It was officially known as the Woodstock Art and Music Festival and took place August 15-18, 1969. The concert was originally intended as a way for Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld to establish and promote a recording studio in Woodstock, NY. Several recording artists had relocated there, most notably Bob Dylan (today Levon Helm has a recording studio there).

The concert was to take place in Wallkill, NY (about 45 miles south of Woodstock). The organizers told town officials that they were expecting 50,000 people to attend. A month before the concert, town officials grew nervous revoked the concert permit.

The organizers quickly partnered with Elliot Tiber, whose parents owned a motel in NY’s Catskill Mountains in the town of White Lake (the Catskills is a resort area about 90 miles northwest of NYC where many people from the city would spend their summers). Tiber had a permit from the town of Bethel, NY for a music and arts festival. He had conceived a festival as a way to publicize the family’s motel. The organizers rented 600 acres of nearby dairy land from Max Yasgur. Acts were quickly signed and fees were in the $8,000 to $12,000 range.  Jimi Hendrix was to receive $32,000. So other acts didn’t try to raise their price, organizers let it be known that Hendrix was to play two sets, one Sunday and a second on Monday, so it was really $16,000 per performance. In reality, Hendrix was only playing one set on Monday as his contract stated that no other act was to follow him.

A total of 186,000 tickets were sold in advance of the concert. Organizers thought they would get another 20,000 or so in walk-up sales. Word of the event quickly spread. Traffic jams on the NYS Thruway and Route 17 (the main highway through the Catskills) ranged from 10 to 20 miles. The crowd grew quickly and fences erected to control access were torn down. Most estimates put the attendance at 500,000. The organizers were not equipped to deal with sanitation issues, food shortages and of course the rains that came. Woodstock Ventures eventually lost $1.4 million related to the concert and the aftermath. In spite of the massive crowds, the numbers of arrests and medical emergencies were small as compared to the number of attendees.

Fast forward 25 years to 1994 – the original organizers staged a concert in Saugerties, NY (about 70 miles northeast of Bethel). Fees for musical acts were much, much higher. The promoters had the foresight to line up sponsors (Pepsi was the concert’s main sponsor) and sold TV rights to pay-per-view. However, they never did figure out how to prevent gate crashers. Approximately 300,000 tickets were sold. Another 50,000 of entered free. That was the difference between making and losing money. Michael Lang, one of the promoters of the 1994 event as well as the 1969 festival, said, "In true Woodstock style, the communal spirit lived, it rained like hell, Mud People abounded, and Woodstock ‘94 made money for everyone but us."

Did they learn? Not really. In 1999, Lang and John Scher organized Woodstock 1999. It was held in Rome, NY (about 200 miles north of Bethel) on the former Griffiss Air Force Base (declared a Superfund site in 1984). This event was criticized for its commercialization. Gate crashers weren’t a problem this time. The promoters were hoping for a crowd of 250,000. Only 200,000 showed up. Attendees were frisked entering the site to make sure that they weren’t smuggling food. However, food and drink vendors were happy to sell them slices of pizza for $12 or bottles of water for $4.

Unfortunately, there was no rain this time. Unfortunate because temperatures were in the 90’s and the event was being held on the former concrete airstrips with no shelter from the sun. Bathrooms were not built; port-a-pottys were used and trucks needed to service them could not gain access to them. Needless to say, things went downhill from there. The final night of the concert saw riots, fires and looting. ATM’s were being overturned and emptied, merchandise and food tents were looted.

This month marks the 40^th Anniversary of the Woodstock Art and Music Festival. There will be no major concert, no multi-day event. Lang attempted to have a free concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, but couldn’t find sponsors to cover the estimated $8 million to $10 million cost. However, there is a Heroes of Woodstock Musical Tour including a web site to download music files (free for concert goers, $5.99 for others). None of the previous organizers are involved in the tour. Ang Lee’s movie, a comedy called Taking Woodstock is being released this weekend.

What happened to the site of the original event? It is now a museum and a performing arts center with outdoor style concert theater seating for 10,000 people - Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (www.bethelwoodscenter.org). Events there include a Wine Festival and musical acts like the Jonas Brothers. Not quite Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix, but hey, it is 2009 and most of the original attendees are at or approaching Social Security age and it is their grandkids who go to concerts.

Did we finally learn something? I think so – don’t try to re-create a once-in-a-lifetime event.

If you need help with that breakeven analysis and risk assessment before undertaking a major project, contact Ed Baloga at 914.474.9547 or email at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com.