Woodstock 50 is in trouble. In March, it was announced that the event — which is intended to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic, original Woodstock Music And Art Fair — would feature acts like Jay-Z, Chance the Rapper, The Killers, Robert Plant, The Raconteurs, and more. Since then, things have begun to fall apart. At the end of April, Dentsu Aegis Network, the major investor behind the event, released a statement explaining that they had decided to cancel Woodstock 50 because they didn’t feel the production of the festival could be “executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock Brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees.” The very next day, the festival’s co-founder Michael Lang posted a message to his personal Facebook page refuting Dentsu’s claim that the festival had been canceled. The two parties are reportedly butting heads once again.
According to Rolling Stone, on Tuesday, a lengthy letter Lang sent to Woodstock 50’s former investors, Dentsu, has surfaced. In the five-page note, Lang alleges that Amplifi Live, an investment arm of Dentsu Aegis,“illegally swept approximately $17 million from the festival bank account, leaving [Woodstock 50] in peril.” Lang goes on to say that Dentsu had no legal right to announce the cancellation of the festival, and also claims to have evidence that, after the cancelation announcement, Dentsu “directly contacted all stakeholders, including the venue Watkins Glen International, insurance companies, producers, vendors and performers (some of whom I am lucky to count as personal friends) and suggested they not do business with me, and violate their contracts with my company.” Lang even suggests that Denstu was encouraging performers to drop out of the festival for a potential spot performing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
For their part, Dentsu claims their withdrawal of the $17 million was “simply recover[ing] the funds … which we originally put in as financial partner.”
(Via Rolling Stone)
