Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage explained

Image Upright:1.0
Director:Garret Price
Starring:Moby
Jewel
Narrated:Bryan Vadnais
Music:
Country:United States
Language:English
Producer:
  • Adam Gibbs
  • Sean Keegan
Editor:
  • Garret Price
  • Avner Shiloah
Cinematography:
  • Andre Lascaris
  • Luke Korver
Runtime:110 minutes
Company:
Network:HBO
HBO Max

Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage (or Music Box: Woodstock 99) is a 2021 documentary film about the music festival Woodstock '99.[1] [2]

Summary

The film features interviews in which the concert promoters, workers, performers, and attendees share their experiences of the infamous 3-day festival that was marred by intense heat, overpricing, violence, sexual assault, looting, vandalism, and fires.[3]

Production

Director Garret Price said in a 2021 interview that he thought the late 1990s had a "toxic" culture. Price reflected that when the festival took place, he and his college roommates "were glued to the pay-per-view that whole weekend", adding "It’s weird, though, as all that chaos unfolded in real time, it never felt crazy to me back then — it was almost like this extreme FOMO, wishing I was there. It wasn’t until years later when I started going down a YouTube rabbit hole of reliving the performances and reading articles that I started to understand all the issues that started to unfold that weekend. Not just of the festival itself, but of America culturally." Price also remarked, "I think the reason the '90s are so in right now is that people are nostalgic for the decade they were born in. So kids at Woodstock '99 were nostalgic for the mid-late '70s, with Dazed and Confused being popular. But Woodstock ’99 tried to push a nostalgia for the last '60s, and the ideals of counterculture and free love."[4]

It was the first film of the six-part documentary series Music Box.[5]

Release

Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage premiered on July 23, 2021 (the 22nd anniversary of the concert's first day), on HBO and HBO Max.[6]

Reception

The critics consensus reads, "Woodstock 99 documents the notorious music festival like an unraveling horror film to visceral effect, presenting a flashpoint in cultural nadir while suggesting that it was also a sign of troubles to come."[7]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: HBO Releases Trailer For A New Doc On Woodstock '99, A.K.A. "The Day The Nineties Died". July 7, 2021. Gothamist.
  2. 'Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, And Rage' Doc Preview Chronicles Music, Mayhem at Ill-Fated Fest. Billboard.
  3. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/07/woodstock-99-hbo-documentary/619574/ HBO's Woodstock '99 Documentary Is a Dark Warning - The Atlantic
  4. Web site: Woodstock '99 Director Garret Price on His Rock History "Horror Film": "I Wanted a Boots-on-the-Ground Experience" . 23 July 2021 .
  5. Web site: Bill Simmons On 'Woodstock 99' & Turning 'Music Box' Into Coding for numbers in headlines: '30 For 30' Of Music Documentaries: Deadline Q&A. Deadline Hollywood. Peter. White. July 23, 2021. July 27, 2021.
  6. Web site: Watch the Trailer for New HBO Documentary Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage. Pitchfork. 7 July 2021.
  7. Web site: Music Box. January 1, 2022. Fandango. Rotten Tomatoes.