Trainwreck:Woodstock '99 Netflix Doc

[gooner1990]

Watched this using my girlfriends Netflix account last night....I think it possibly because I already knew the story none of it was a major surprise (bar John Shuer and Michael Lang even 20+ years later still not admitting a lot of it was their fault)

The whole no food/water to be brought in and then sold by vendors at high prices just wouldn't happen these days I don't think (that said at Truck Festival a few weeks ago you could only bring 24 cans into the campsite then it was £5.80 a can in the arena)

I did find the guy (with the mullet) who was describing being at the festival and taking drugs quite funny I could listen to him all day 'I was lying there on my back trippin' balls and looked up to the sky and was like 'is that a UFO?' 

I was 17 when that festival happened, had just been to my first one and was about to go to my 2nd (Reading 1999) which had a lot of the same acts on the line up, so musically it brought back a lot of memories. 

The whole Fatboy Slim set incident was probably the most shocking thing for me, and its that whole frat boy type behaviour that I can't stand drinking beer and its all 'whoo yeh' just going OTT all the time and I find it quite irritating tbh. 

I think as much as people like to blame Fred Durst for whipping the crowd up, surely you must know that if you book a band like Limp Bizkit you know what sort of set you're going to get, they've always been high octane, full on, lets tear this up type stuff. 

The bookings would have been what brought a certain demographic to the festival and looking at the line up they were the biggest alternative artists of that era, which makes (financial) sense as if you want to rinse people for as much money as possible you need to draw them in with something (i.e Korn and Limp Bizkit)

[Hugh Jass II]

I don't blame the bands. How many sets have Limp Bizkit played down the years that haven't ended in a riot?

They're performers, says more about the people in the crowd who allowed themselves to get that wound up than the people on stage.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Hugh Jass II

[gooner1990]

17 minutes ago, Hugh Jass II said:

I don't blame the bands. How sets have Limp Bizkit played down the years that haven't ended in a riot?

They're performers, says more about the people in the crowd who allowed themselves to get that wound up than the people on stage.

I saw Limp Bizkit at Reading 2000, very high energy and the mosh pit was full on but it was nothing like what happened at Woodstock the year before.

[stuartbert two hats]

51 minutes ago, Hugh Jass II said:

I don't blame the bands. How many sets have Limp Bizkit played down the years that haven't ended in a riot?

They're performers, says more about the people in the crowd who allowed themselves to get that wound up than the people on stage.

The documentary told that part of the story in such a sensationalised way too.  I'm not familiar with the oeuvre of Limp Bizkit, but presumably that song about smashing shit up is from one of their records?  I'm still guessing, but that record was probably out when they were booked?  It was portrayed almost as if Fred took in the situation and composed an aggressive song on the spot to make things worse.  It was probably on that setlist that most bands come up with before they go on.

You book Limp Bizkit, you get Limp Bizkit, duh. They were doing their show.

[gooner1990]

6 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

The documentary told that part of the story in such a sensationalised way too.  I'm not familiar with the oeuvre of Limp Bizkit, but presumably that song about smashing shit up is from one of their records?  I'm still guessing, but that record was probably out when they were booked?  It was portrayed almost as if Fred took in the situation and composed an aggressive song on the spot to make things worse.  It was probably on that setlist that most bands come up with before they go on.

You book Limp Bizkit, you get Limp Bizkit, duh. They were doing their show.

Its called 'Break stuff'

Their 2nd (and breakout) album had come out a month before that Woodstock set, and that was the 2nd single from it....it was the sort of music I listened to at the time and in that world they were becoming the biggest 'nu-metal' band with massive amounts of airplay on radio and TV.

[Hugh Jass II]

9 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

 

You book Limp Bizkit, you get Limp Bizkit, duh. They were doing their show.

This entirely, there was a huge amount of attempting to shift the blame elsewhere.

At one point Fight Club was mentioned despite it being released three months after W99.

[fred quimby]

3 minutes ago, Hugh Jass II said:

 

At one point Fight Club was mentioned despite it being released three months after W99.

The point he was making was about the films, and possibly the culture, of the time and how that fed into what he perceived. Was not saying fight club in itself, was just an illustrative point. Mind you he probably could have chosen something else.

[steviewevie]

2 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

I saw Limp Bizkit at Reading 2000, very high energy and the mosh pit was full on but it was nothing like what happened at Woodstock the year before.

The mosh pit at woodstock looked like the whole festival...looked totally mental...my idea of hell.

[gooner1990]

10 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

The mosh pit at woodstock looked like the whole festival...looked totally mental...my idea of hell.

I even said to my girlfriend last night 'that looks fucking mental'

You wouldn't get that anywhere these days with all the 2nd barriers etc in place.

