John Fogerty Pulls Out Of Woodstock 50

John Fogerty will not perform at the Woodstock 50 festival according to the Associated Press. Reports surfaced yesterday indicating the troubled event would be held at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland August 16 – 18.

Organizers, including Woodstock 1969 co-organizer Michael Lang, initially sought to host the 50th anniversary celebration at Watkins Glen International race track in Watkins Glen, New York. When that site was not approved to host Woodstock 50, a failed attempt was made to move to Vernon Downs in Vernon, New York. Bloomberg reported on Thursday, July 25 that Woodstock 50 would now be held at Merriweather Post Pavilion, but the previously announced lineup was no longer confirmed.

“I’m just a guy who plays guitar and is ready to show up,” Fogerty recently told Rolling Stone when discussing Woodstock 50’s possible cancellation. “It’s not my job to know about the selection of artists or permits. But it’s a shame. They postponed announcing the tickets, and I remember reading a while ago that they didn’t have some of the permits. That just blew my mind. You’d think it would be the first thing you’d do and not the last thing. You got the sense there was some shakiness to this whole thing. But the first Woodstock happened more by people wishing for it to happen than any effort of great organization.”

In addition to Fogerty, The Black Keys in April pulled out of their previously announced Woodstock 50 appearance. Other acts that were part of the Woodstock 50 lineup include headliners Dead & Company (who removed the festival from their official website), Jay-Z and The Killers as well as Santana, The Raconteurs, Chance The Rapper, Robert Plant And The Sensational Space Shifters, David Crosby And Friends, Brandi Carlile, Janelle Monae, Sturgill Simpson and many others.

Fogerty will perform on August 18 as part of the Woodstock celebration taking place near the original 1969 site at the Bethel Woods Center For The Arts in Bethel, New York. That three-day event will also see Santana performing on August 17 and Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band on August 16.