True Tales from Behind the Scenes
True Tales from Behind the Scenes
This is the story of my firsthand experience at Woodstock 99. The tales
I tell I either experienced or the people I worked next to experienced.
I allude to rumor but have tried to tell what we experienced and
minimize rumor.
Well how do I put it into words? Woodstock 99 was quite the experience.
I signed on in June to be a Regional Captain for one of eight camping
zones in the 230-acre camping area created by my friend Brian McDonald.
Phyliss Ellsworth, Sue Garwood, Clayton Dewey and Scott Cook all of
Saranac Lake were to be among my 10 Regional Workers. In addition
Phyliss' son Ben, fifteen and Sue's son Justin, seventeen served as
volunteers with me. The plan was to have about 12-14 staff, a mixture
of paid and volunteer folks, in each region that would be split into
12-hour shifts. I would have an assistant in charge of one shift and I
would be in charge of another shift.
The regional captains had two days of staff training, one in late June
and one in mid July. We were oriented to the site, met with various
department heads such as Security where we were told they were hiring
2000 folks whose primary job was to guard the three-mile long fence to
eliminate gate crashers. The first two Woodstock celebrations never made
money and the promoters wanted to maximize the chances of making a
profit this time around. They also told us that during the previous
Woodstocks that there was very little need for security. By and large
they were peaceful celebrations.
We also met the head of Family of
Woodstock. They were to have nearly 1000 staff that would be responsible
for two tasks; general information dissemination and counseling people
who weren't having fun. History pointed to crowd anxiety (symptomized by
hyperventilation) and negative drug experiences being the most common
problems.
Our job was described as being that of information facilitators. We
would be troubleshooters who would have an information tent at the site
and find answers to the various questions and problems. They assured us
that we wouldn't be the problem solvers, our job was just to get the
right people to solve the problem or answer the questions. For example,
if someone was trying to jump the fence we would notify Camping
Headquarters and they would notify security. If someone had a medical
problem we would call Camping Headquarters (unless it was life or death
in which case we would notify the medical people directly) and they
would notify the Medical Personnel. Another example they gave us was if
the port-a-johns (euphemistically called comfort pods) needed to be
pumped out we would again call Camping Headquarters and they would get
them pumped out.
Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "In preparing for battle I have always
found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." I couldn't
help but think of that quote as we got closer to opening the gates and
letting the hordes of people in. The Woodstock people tried to
anticipate everything but no one really knew what would happen once the
event started. Although the tentative gate opening time was noon on
Thursday the 22nd we were prepared to welcome music lovers earlier.
Woodstock had promised the town fathers of Rome to minimized disruptions
in town by opening the gates as soon as a large volume people arrived in
town. As a result we got word early Thursday morning that the gates
would be opening at around 9:30.
Each of the Regional Captains was responsible for approximately 30 acres
of campground. Different colored flags delineated each of the eight
regions. We were the teal zone, next to us was the orange zone and
farthest from us was the red zone. In each zone we were to try and fit
in nearly 10,000 tents accommodating over 30,000 campers. It was
overwhelming to try and anticipate what that might look like. Our
region, although located on the edge of one of the old Griffis Air Force
runways near the South entrance of the event, was to be an overflow area
and not to be used until all the other camping regions were filled. As a
result our job for the first day was to encourage entering campers to
hike down to a farther camping region. All available staff were
recruited to help herd campers deeper into the campgrounds and keep them
out of our region. Keeping them out of our region was a challenge
because campers were already hot and tired from hiking long distances
from their cars and wanted to set up camp as soon as they entered the
gate.
We cajoled them to hike further by telling them that they would be
closer to the 200 showers built for campers if they hiked another ten
minutes down the gravel road opposite our camping region. It was like
battling hordes of soldiers. We worked all day to keep campers out of
our region and move them onto other camping regions but they just kept
coming and coming. Small groups would try to set up tents and we would
tell them that they had to camp in other areas. Finally at around 6:00
PM it was obvious that we were losing the battle so I told my staff to
let people come in and set up tents. I was proud of our staff for
keeping our area open for nine hours. In the short time from when we
started letting people in until dark we probably had over ten thousand
campers move in. They kept moving in all through the night and all
through the next day. We kept encouraging campers to move down into the
zones at the far West end of the camping area because there was still
lots of room down there. By mid day the next day people were so hot and
tired by the time they reached us they had no desire to hike any
further. Again we cajoled and persuaded folks to go to the red region
enticing them with visions of showers and roomier campsites. (True but
perhaps somewhat exaggerated.) Most wanted to camp right where they were
but we worked hard to pack them well off the roads thus keeping the
roads open for emergency access. By late Friday virtually all the
campers had arrived with an estimated 250,000 people. It was hard for us
to tell how many people were there but if we had to guess we would have
said over 300,000.
