Last week, the Netflix-produced online documentary The Most Last Man thrilled a lot of people. Now, Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 has grabbed everyone’s attention.
The three-part series delves into Woodstock, a New York festival that took place in July 1999 and aims to recreate the original Woodstock event of 1969.
The description of the Netflix documentary said it was meant to be “a celebration of the millennium defined by peace, love and great music.”
However, the weekend fell into disarray and has been ranked as one of the biggest musical disasters of all time. Quite simply, as the biography of the documentary series says, it was “three days of utter chaos.”
Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 uses archive footage and interviews to describe the disastrous festival held at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York.
If you haven’t had a chance to watch the documentary yet, here’s what happened…
Train wreck: Woodstock 99 | Official Trailer | Netflix
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Train wreck: Woodstock 99 | Official Trailer | Netflix
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Why Woodstock 99 was a disaster
Woodstock 99 was meant to be a great festival, echoing the “Three Days of Peace and Music” that took place in 1969.
Jamiroquai, Sheryl Crow, Metallica, Limp Bizkit, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers were just a few of the great performers who performed and 400,000 people attended.
However, the festival was full of problems which all started with the weather. Due to recent storms, the entire site has been turned into a mud bath.
Pictures from the event show people swimming in puddles of wet mud, which is definitely not ideal for a festival, especially when camping.
Besides, temperatures were above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) all weekend and food and drink prices were stupidly high, so people were spending a fortune on water alone.
The Air Force base where the festival was held had a runway reflecting the heat, and there was also a 1.5-mile walk between the two main stages of the festival.
Violence, sexual assault and fire
More problems arose when there were massive amounts of violence, riots, and even accounts of sexual assault.
Unfortunately, as reported by Pitchfork, three people died over the weekend, and there were also 1,200 admissions to medical facilities on site.
Many of them had to be treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration, while others suffered injuries due to rioting and many injured due to overcrowding.
400,000 people attended the event, but not all of them had tickets. Thousands of people bought fake things and the gate was broken, which means there were a lot of people.
In addition, there were 44 arrests and a massive fire broke out on the final night during the Red Hot Chilli Peppers main performance.
To make matters worse, the band sang a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s song Fire while the festival was on – which was definitely poorly timed.
Three people died in Woodstock
Three people unfortunately died over the weekend.
One of them was David J.
A 44-year-old man with a heart condition from cardiac arrest also died at the Woodstock camp site.
None of the deaths were related to the violence or disasters that occurred at the festival, but more than 1,000 people had to be treated medically.
700 of these people were treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration with rising temperatures and limited access to water.
Many people also have what’s called trench mouth, an infection that causes swelling, inflammation, and sores in the gums.
Its name comes from World War I when the infection was common among soldiers who were fighting in the trenches.
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