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If you liked the Fyre Fest doc, you'll LOVE

17,180 Views | 127 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by 62strat
62strat
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Sea Speed said:

General synopsis? what were the issues?
lol, curious how old you are.

I was at aTm for '99.. definitely remember reading/watching all about it as it unfolded.
Sea Speed
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I was 15 and my parents did their best to keep me very sheltered at that age so I was not really aware of what was going on with Woodstock.
ATM9000
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johnnyblaze36 said:

Half way through the first episode and have so many thoughts already that I will get to later after I finish it but this one "journalist", David Blaustein, blames the "psychology" of all the "toxic white frat boys" that attended the festival on their love of movies like "Fight Club".

Not exactly what he said. It's around what he said.

What he said was Fight Club and American Pie were probably a good snapshot of the psychology of young people in the moment. He didn't blame the movies for that but rather said they were a snapshot of the time. And the guy who brought up fat boys wasn't even the same person.

Had he blamed the movies themselves, I'd probably agree with you but he used them to illustrate how weird that period really was. I forgot until watching this documentary how huge Limp Bizkit and Korn were at the time (Kid Rock too!). The fact both of them were so big at that time reinforces how weird and angry the late 90's/early 00's were.
johnnyblaze36
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Maybe I misunderstood what he was communicating. But it seemed about as odd as the former MTV host saying at the end of the documentary that Woodstock '99 basically started the #MeToo movement.

After finishing it all I could think of was what a crazy era that was. Then just three years later you had the first bonnaroo which was done extremely well (I didn't go the first year but 2003 and 2004...plus 2009) and those first few years were the total embodiment of the spirt of Woodstock '69. I guess that's to be expected though when you enlist bands like the Dead and Widespread Panic as opposed to Korn and Limp Bizkit.

I haven't seen the HBO Max documentary but found this one to be highly entertaining and also very disturbing at points and well worth the watch. I'll never forget watching those scenes of everything burning live on MTV while in college.

I feel like society as a whole has been in major decline the last 25 years but then you watch a documentary like this and wonder has it really?

JJxvi
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It was run by people too dumb and naive to understand what their responsibilities were. They legitimately believed in peace and love and a pay day on top of it. There is far too much focus on the crowds and the artists, but the reality is that this is created by people who believe that you can just spontaneously create a utopia. "Just play the music, man, that's all that matters. We don't need security, just pay these kids and give 'em some yellow shirts."

The same fans and the same bands could have played a festival there with proper infrastructure, water, sanitation, and especially enough real security to root out enough bad seeds from the beginning so that everybody knows this is a festival but there are still boundaries and not anarchy, and it would have been great probably. If whether or not the fabric of your entire festival falls apart rests in the palm of the hands of an artists like Fred Durst, you ****ed up. Nothing Fred Durst does should change anything.
tommyjohn
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Watched this one and the HBO one last year.

WTF did you expect from Limp Bizkit? Them to go out there and cover John and Yoko playing Give Peace a Chance?

Also everyone **** on Fred Durst in both. The RHCP played Fire to close then damn festival. That just seemed to get glanced over in both docs.
Ex Ex Officio Director
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To your point, I feel like "Fire" was covered in a certain aspect in this one: one of the organizers begged RHCP to calm the crowd, so emergency workers could get to the fire.

Instead of calming the crowd, they sang Fire, and the crowd was like, "**** yeah! Let's set fire to everything!"

But by that point, everything had gone to **** anyway.

I guess my point is that it was pointed out that RCHP was asked to help, and this is what they did, but everything was such a **** show by that point, it didn't really matter.
ATM9000
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johnnyblaze36 said:

Maybe I misunderstood what he was communicating. But it seemed about as odd as the former MTV host saying at the end of the documentary that Woodstock '99 basically started the #MeToo movement.

I watched the thing on an airplane which if we are all being honest these days is probably where we pay the most attention to TV and documentaries these days as you don't have your phones competing with the content.

I think this is another one where it is around what she said but not exactly what she said. I think what she was saying was that era (not Woodstock itself) really kicked off #metoo. Another point that I think is debatable, but not completely from left field either. It really was a pretty gross point in pop culture. Documentary touched on how awful MTV was… I remember most acts would go on and get interviewed and most of the interviews were just sexual innuendos and such. I mean… I'll give you another touchstone of the culture not even covered in the doc: Girls Gone Wild was a big thing at this time too.

