In the disturbing but engrossing new doc ‘Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage’, the first thing we learn is that the whole “Peace and Love” story from the 1969 original Woodstock music festival is replete with (ahem) “flowery” re-written history.

For instance, there were reportedly more than 800 people for every one toilet. And remember, there were half a million people there. Sewage issues, deaths, drug overdoses and chaotic gate-crashing. There was a lot of heavy shit going on that wasn’t fun.

The 25th anniversary Woodstock ‘94 had a series of nightmare occurrences, as well. And hundreds of thousands of gate-crashers. But the organizers considered it mostly a success.

So five years later, the same guys put together Woodstock ‘99. But a lot of things had changed in the zeitgeist. Ragey, white frat bros were the demographic of the day, and bands perfectly fitted to their tastes were among the disastrous festival’s headliners. By the end of the weekend, there had been sexual assualts, fires, destruction of towers and, unchanged from 30 years of bad experiences, not enough toilets to prevent raw sewage from adding to the theme of the three days.

Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Insane Clown Posse, and Metallica were among the bands that seemed to sum up the energy of the festival, although there were many acts in varying genres, to be fair.

As we learn in the documentary, this will not be a story of peace and love. It will be a story of the worst kind of human behavior within the worst kinds of human conditions. It will also be a story of greed. 

It was the assurance that gate-crashing would be nearly impossible that led the organizers to hold the festival on a no longer used Air Force base. But the result was hundreds of thousands of people standing on scalding hot tarmac, with the stages set a mile apart or more from each other.

And it was greed that led to 4 dollar bottles of water (festival goers were prohibited from bringing their own food and drink) becoming a symbol of what was wrong about the whole set-up.

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Director Garret Price finds many villains and victims (was MTV the former or the latter?) and pulls no punches. Attendees, organizers, and victims get screen time. It was especially interesting to hear from a guy who had been hired as security. His revelations that the training was almost nil, and that many of the guards changed out of their uniform shirts to join the unruly crowd are as infuriating as they are enlightening.

The doc will no doubt play as harmless nostalgia for many viewers – it was interesting to see some of the MTV clips, for example, but it also makes one ask whether the multiple cultural elements that led to the calamitous event are still with us today. 

Maybe more so? 

‘Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage’ is currently streaming on HBO Max.

3 ½ out of 4 Stars | Reviewed by Kyle Osborne