A new documentary about the massive failure of Woodstock 99 is coming!
HBO Documentary Films has released the first trailer for the upcoming Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage, the first film in its planned Music Box series, which will be a collection of documentaries from executive producer Bill Simmons. The docufilm centered around the infamous 1999 music festival, which notoriously descended into riots, looting, and mayhem, will be released July 23 on HBO and also be available to stream on HBO Max, marking 22 years since Woodstock 99 took place.
Directed by Garret Price (Love, Antosha), Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage follows the events of the titular three-day festival which was initially intended to promote unity and the counterculture of the original concert 30 years prior. Instead, Woodstock 99 became a hotbed for chaos, and the documentary examines whether the event itself marked a significant change in American culture — and not one for the better.
Here’s the official synopsis for the documentary:
WOODSTOCK 99: PEACE, LOVE, AND RAGE unfolds over three blazing hot days and nights of nonstop performances and heaving mosh pits in July 1999, and examines how the festival eventually collapsed under the weight of its own misguided ambition. The musical lineup reflected acts that dominated MTV and radio airwaves at the time and leaned heavily towards artists catering to a young, male demographic. Intense heat, lack of adequate sanitation and access to free drinking water agitated a crowd already at a breaking point. Shortcuts and cost-cutting measures had diminished security, allowing the anger and frustration of the mob to explode into unchecked rioting and destruction. As much as Woodstock 69 became known as a celebration of peace and inclusion, Woodstock 99 became a flashpoint for burgeoning white toxic masculinity.
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