As soon as campers had set up camp our headquarters tent was crowded
with people asking questions such as, "Do you have a map?" and "Do you
have a copy of the concert schedule?" Although we weren't scheduled to
be the experts on such matters, since no one else was around we quickly
became the experts. We didn't have any maps but we knew they were
available in the free programs available out in the venue area where the
stores and food courts were. We had copied the concert schedule onto our
counter top and thousands of people borrowed paper and pencil to make a
copy. These questions pointed out one of the biggest flaws of the
concert planners. They had thousands of programs available but they were
in the wrong place. If they had been available at the gate as people
entered or at the campground regional headquarters they would have saved
campground regional workers hours and hours of answering the same
questions over and over. One additional piece of planning might have
minimized the tons of garbage left at the end of the concert. If garbage
bags had been handed out to entering campers I am confident that much of
the garbage would have ended up bagged rather than strewn across the
former Air Force Base.
Our campground regional headquarters was open twenty-four hours a day
and late the first night we had some interesting problems. Camper's
started coming by asking, "Where's my tent?" We joked about responding,
"Oh you mean that small dome tent?" of which there were probably 30,000.
They frequently had no idea which camping region they were in. We would
try to narrow down their location by asking, "Which entrance did you
enter through?" to which they might respond, "You mean there is more
than one entrance?" or we might ask, "Did you walk down any dirt or wood
chip roads to set up you tent or only walk on the concrete runway?" "Was
there a big B-52 airplane on your right when you drove in?" depending on
when they arrived we might ask, "Was there a big field on your left or
right when you came in?" Early arrivals saw these fields as reference
points but they actually were our over flow camping area that was filled
with tents by late Thursday evening. Our staff would frequently help
camper's find their tents once we had the region narrowed down. Justin
Garwood was our champion tent finder. He seemed to have a knack for
finding someone's lost tent in a sea of blue and purple nylon domes.
Each of our workers had a specialty. Clayton Dewey was an EMT and member
of his volunteer fire dept. at his home in Colorado. He took care of
many emergencies until the medical teams could arrive. Stephan, gosh I
don't even know his last name, was my unofficial second in command and
was Mr. Organization and my acquisition man. If I needed something he
could find it. Scott Cook was my "go to" guy. He did it all and did it
well. He and Clayton's most unsavory task was documenting how bad the
port-a-johns were. I don't think they will ever forgive me for that
task. Phyliss Ellsworth was my number one people pleaser. She takes care
of folks in her wonderful naturally maternal way. Phyliss's son Ben was
our youngster at 15 and was a great help and did whatever we asked. Sue
Garwood was stressed to be camping especially since she couldn't plug in
here hair curler. She came on strong however and was a great part of the
team. Don Rutledge was my official second in command and headed up the
night shift. Don was the most helpful guy in the world to folks for the
first 48 hours. The stress started to take its toll and the last day Don
specialized in taking pictures of girls' breasts. He told them he was
putting together a book he was going to call, "The Tits of Woodstock
99." Don, if you are out there, send my copies of your pictures. Shogan,
Carmene and Monica rounded out our team of volunteers and they were all
great. Teal as a Camping Zone ruled!
Losing one's tent might cause one to wander around all night but losing
ones' friends or relatives caused much more emotional consternation.
During the first night a young girl had lost contact with her friends
and couldn't find her tent. The young lady wearing a sundress and
sandals approached our tent in tears and very distraught. We tried to
help her contact "People Find" which was part of the Family of Woodstock
and responsible for trying to reconnect people. Up to this point we had
seen no Family of Woodstock members who were easily identifiable by
their red shirts. We had been too busy to be too concerned but when the
lost lady arrived we realized that these folks were supposed to be
working beside us and we hadn't seen them. I'm sure they were busy but
during the entire weekend not one member of the red-shirted Family of
Woodstock people, who remember were supposed to be the information
specialists and the emotional crisis helpers, ever stopped by our
headquarters. In addition the number of their group that I saw from a
distance walking down the main thoroughfare in front of our headquarters
over the weekend (a fifty yard wide former runway called Highway 61) I
could count on one hand.