[steviewevie]

 

[stuartbert two hats]

12 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

Its called 'Break stuff'

Their 2nd (and breakout) album had come out a month before that Woodstock set, and that was the 2nd single from it....it was the sort of music I listened to at the time and in that world they were becoming the biggest 'nu-metal' band with massive amounts of airplay on radio and TV.

Right.  So they were playing a future single from their new album.  Seems pretty reasonable thing to do, really.

[gooner1990]

7 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Right.  So they were playing a future single from their new album.  Seems pretty reasonable thing to do, really.

I'm fairly sure it had already had a lot of heavy rotation on MTV/MTV2 type channels.

[stuartbert two hats]

Just now, gooner1990 said:

I'm fairly sure it had already had a lot of heavy rotation on MTV/MTV2 type channels.

Even more reasonable then.

[stuartbert two hats]

Having said that, the RHCP had no need to do such a provocative song during a fire.  

[MEGABOWL]

The attempts to shift blame onto the bands was laughable. Maybe it’s true to say they organisers should have been more cognisant of what they’d booked and managed the crowd accordingly. But Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, Korn etc just did what they were paid to do.

[steviewevie]

shit music for shit people.

[GeezLouise]

4 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Having said that, the RHCP had no need to do such a provocative song during a fire.  

To be fair, the fires had already been burning for hours by that point. The Netflix doc makes it seem like the candles were handed out > the fires started > chili peppers played Fire to add fuel to the situation. but the fires had actually been burning from before the beginning of the set. 

 

....Yeah, i guess even with the above it's not a wise choice but important to note all the same. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by GeezLouise

[stuartbert two hats]

1 hour ago, GeezLouise said:

To be fair, the fires had already been burning for hours by that point. The Netflix doc makes it seem like the candles were handed out > the fires started > chili peppers played Fire to add fuel to the situation. but the fires had actually been burning from before the beginning of the set. 

 

....Yeah, i guess even with the above it's not a wise choice but important to note all the same. 

Yeah, that's exactly the impression the doc gave - they made it seem like there was one fire going, then the Chillis played Fire and all the other fires started as a consequence.

Just like Tiger King, even though the subjects are awful, the way the doc is presented is just sensationalist trash.

[justanotheronethen]

2 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Yeah, that's exactly the impression the doc gave - they made it seem like there was one fire going, then the Chillis played Fire and all the other fires started as a consequence.

Just like Tiger King, even though the subjects are awful, the way the doc is presented is just sensationalist trash.

They murdered that song. The bastards

[gooner1990]

13 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Yeah, that's exactly the impression the doc gave - they made it seem like there was one fire going, then the Chillis played Fire and all the other fires started as a consequence.

Just like Tiger King, even though the subjects are awful, the way the doc is presented is just sensationalist trash.

Thought similar, and I think Fatboy Slim recognised that too when he was interviewed....

[Zacko]

Finally watched, just completely mad really isn't it? The Sunday night chaos is still bizarre to watch as you just don't see marauding crowds setting fire to festival infrastructure haha

I saw the HBO doc when it came out but I think the three episodes of the Netflix doc allowed a bit more depth. I'd never seen footage from the rave hangar for example, it actually looked really fucking fun up until the horrible bit with the van happened.

[fred quimby]

15 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

 

Just like Tiger King, even though the subjects are awful, the way the doc is presented is just sensationalist trash.

Yep, nothing from around the site in general, or second stage. Chemical Brothers saying how fun it was and all seemed fine does not fit in. But not what they wanted to show really.

[El Matador]

On 8/22/2022 at 11:02 AM, stuartbert two hats said:

The documentary told that part of the story in such a sensationalised way too.  I'm not familiar with the oeuvre of Limp Bizkit, but presumably that song about smashing shit up is from one of their records?  I'm still guessing, but that record was probably out when they were booked?  It was portrayed almost as if Fred took in the situation and composed an aggressive song on the spot to make things worse.  It was probably on that setlist that most bands come up with before they go on.

You book Limp Bizkit, you get Limp Bizkit, duh. They were doing their show.

Also made Bush out to be heroes by being so dull that the crowd calmed down. 

That wasn't a conscious decision by the band, its just the nature of a Bush gig. 

[steviewevie]

Looked like a testosterone filled misogynist hellhole. North American scum.

[gooner1990]

20 hours ago, Zacko said:

Finally watched, just completely mad really isn't it? The Sunday night chaos is still bizarre to watch as you just don't see marauding crowds setting fire to festival infrastructure haha

I saw the HBO doc when it came out but I think the three episodes of the Netflix doc allowed a bit more depth. I'd never seen footage from the rave hangar for example, it actually looked really fucking fun up until the horrible bit with the van happened.

Reading Festival up until 2008.