed at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. "Unfortunately, I didn't get laid."The True Anarchy That Even The Photos From Woodstock 99 Didn't CaptureThe 10,000 Woodstock 99 staff members, including 3,000 security guards, were aided by 500 New York State Troopers, although they proved largely unable to manage the crowd. Only 44 people were arrested. And by the end of the weekend, only half the security staff remained, many of whom had joined the rioting crowd. One person even drove a truck through the audience during Fatboy Slim's set.It was during the festival's closing set by the Red Hot Chili Peppers that things turned into anarchy. Their cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" saw aggravated fans light bonfires that turned into several infernos. People ransacked and looted vendor booths, tearing down merchandise and walls before burning the wreckage. These blazes quickly made for some of the most intense photos from Woodstock 99.The riots weren't quelled until dawn on July 26, when reinforcements of state troopers were called in and formed a police wall. But by then, the damage was done. When city officials took stock, the site was a 1.5-mile long cesspit of mud, burnt plywood, human waste, and trash as far as they could see.And the air, according to one MTV report, "smelled of burning garbage, as well as urine and feces."Browse the gallery above to see the shocking Woodstock 99 photos that tell the behind-the-scenes story of "the day the '90s died."After seeing some of the most outrageous photos of Woodstock 99, read about the Altamont Speedway Free Concert that helped bring an end to the hippie era. Then, check out 55 photos from history's most iconic music festivals.The post The Woodstock 99 Disaster, Captured In 33 Photos Of Chaos And Destruction appeared first on All That's Interesting.
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