Netflix release harrowing insider-look into the ‘Trainwreck’ of Woodstock ’99 [WATCH]

Featurepoed photo: Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99/Netflix.

From its highly publicized court battles and investor pull-outs to artist booking failures, most festival fanatics can remember how Woodstock‘s 50th anniversary fell apart before it even began. Perhaps one reason for the Woodstock 2019 failure is the no-so-distant memory of Woodstock 1999, which resulted in violent riots, massive destruction of the grounds, and a complete audience disavowal of the original Woodstock 69 values of “peace” and “love.” Streaming giant Netflix honed in on this turn-of-the-century festival disaster in a new three-part investigative docuseries, entitled Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99.

For production, Netlfix teamed up with Raw—the studio behind Netflix originals Don’t F**k with Cats and Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia. The cultural exploration features archival footage and first-time interview commentary from the late Michael Lang, Woodstock’s original owner, former MTV anchor Ananda Lewis, and key people on the ground, including fans, production planners, and more talking heads. Many of the interviewees describe the festival as surviving a battle. 

A harrowing look into how greedy fecklessness converges with toxic masculinity, the main takeaway from Jamie Crawford-directed documentary seems to be that the true energy of the counterculture movement cannot coexist with greedy capitalism. The higher-ups were hellbent on making a considerable profit, especially after their previous revival, Woodstock ’94, tanked financially due to overcrowding and security issues. Filmmakers take pains to illustrate how the culture of the 90s, teen angst, and toxic masculinity couldn’t ever reproduce the original intention of Woodstock ’69.

Known for its boundary-pushing documentaries, Netflix seems to have a penchant for exploring the fall of festivals and issuing cultural critiques on the woes of capitalist greed via the music industry. The streaming platform’s latest venture parallels the 2019 Netflix documentary on the disastrous Fyre Festival, Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. For those that watched last summer’s HBO documentary film Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage, the material and themes in Trainwreck will be familiar.