Courtesy of Woodstock Ventures LCAfter John Fogerty and JAY-Z announced that they would not be playing Woodstock 50, Billboard reports that the festival’s organizers have now formally released all artists that had been scheduled to perform at the event from their contracts.
The news comes after it was revealed that arrangements were being made to try to move Woodstock 50 to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, hundreds of miles from the originally announced location in Watkins Glen, New York.
According to Billboard, festival reps and organizer Michael Lang — one of the original Woodstock founders — emailed a letter to the agents of the acts on the bill and notified them they wouldn’t try to enforce the performance contracts the artists signed to play Woodstock 50.
Billboard reports that the letter also explained that although the artists no longer were legally obligated to perform at Woodstock 50, they were still invited to do so. Billboard notes that moving the event to Maryland caused a breach of many of the artists’ performance contracts, although those contracts likely already were breached in April when the original financial investor dropped out of the event.
Woodstock 50 organizers now are attempting to bring together a new lineup, and Merriweather Post Pavilion operator Seth Hurwitz tells Billboard that he’s trying to lend a hand.
“Michael Lang called me a week ago about doing the show in [Washington, D.C.,] proper but, on this short notice, there really wasn’t anywhere to do that. I suggested Merriweather [Pavilion, which is near D.C.,]” Hurwitz explains to Billboard. “We made a deal quickly contingent on him putting a show together and dealing with the fact that [the venue already is booked] on one of those dates.”
Hurwitz says he’s now waiting to see if the promoter will confirm.
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