In order to foster a sense of community among young people, the Woodstock Music Festival’s entire brand was peace, love, and music. However, in 1999, this message completely vanished. According to Netflix’s “Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99,” the original 1969 event was indeed magical, but its revival at the very end of the millennium was characterised by utter cruelty, disdain, hatred, and ultimately a riot. Therefore, if you want to know exactly what or who caused the severe damage as well as the sad fallout from the entire rock festival, including reports of fatalities, we have the information for you.
Who Started the 1999 Riot at Woodstock?
Woodstock ’99, which took place between June 22 and June 25, 1999, at the old Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York, was a long cry from the original music event for a variety of reasons. In addition to being at an infrastructure-heavy, asphalt-filled location rather than a field, with little to no shade during the warmest days of the year, the docuseries claims that it was also very financially motivated. While there were absurdly high price concessions on both food and drinks, meaning the participants were the ones to suffer continuously, costs were allegedly reduced anywhere feasible.
Everything suggested a lack of concern for the concert-goers, from a $4 water bottle to overflowing portable toilets, insufficient security and medical staff, and no clean-up crew. In addition, the Netflix original further exposes that the complimentary water they were given was actually entirely tainted with faeces, which further added to their sense of pure anger. The fact that heavy metal bands made up the majority of the concert’s lineup and that the Clinton controversy, frat boys, and fights dominated the news at the time also contributed to how events turned out.
The beautiful vigil for the victims of the Columbine High School Massacre reportedly spun out of control by the conclusion of night three as the audience’s annoyance turned to fury. According to “Trainwreck,” they had been handed candles, so after the event ended on July 25, 1999, some of them used them to express their feelings while the others joined in with a mob mentality. The kids destroyed the property, set ablaze the 12 truck trailers there, stole from the merchants, broke into or stole from the ATMs, and generally caused mayhem until state cops arrived to put an end to it.
Although seven people were detained on suspicion of rioting, petty theft, and disorderly behaviour, it is unknown whether any of them will face further legal action. However, we do know that one man, Gary Price, swiftly pled guilty to a sex crime, though the specifics of it are unknown, among the four to eight sexual assault cases that surfaced after Woodstock. Another man, Timothy Weeden, a former prison guard, also admitted guilt to sodomy in 2000 and was sentenced to six years in jail for coercing a 15-year-old girl to engage in oral sex with him away from the facility.
Was There a Death at Woodstock 1999?
According to what we know, at least six or seven concertgoers were hurt during the disturbances at Woodstock ’99, but over the course of the weekend, more than 120 people were admitted to hospitals for various ailments. The three fatalities that happened close to the festival, however, were completely unrelated to the grounds’ obscenely persistent roughness, and they were all unexpected.
On July 24, a 44-year-old man from Hyannis, Massachusetts (whose identity has not been released) died from a heart attack he experienced while camping; the man already had a cardiac issue. Then there was 24-year-old David Derosia of Waterbury, Connecticut, who tragically passed away on July 26 from the effects of a heat stroke after being admitted the day before.
Tara Weaver, a 28-year-old native of Troy, New York, passed away unexpectedly on July 26, 1999, as she was travelling home. After having car difficulty, she was strolling alongside the road when she was struck by not one but two vehicles in rapid succession in freak accidents. On the spot, she was determined to be dead.