Every time a big festival becomes a disaster be it this, Fyre, or Astroworld a few years back, the root cause is promoters being greedy. My brother in law went to Woodstock 99… he left when the fires started at the end. His take is the doc underplayed significantly how debaucherous the raves were and how gross the site got and it overplayed how many people were really out there destroying stuff and how rowdy the crowds at the concerts really were (his take was it was pretty standard for rock concerts at the time until the fire starting). He does recall what really infuriated people was what they were being charged for food and drink which was exorbitantly high even for concerts and there were no other options and it was kids on limited budgets kind of trapped there for 3 days. Loads of people there saved and spent a good chunk just to travel there so it felt they were getting extorted. So the idea of telling Anthony Keidis 'you need to help us get this under control' was a fantastic indicator of how clueless the festival runners really were with how the crowd was feeling in the moment.

As an aside, going back to MTV at the time… loads of content exists on the beginnings of MTV and the like… given how poorly MTV a in the noughties thru the Teen Mom era… I'd love for there to be more content on that time there. If you think back to a lot of what they did then, it was all just so cringe-worthy.
500,000ags
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The main promoters didn't even know the headline acts. You mean the people showing up for Korn and Limp Bizkit, are not showing up for peace and love?

You could tell Fatboy Slim was hit by the van situation. I don't think he had ever gotten the full story there.
johnnyblaze36
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Anti-taxxer said:

To your point, I feel like "Fire" was covered in a certain aspect in this one: one of the organizers begged RHCP to calm the crowd, so emergency workers could get to the fire.

Instead of calming the crowd, they sang Fire, and the crowd was like, "**** yeah! Let's set fire to everything!"

But by that point, everything had gone to **** anyway.

I guess my point is that it was pointed out that RCHP was asked to help, and this is what they did, but everything was such a **** show by that point, it didn't really matter.
Good point. And naked Flea with his wang flopping around probably didn't help the situation either.
johnnyblaze36
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ATM9000 said:

johnnyblaze36 said:

Maybe I misunderstood what he was communicating. But it seemed about as odd as the former MTV host saying at the end of the documentary that Woodstock '99 basically started the #MeToo movement.

I watched the thing on an airplane which if we are all being honest these days is probably where we pay the most attention to TV and documentaries these days as you don't have your phones competing with the content.

I think this is another one where it is around what she said but not exactly what she said. I think what she was saying was that era (not Woodstock itself) really kicked off #metoo. Another point that I think is debatable, but not completely from left field either. It really was a pretty gross point in pop culture. Documentary touched on how awful MTV was… I remember most acts would go on and get interviewed and most of the interviews were just sexual innuendos and such. I mean… I'll give you another touchstone of the culture not even covered in the doc: Girls Gone Wild was a big thing at this time too.

Every time a big festival becomes a disaster be it this, Fyre, or Astroworld a few years back, the root cause is promoters being greedy. My brother in law went to Woodstock 99… he left when the fires started at the end. His take is the doc underplayed significantly how debaucherous the raves were and how gross the site got and it overplayed how many people were really out there destroying stuff and how rowdy the crowds at the concerts really were (his take was it was pretty standard for rock concerts at the time until the fire starting). He does recall what really infuriated people was what they were being charged for food and drink which was exorbitantly high even for concerts and there were no other options and it was kids on limited budgets kind of trapped there for 3 days. Loads of people there saved and spent a good chunk just to travel there so it felt they were getting extorted. So the idea of telling Anthony Keidis 'you need to help us get this under control' was a fantastic indicator of how clueless the festival runners really were with how the crowd was feeling in the moment.

As an aside, going back to MTV at the time… loads of content exists on the beginnings of MTV and the like… given how poorly MTV a in the noughties thru the Teen Mom era… I'd love for there to be more content on that time there. If you think back to a lot of what they did then, it was all just so cringe-worthy.
Fair enough. I just found it ironic that the MTV folks were acting shocked today when it's exactly the culture they were promoting at the time.

