Woodstock founder and promoter Michael Lang is a partner in Woodstock Ventures, the company that staged the 1969 festival, but he had to license the name Woodstock from the company to create the doomed Woodstock 50.
In the wake of that failure, Woodstock Ventures issued a press release on the company's website. "In 1969, the original Woodstock Festival brought together half a million people in a celebration of peace, music and love. 50 years later, there are anniversary celebrations of Woodstock large and small taking place throughout the country and around the world, along with new films, music, books and socially responsible products.
"2019 is confirming what we all feel: the spirit of Woodstock is alive and flourishing. We are particularly excited about Barak Goodman’s documentary Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation, which will begin airing on PBS [this month], and Back to the Garden, Rhino’s release of several box set collections of Woodstock '69 movies, concert CDs, books and festival memorabilia. Although plans for an official three-day concert have been cancelled, our global community continues to celebrate the spirit of Woodstock: a unique recipe of peace and music blended with community and love.
"Woodstock will continue to highlight social, environmental and political causes like Head Count, the ACLU and the T.J. Martell Foundation; to organize communities around those causes; to develop socially responsible events and products for those communities; and to encourage positive, creative expression -- this year, and every year."
Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York is now the site of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which will mark the anniversary this month with shows by Ringo Starr on the 16th, Santana and The Doobie Brothers on the 17th and John Fogerty on the 18th. Santana and Fogerty played the original festival in 1969.