Organizers of the Woodstock 50 festival have formally released all artists scheduled to play from their contracts, according to Billboard. After Jay-Z, Dead & Company, John Fogerty pulled out of the show, reps for the festival emailed agents to inform them that their acts were no longer obligated to perform after the event was moved from upstate New York to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
The list of rock acts alone that had been slated to perform included The Killers, The Lumineers, The Raconteurs, Robert Plant, The Head and the Heart, Greta Van Fleet, Portugal. The Man, Rival Sons, Imagine Dragons, Cage The Elephant, Young The Giant, Judah And The Lion and more.
Other acts included a mix of original Woodstock performers and newer artists such as Miley Cyrus, Santana, Run The Jewels, Maggie Rogers, John Sebastian, Chance the Rapper, Sturgill Simpson, Leon Bridges, Dawes, Margo Price, Country Joe and the Fish, Halsey, Brandi Carlile, Janelle Monae, Common, Vince Staples, Canned Heat and others.
The show was originally slated to take place in Watkins Glen, New York on the weekend of August 16th through the 18th, the 50th anniversary of the original Woodstock. But the show ran into financial trouble in late April when its main investor pulled out.
Following that, Woodstock 50 was hit with more defeats, including the loss of the Watkins Glen location, three different producers trying to salvage the situation only to quit, and having an application to stage the concert in Vernon, New York rejected four times. Agents considered the move to Maryland a breach of contract.
Woodstock 50 organizers are now trying to book new artists for the Maryland venue, although nothing has been announced at press time. Sources tell TMZ they’re making it a FREE event and instructions on how to get tickets will be posted this week…
