Woodstock 50, a planned American music festival which is scheduled to be held in August, is now pivoting to a free concert.
According to Variety, the beleaguered festival will now be a free concert -- just like in 1969! At that time the New York State Thruway was shut down and the gates to the concert collapsed as 500,000 tumbled on the grounds of Yasgur's Farm in Bethel, and organizers eventually gave up collecting tickets.
This time, the name free concert is attached to the festival for a cause. Though it is unclear which charities may partner with the fest or whether attendees would simply be "encouraged to donate," as TMZ reports.
Just 24 hours before the idea for a free concert was revealed, several music agents, managers and attorneys considered pulling their respective artistes out simultaneously, so as to partly show potential lawyers that this three-day event had no chance of coming together. On Friday night, some Woodstock stakeholders received a note that organizers "had a new plan."
This weekend, artists and their representatives are revaluating the proposed rebrand. Doubtfully, one could also figure out that the Woodstock organizers are trying to minimize their legal liability, anticipating an onslaught of lawsuits to come.
Making the concert free will only add to the cost of several arrangements that are made prior to the festival. Among them: tour routing during a very busy summer concert season and other associated travel costs and burdens, an unclear lineup, to-be-determined beneficiaries and the logistical challenges of getting tickets to the market, are some of the major concerns.
So now the decision of performing in the charity-affiliated iteration has been totally left on the artistes. As for the potential beneficiaries, it would be hard for any non-profit to turn down much-needed funds.