Woodstock 1999 (1999)

For all but the most apathetic viewers, this concert souvenir is enjoyable in inverse proportion to familiarity with the real-life Woodstock '99 festival: the less you know about the hour-to-hour experiences of the audience and the event's violent denouement, the more you can enjoy the show. This 2½-hour summation, which offers one song each from 29 of the artists that appeared, can be viewed as a grab bag of funk, rock, hip-hop, and pop spanning several generations of performers, from show opener James Brown ("Sex Machine") to bad-boy rockers Limp Bizkit ("Show Me What You Got"), congregating under the would-be "brand" (as event promoters have baldly called it) first established on Yasgur's farm 30 years earlier.

The '99 edition, however, wasn't your father's Woodstock, despite the involvement of one of the original event's promoters. Moved to a decommissioned military airfield, cordoned by pricey concession and crafts stands, and designed to feed pay-per-view and cable TV (and, of course, the eventual home video version), Woodstock '99 seems far removed from the "peace, love, and music" mission of its namesake. Shooting on videotape, the production crew delivers a smoothly edited, crisply rendered concert with equally good audio resolution; if the team of directors occasionally cuts to the crowd, and to such mild (and mildly exploitative) provocations as topless female fans, dancing to the nonstop music, this is much less a cultural document than a straightforward concert video largely shorn of the drama. Given that the program's executive producers were the event's promoters, no one would reasonably expect them to 'fess up to deteriorating site sanitation or the eventual rape and riot that cast a dark shadow over the event.

With those indignities edited out, we're left with a lineup including G. Love & Special Sauce, Jamiroquai, Lit, Live, Sheryl Crow, DMX, the Offspring, Korn, Bush, Kid Rock, Everclear, Dave Matthews Band, Alanis Morissette, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Everlast, Elvis Costello, Jewel, Megadeth, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others. Even with some individually lackluster turns, the sheer length of the bill is impressive--and, unlike the real event, you can fast-forward through the occasional "feel-good" interludes that try to graft some semblance of community onto the event, or such musical low points as the "feel-bad" rap-rock of Insane Clown Posse ("F* the World," an utterly pointless exercise in obscenity).

Die-hard fans of the headliners will probably want to take a peek at the stronger performances, however. But parents should be forewarned that the title carries an advisory sticker for lyric contents and those clips of less inhibited fans. --Sam Sutherland Amazon.com

Excellent DVD

Im surprised that people have let their moral stand on the excesses of the event,mar their review of this disc.While I sympathise with those affected,I will stick to reviewing this disc,which is what this forum is for.

The Production values : Are top notch.I have bought some DVDs recorded in 2006,which do not look or sound as good as this one.The producers of this release knew their job well.
The Music and performances : Im a metalhead and I thought there would be barely 3-4 songs on this disc that I would like.Well barring 3-4 songs ( out of 29 ),I loved EVERY performance on this disc.The disc really captures the environment of the gig and brings it into your room.Its fun to watch the crowd go crazy during KORN and Metallica's set.There are some weak moments tho',but they can be easily overlooked.Im surprised that some killer acts like Godsmack,which made it to the audio CD did not make it to the DVD - thats disappointing.
The Extras - There's lots of em'.All the songs are interspresed with a walk around the Woodstock ground,so you get a good idea of what was happening around the place over the 3 days.So that makes it about 1 hours worth of bonus material,apart from band interview snippets and some other backstage stuff.

All in all,if you are a fan of great live music and grand concerts,this disc is an awesome deal.BUY IT ! August 31, 2007

It was called "Not your father's Woodstock" for a reason

For people that weren't there allow me to explain Woodstock '99. I was never so sun burned, broke, dirty, strung out and tired in my entire life... and I have never had so much fun. No, it wasn't an ode to the 1969 Woodstock. It was my generations Woodstock and we rocked the house. I am not talking about the riots, there were so many people there they stopped counting and were letting people in for free on Thursday before the actual Woodstock started... a single person serving of pizza was 11 bucks and water was 7 dollars. I am not excusing the riots.. I am painting a picture. It was almost 120 degrees in Griffis with the cement and the amount of people, people were broke and tired/strung out/sun burned and they went bonkers. The thing is that it didn't start till Sunday night( Even if the wall was ripped down on Saturday ) and it was delightful other than that. I hope they have another Woodstock, I would go.. just bring more of my own food next time. I would like a more complete version of Woodstock '99, the crowds, behind the scenes, more songs from artists... but I will take what I can get. June 29, 2006

in case my previous review gets edited for content

I'm really tired by all this "metal" stuff. It can be catchy, and the musicians can be very good, but it requires alot of devotion to feel the music and listen to it all the time. It gives me a headache. I can't remember why, but I've chewed tin foil before and it tastes real bad too, neither do I know what's happened to the old tunes and love of the 60s and woodstock, but its all disappeared. "...that was then and this is now" so does that mean peace and love is lost, and instead we should forget our principles and live blindly?


-----------------------other reviewers--------------------------

"If you're looking for a variety of musical styles and performances of the late 90's, this is a good choice if you can look past it's technical shortcomings. If you're only a fan of one or two of the artists, it's really not worth it. Everything on this disc screams mediocrity."

"A woodstock festival with acts such as Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Korn, Offspring and countless other degenerate pop groups (yes, they are POP groups), can no longer be called a woodstock festival. The title of this DVD should be 'Woodstock: 3 days of mosh pits, molestation, and useless expendable garbage that some call music.' Half the crowd at this piece of corporate filth consisted of white, beer-guzzling jock college students, ravers, and teeny boppers just PRAYING that by some miracle the Backstreet Boys show up. And of course, thrown in the mix were old hippies who went to the first woodstock. God, that must have been like a 3 day acid trip from hell. So to sum up, dear reader, woodstock '99 showcased all of the reasons why music can never again be what it was in the age of woodstock '69. This was the woodstock for the MTV generation."


Such blasting feedback and distortion is not our new generations way of supporting revolution, its just stupidity, like how someone's gonna call me soft for saying this.


peace,
bonzo
June 3, 2006

Good Bands, Bad Song Selection

If you were to just read the names of the bands you would automatically give this 5 stars. You can't really pay any attention to what some reviewers say. You may not really like all of the bands, but most are notable bands for the time. The problem with this DVD isn't the bands but the song selection. I understand that each band tries to control the video rights to its better songs but this is rediculous. I have to say that Everclear and Rage Against The Machine both have "A" list songs on this DVD. Other than that the songs chosen by other bands are somewhat subpar. This DVD is still worth buying if you can get a good price. February 19, 2006

Few highlights...mostly waste of time

I have to admit looking at the band lineup on this dvd I was immediately turned off. Kid Rock, Live, Creed, DMX, Brian Setzer Ochestra??? Are these guys even still around? With that being said, some of the other acts led me to at least give it a chance. The first quarter of the dvd is a complete bore. James Brown is a shell of himself. Jamiroquai seems uninspired. DMX...well I can see why his career didn't last very long. Hands down Korn steals the show as they snarl their way through Blind. I'm not even a Korn fan but this perfomance made me want to start banging my head in my living room. Truly bad ass. I've never really checked out Guster before but they were rockin' as well, even though they look like guys that got beat up everyday in high school. Dave was pretty good, but I've seen better from them. Rage seemed all out of sync. The Chemical Brothers piece was something straight out of Girls Gone Wild, pretty hilarious. All in all, don't waste your time on this dvd. I'd recommend any of the Bonnaroo dvd's instead. December 9, 2005

More reviews at Amazon.com ...