Each day brought unique challenges. Thursday and Friday it was getting
the camper's into the camping area. Friday and Saturday it was helping
lost camper's find their tents and their companions. Saturday and Sunday
it was pointing out where the exits were and helping people figure out
where their car might be. Throughout the entire weekend the most common
questions were regarding the concert performance schedule. "Do you have
copies of the concert schedule?", "Is it true the Rolling Stones (Pearl
Jam, Eric Clapton, Elton John et al) are going to play at the Jimi
Hendrix Tribute?" and so on and so on.
I was looking forward to hearing some music that appealed to me although
once things started listening to music became much lower on my priority
list. Getting rest became number one. Friday night, after nearly
forty-eight hours of non-stop work I got a chance to take a hot shower
which revitalized me so I decided to use my backstage pass to get up
close to the music and see what it was like. I walked through the
medical tents adjacent to either side of the East Stage and saw dozens
of dehydrated concertgoers with IVs feeding much needed fluids into
their veins. I walked around the backstage area where the limousines
awaited to whisk off the stars to their next destination. I walked down
in front of the stage as Offspring was finishing their set with the
crowd pleasing "Why don't you get a job" which had the crowd in a
frenzy.
The space between the stage and the crowd was about eight feet wide and
was where security and medical personnel were assisting the crowd
surfers (moshers) as they were fed forward to the stage area. They would
be escorted away from the stage where they could surf some more if they
had the energy. It was pretty exciting to be right below the big TV
screen and within a stone's throw of the performers. I hung around to
hear Korn's opening song and then I headed back to our regional camping
headquarters feeling satisfied that I had used my backstage pass and
would be able to tell my grandchildren that I saw Offspring and Korn
(neither of which I had ever heard of before Woodstock 99). I was hoping
to see Counting Crows, Alanis Morissette, Los Lobos, Willie Nelson and
Rusted Root but alas was way to busy to think about music other than a
short visit to catch some of Los Lobos. They gave a great show that was
mellow compared to most of the other shows. Their music and the crowd
listening to it contrasted to the gen Xers from the night before. The
audience was mostly old hippies dancing or just lying down listening to
the music. The smell of marijuana wafted throughout. The scene reminded
me much more of what I guessed the original Woodstock was like.
Saturday night was one of two particularly nerve-wracking episodes
during the weekend. I was awoken by my assistant from a restless sleep
(It is hard to sleep with Metallica playing even if they are playing a
mile and a half away and you are wearing earplugs plus you have a pillow
over your head) to inform me that a storm was coming. Brian McDonnell,
Woodstock Camping Manager wanted us to take down our sleeping tents,
secure the area as best we could and send all but essential staff back
to the central headquarters. High winds, rain, lightening and perhaps
even hail were being predicted. Although the storm had been announced at
the stages most people were ignoring the announcement and going about as
if nothing was going to happen. My skeleton staff and I went around to
the lightening rods in our area and told the folks to make sure they
stayed away from them should the lightening start. At one spot a group
of electricians were camped so I gave them the job of educating and
caring for the other folks around their area should lightening start
striking. We finally did everything we could so we got our sleeping bags
out and laid them out in our headquarters and tried to get some sleep at
2:00 AM. The people at Woodstock were very fortunate that the storm
never materialized. We had taken all the precautions possible but if the
storm had arrived I think at best we would have had thousands of wet
campers whose tents would have probably been flattened under the high
winds.
The second nerve wracking episode came about because of a sense that the
crowd was restless due to a combination of things, the heat, the
combination of too much alcohol and drugs and too little food and water,
the high prices, and the overflowing garbage and port-a-johns. As a
result we were ready to close up shop if the crowd got out of hand. I
should point out that while the conditions did continue to deteriorate,
the blame could be equally shared among the campers, the vendors,
Woodstock management and their garbage and waste haulers.
Sunday afternoon the decision was made to abandon our regional
headquarters and retreat back to the Central Camping Headquarters. It
was a cautious but smart move made in the best interest of our staff. I
think what finally triggered the decision was the fact that the famous
three-mile long Woodstock wall was being overrun. I kept hearing reports
via two-way radio of groups of kids storming the wall in one region of
the campground. Groups of 20-40 kids would storm the fence, staff would
keep them back for a while but after a while it became a losing battle.
We slowly started evacuating our staff off site. I drove one group of
staff to some off-site housing and while driving in our secure road
around the back of the west stage encountered a fire truck backing out.
