Singer John Sebastian, founder of The Lovin’ Spoonful, made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival.
Woodstock 50 is officially off, multiple sources tell Variety. Vendors and stakeholders were notified this morning, July 31, that the beleaguered festival was not going on. The festival was originally scheduled for Aug. 16 through 18.
Yesterday it was reported that headliner Miley Cyrus had pulled out of the festival, joining the Raconteurs, the Lumineers and original Woodstock 1969 performers Santana, John Sebastian and Country Joe McDonald, all of whom since last night have said publicly that they’re not performing. Earlier, headliners Jay-Z and the Dead & Co., as well as John Fogerty, confirmed that they will not be performing.
A statement issued at noon pacific time includes a suggestion that the artists donate 10% of their fees to the charity HeadCount, a non-profit targeting voter registration.
The festival was supposed to take place at the Merriweather Post Pavilion outside Baltimore the weekend of Aug. 16 to 18, although a revised plan for a one-day show meant the concert would take place on either the Friday (for which the venue’s capacity is 20,000) or the Sunday (for which is it 32,000), because the Smashing Pumpkins are scheduled to perform their own show at the venue on Saturday, the 17th.