It's 25 years since Woodstock '99, a music festival that attempted to recreate the legendary Woodstock of 1969. But instead of being driven by love and peace, chaos broke out, culminating in death, destruction and sexual assault.
The highly anticipated event was held at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York, from July 22 to July 25. Approximately 400,000 people attended, with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and Korn taking to the main stage.
Unfortunately, a combination of unfavorable factors resulted in violence and riots taking over the festival—such as poor management, soaring temperatures, inadequate security, the music, a disgruntled crowd forced to pay exorbitant prices for food and water and the lack of sanitation.
Here, Newsweek looks at some of the most shocking things that went wrong at the infamous festival.
Violence, Destruction and Reckless Behavior
While Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Bob Dylan performed at Woodstock in 1969, the roster for Woodstock '99 featured primarily heavy-metal and nu-metal groups.
As touched on in the Netflix documentary Trainwreck: Woodstock '99, some people believed the heavy music may have contributed to the chaos that unfolded over the weekend as it captured the spirit of the increasingly angry audience.
For example, before performing "Break Stuff" on Saturday night, Limp Bizkit encouraged the crowd to do exactly that. Moments later, people started crowd surfing using plywood from the fences, others climbed up sound towers and some dismantled the barriers that surrounded the stage.
When Red Hot Chili Peppers performed a cover version of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" on Sunday, people began starting real bonfires amid a candlelit vigil. Looting and rioting began shortly after.
Throughout the weekend, cars and other structures were set on fire and television towers were violently toppled to the ground. Video footage from the event shows festivalgoers taking drugs, crowd-surfing and hurling themselves into densely packed crowds.
Rape and Sexual Harassment
By the end of the weekend, a New York State Police spokesperson confirmed that detectives were investigating reports of four rapes at the festival and there were countless other instances of nonconsensual groping and harassment.
However, according to the Washington Post, crisis intervention workers said they witnessed more than four women being raped. David Schneider, a volunteer at Woodstock, said he saw a woman pulled into the mosh pit, stripped, assaulted and raped by men.
"I saw someone push this girl into the mosh pit, a very skinny girl, maybe 90 to 100 pounds," he said. "Then a couple of the guys started taking her clothes off—not so much her top but her bottom. They pulled her pants down and they were violating her, and they were passing her back and forth. There were five guys that were raping this girl and having sex with her."
Schneider claimed to have witnessed similar attacks on at least five other women, all of whom were struggling to get free.
"They were pushed in against their will and really raped," he said. "From my vantage point, it looked like initially there was a struggle, and after that, there were other people holding them down. No one I saw tried to go in and rescue them."
Schneider claimed that security close to the stage were aware of the attacks but they were unable to stop them due to the density of the crowd. He said he also felt powerless to halt the attacks.
He added: "There clearly wasn't anything I could do. They're big brawny people and it seemed like most of the crowd around them were cheering them on... It was so disturbing. You're thinking, if this girl was being raped, wouldn't all these people try to stop what was going on?"
The production manager of the rave hanger, who is featured in the Netflix documentary, said he found an underage girl unconscious and naked in the back of a van that was driven into the crowd during Fatboy Slim's set. She required immediate medical attention.
Three People Died
Sadly, 24-year-old David G. DeRosia, 28-year-old Tara Weaver and another 44-year-old man were the three people who died at the event.
According to Esquire, DeRosia collapsed in the crowd while watching Metallica perform on the Saturday evening. He died on Monday, July 26, at University Hospital in Syracuse, New York, after being in a coma for two days from "hyperthermia, probably secondary to heat stroke."
According to Syracuse.com, his mother sued Woodstock '99 festival promoters and doctors on site, on the grounds they were "negligent by not providing enough fresh water and adequate medical care for 400,000 attendees."
Weaver, 28, was killed after being hit by a car as she left the concert, and a 44-year-old, who had a pre-existing heart condition, died of cardiac arrest at the Woodstock campsite.
Limited Water and Poor Conditions
Festivalgoers were subject to severe dehydration as a result of the hot weather and lack of water access. The soaring temperatures weren't helped by the fact that much of the Griffiss Air Force Base consisted of tarmac and concrete, which the sun's rays bounced off.
Many attendees didn't have enough water and were met with a $4 price tag when they tried to buy a single bottle. This is equal to $8 in 2024 once you consider an average inflation rate of 2.58% and cumulative inflation of 88.32%. There was a limited amount of free fountains, so queues for these were long.
According to The Baltimore Sun, more than 700 people were treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration over the weekend and there were over 1,200 on-site medical admissions.
In addition, many experienced trench mouth, a gum disease brought on by a bacterial accumulation in the mouth that is frequently connected to World War I. Attendees allege that human waste seeped into the drinking and shower waters, which contributed to their illness.
By Sunday night, the chaos of the event had resulted in 500 and 700 New York State Police troopers, local police officers, and other law enforcement personnel arriving with riot gear to control and disperse crowds.
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