Evidently small fires were already starting to erupt. The kids were
trying to burn anything they could but Brian's staff had done such a
good job preparing the camping area that there wasn't much to burn. Kids
tried burning the trees but the branches had all been trimmed fairly
high up and the trees wouldn't ignite.
While Rusted Root was playing in the background I drove through a few
young men who were tearing down the wall. As I prepared to re-enter
after the fire truck left I observed a small group (20-30) kids about 40
yards in front of me storm the wall of the beer garden. The fence went
down and in ran about a hundred people but they just as quickly
dispersed. It appeared to be vandalism for vandalism's sake. I loaded up
another truckload of staff for departure and this time on our way out
the kids who were tearing apart the wall were leaving debris in the
middle of the road. We had to move the remnant fence parts before we
could pass by. I should point out that although things got hectic and
vandalism started to increase to an uncomfortable level, I never really
feared for the safety of my staff or me. It was clear that the raucous
behavior while inexcusable was directed at material things, not people.
By early evening the over 100 staff had been safely evacuated from the
campsite. Although tired, a small group of us decided to go to the last
show and see the Jimi Hendrix tribute. We took the employee bus over and
walked in as the Red Hot Chili Peppers were starting their last song, a
rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire". About four
fires were already burning but once the song started three or four more
started up. From where we were sitting on a small set of bleachers just
west of the stage we couldn't imagine how people were dancing around the
fire without getting injured. The Jimi Hendrix tribute lasted about ten
minutes and was disappointing. We were wondering if they cut it short
because of the fires. We quickly filed out and caught a bus back to our
housing. We sat on the bus for about 45 minutes while over 40 state
police vehicles passed by. When it became obvious that the bus wasn't
going to move soon we got out and started the 30 minute walk back to our
housing. All was quiet off the concert grounds as we walked back and we
had no idea about the destruction going on within the concert area until
we went back the next morning.
The next morning we were trucked in to help clean up the Central Camping
Headquarters and clear out all our personal equipment and we were
greeted by a line of state policemen. There were fewer than a hundred
campers picking up their stuff or scavenging the couple of hundred tents
left behind. I have never seen so much garbage spread over such a large
area. The mess was punctuated by a burned out trailer of public
telephones, a ravaged ATM machine, the remnants of the fires near the
East Stage, fire scarred tractor-trailer trucks and empty water bottles
blowing across the venues. It was a depressing sight to behold.
Late that afternoon the Captains of the Camping Regions got together to
debrief the experience. We needed to share our experiences as a
catharsis but we also wanted to get down on paper what the plusses of
our experience were, what the minuses were and what revelations occurred
to us. I facilitated the hour and a half discussion. I think it would be
safe to say that distilled down to its essence, the biggest pluses
centered on the people we worked with. My teal camping team for example
was great. We had eight paid staff who worked long hours with little
sleep. We laughed, cried, cheered and worried together. We had six or
more volunteers who were indispensable. The two young teenagers who
helped us out doing everything the adults did and sometimes better
particularly impressed me. We had made many friends from all over the
country.
The minuses were focused on our disappointment with the Family of
Woodstock and security. Maybe it was a misunderstanding maybe it was
something else but we never got the support we thought we were going to
get. In one of the pre-concert handouts we got from Family of Woodstock
they said they would be found, "in and around Camping Zone HQs". Not one
ever stopped by our headquarters. The handout said they would be
answering questions such as the questions we answered all weekend. My
guess if you asked concertgoers who answered their questions they would
respond, "The staff with the gray shirts," not the staff with the red
shirts. The lack of security was a more complex issue but it was still a
tremendous disappointment and may well have played a role in the later
problems.
What were our revelations? There were two major ones:
Working at Woodstock 99 was an exciting and exhausting experience. Will
I ever do something like this again? I don't know but I have some great
memories and am glad I had the opportunity.
The Ten Most Frequently Asked Questions At the Teal Region Camping
Headquarters:
Woodstock '99: Up Close and Personal
© Copyright 1999 Jack Drury
1. Hey man, where's my tent?
2. Where did I park my car dude?
3. Since Ice Cube played last night, will Collective Soul play tonight?
4. Is it true (fill in the band of your choice) is going to play at the
Jimi Hendrix Tribute?
5. Where can I buy sunblock?
6. I can't find the friends I came here with. Where are they?
7. Where's the closest ATM?
8. Where are the showers?
9. Where is the main gate (there was no main gate, there were two main
entrances)
10. Where is the shuttle bus to town?
| It's All About |  |