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Robert Plant, Yes; Metallica, No

When Woodstock founder Michael Lang announced in January that there would be a 50th anniversary show this summer, he planned to reveal the lineup in February. When that didn’t pan out, there were reports the festival was in trouble, which Lang tells us was not the case.

Michael Lang on the delay in announcing the lineup for Woodstock 50.

“There’s always lots of rumors about Woodstock. You know, we’re an independent production, and so there’s lots of speculation. Something’s a day late and everybody panics and, you know, we were hoping to get things out in February, but I really wanted to have the entire lineup done, which is why we waited.”

The announcement was made Tuesday night and among the acts are Robert Plant, The Killers, Santana, David Crosby, Imagine Dragons, Gary Clarke Jr., John Fogerty, Dead & Company, The Lumineers, The Black Keys and The Zombies. But, there were more on the wish list including Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who, Lang says, “We’re not having any of it.”

Michael Lang on some of the artists he would have liked to book for Woodstock 50.

“Metallica has been at the last two [Woodstock anniversary shows] and we would have loved to have them as part of this. We just weren’t ready for them when they were booking their tour. You know, that’s the business. You know, usually this takes a year to put together, we were able to do it in several months. Beastie Boys was an act that we were hoping we could bring back together. The Black Crowes, and, you know, there’s always the Led Zeppelin rumors and all of that stuff. But, you know, it’s never really been about any one act. In fact, you know, the reason I didn’t book The Rolling Stones at Woodstock was because of that. Because I didn’t want to make it about any one act. It was really just about the world of music and how that ties into the culture. But I’m delighted with what we have.”

Lang adds that he didn’t try to book Led Zeppelin, nor did he try to get John Fogerty to reunite with Creedence Clearwater Revival, telling us that situation is “too deep.”

While the headliners are set, Lang says there are plans to add more acts.

Michael Lang on what is next in the planning stages for Woodstock 50.

“Things will come up. You know, we’ll discover people. We’ll add emerging talent. And then there’s comedians that we want to add and there’s spoken word. We’re finishing up with all our plans for traffic and everything else and lining up the vendors, you know, for the staging and design and a lot of the art pieces. You know, it’s not so much a challenge as there’s just so much work to be done and I love every bit of it.”

Woodstock 50 will be held on August 16th, 17th and 18th in Watkins Glen, New York. Tickets go on sale April 22nd.

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