To everyone’s surprise, Woodstock 50 is officially canceled. Perhaps in honor of the original concert, which was famously a hot mess, Woodstock 50 never even got off the ground before being torched. Act after act dropped out of the festival, until finally, Woodstock 50 organizers announced today that they’ve decided to cancel the event entirely. “We are saddened that a series of unforeseen setbacks has made it impossible to put on the festival we imagined with the great line-up we had booked and the social engagement we were anticipating,†Michael Lang, co-founder of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival said in a statement. He added that the artists consider donating 10 percent of their fees to HeadCount, “or causes of their choice in the spirit of peace.â€
Miley Cyrus announced yesterday that she was no longer playing the event, following the lead of the Raconteurs, the Lumineers, Jay-Z, and the Dead & Co. Original Woodstock performers Santana, John Sebastian, and Country Joe McDonald also fled the sinking ship. The festival was intended to occur at the Merriweather Post Pavilion near Baltimore, originally for a weekend in August and then bumped down to just a day, due to conflicts. Woodstock 50 wasn’t able to secure the original festival site in Watkins Glen, New York, or their second choice, in Vernon, New York, due to permit issues. In a world where reboots are being churned out by the second, it seems Woodstock’s encore wasn’t meant to be.