The Lumineers, The War on Drugs, Tyler Childers and the Trey Anastasio Band are among the headliners at a new music festival taking place at the original Woodstock 1969 site in upstate New York.
Catbird Music Festival will take place August 19 and 20 at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, NY. It will be the first multi-day music festival on the Bethel Woods grounds since the original 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair.
“We are thrilled to be bringing both music and camping back to the historic Woodstock field for the first time since the 1969 festival,” Eric Frances, CEO of Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, told Gothamist by email. "By creating our own signature festival, we hope that the Catbird Festival instills the same spirit of peace as the original Woodstock and inspires a new generation to leave the world better than they found it."
Catbird will take over the venue's main 15,000-seat amphitheater along with the larger surrounding field, which includes the farmland that previous owner Max Yasgur leased to the Woodstock 1969 festival organizers for $75,000. This will mark the first time the grounds will be open for festival-goers for widespread camping since that historic Woodstock weekend.
Frances said that Bethel Woods Center For the Arts has been dedicated to preserving the field, which is why they have been reluctant to open it up to a new festival before now.
"There was a very conscious decision to keep the 1969 festival field undisturbed by construction which is why the Pavilion at Bethel Woods was not built on that site," Frances said. "It’s hard to describe, but there is a feeling – a vibe you might say – that the field gives off when you visit."
He added that organizers expect between 15,000-20,000 people to attend each day of the festival, and anticipate about 5,000 people will camp on the grounds.
The initial lineup is heavy on a mix of folk, indie, Americana and jam bands. Other bands performing at the festival include Band of Horses, Dispatch, Trampled By Turtles, Charley Crockett, Margo Price, Amos Lee, and more. You can see the full lineup below.
More than 400,000 people attended the original Woodstock festival (which technically took place 40 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock). It featured iconic performances from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Santana and The Who and spawned a hit documentary film and soundtrack. The event is still considered a landmark cultural moment in American culture.
There have been multiple attempts at revisiting and revising the festival in the decades since, including the fairly successful Woodstock '94 (which took place in Saugerties, NY) and the disastrous Woodstock '99 (which took place in Rome, NY).
In 2019, original promoter Michael Lang tried to stage a massive Woodstock 50 concert in honor of the 50th anniversary of the festival, with a hodgepodge of musical acts including Jay Z, the Black Keys, Chance the Rapper, Run the Jewels, Robert Plant, Santana and The Lumineers. The event was plagued by permitting problems, artist cancelations and money woes, and ultimately never took place.
Tickets for Catbird Music Festival, which include 1-Day and 2-Day general admissions and camping options, go on sale starting this Wednesday. Festivalgoers can also check out The Museum at Bethel Woods, which is dedicated to artifacts from the original Woodstock festival. Get more information here.
This story has been updated with additional comment.