#MeToo started with Harvey Weinstein and not with chicks willingly stripping down and crowd surfing and having not a care in the world of having their boobs grabbed.

I don't condone any of the behavior. Just saying. And hardly anybody in that crowd would make it through any fraternity rush that I could imagine.
ATM9000
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johnnyblaze36 said:

ATM9000 said:

johnnyblaze36 said:

Maybe I misunderstood what he was communicating. But it seemed about as odd as the former MTV host saying at the end of the documentary that Woodstock '99 basically started the #MeToo movement.

I watched the thing on an airplane which if we are all being honest these days is probably where we pay the most attention to TV and documentaries these days as you don't have your phones competing with the content.

I think this is another one where it is around what she said but not exactly what she said. I think what she was saying was that era (not Woodstock itself) really kicked off #metoo. Another point that I think is debatable, but not completely from left field either. It really was a pretty gross point in pop culture. Documentary touched on how awful MTV was… I remember most acts would go on and get interviewed and most of the interviews were just sexual innuendos and such. I mean… I'll give you another touchstone of the culture not even covered in the doc: Girls Gone Wild was a big thing at this time too.

Every time a big festival becomes a disaster be it this, Fyre, or Astroworld a few years back, the root cause is promoters being greedy. My brother in law went to Woodstock 99… he left when the fires started at the end. His take is the doc underplayed significantly how debaucherous the raves were and how gross the site got and it overplayed how many people were really out there destroying stuff and how rowdy the crowds at the concerts really were (his take was it was pretty standard for rock concerts at the time until the fire starting). He does recall what really infuriated people was what they were being charged for food and drink which was exorbitantly high even for concerts and there were no other options and it was kids on limited budgets kind of trapped there for 3 days. Loads of people there saved and spent a good chunk just to travel there so it felt they were getting extorted. So the idea of telling Anthony Keidis 'you need to help us get this under control' was a fantastic indicator of how clueless the festival runners really were with how the crowd was feeling in the moment.

As an aside, going back to MTV at the time… loads of content exists on the beginnings of MTV and the like… given how poorly MTV a in the noughties thru the Teen Mom era… I'd love for there to be more content on that time there. If you think back to a lot of what they did then, it was all just so cringe-worthy.
Fair enough. I just found it ironic that the MTV folks were acting shocked today when it's exactly the culture they were promoting at the time.

#MeToo started with Harvey Weinstein and not with chicks willingly stripping down and crowd surfing and having not a care in the world of having their boobs grabbed.

I don't condone any of the behavior. Just saying. And hardly anybody in that crowd would make it through any fraternity rush that I could imagine.
I agree on the MTV bits. This is why I think some docs and such on MTV in the noughties or just more noughties content would be interesting to see. Loads of stuff on the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's… time for more noughties stuff like this documentary.

MTV were the leaders in just blatantly selling sex in this time. Go to YouTube and find some old clips of a show like Next for example. The innuendo and sometimes not even innuendo is just self parody if you watch it in today's context. In that way, I don't buy that society has degraded but maybe improved a little since that era.

Also, John Scher seems like a total dick.
Tobias Funke
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Thanks for recommending this. Wild doc that I had almost zero knowledge of. One of the last true massive s-shows before cell phones allowed us to experience stuff in real time
Faustus
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https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/trainwreck-woodstock-99-tv-review-2022

Quote:

. . .
Accountability is what this documentary strives for so late in the game, with the NDAs everyone signed that fateful Monday morning apparently expired. It doesn't get that, but it does have plenty of moments in which the controlling Woodstock powers like promoter John Scher and Woodstock owner Michael Lang show their ignorance about what happened, or even who they brought in. They hired a bunch of popular acts who are paid to be angry (Korn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock) and then they gave thousands of concertgoers numerous reasons to be angry at them. Then they gave them candles.
. . .
Ex Ex Officio Director
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Michael Lang was a smarmy a-hole with a very punchable face.
JDUB08AG
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johnnyblaze36 said:

I feel like society as a whole has been in major decline the last 25 years but then you watch a documentary like this and wonder has it really?
I told my wife this exact same thing. Our society is terrible and has always been terrible. This goes all the way back to the book of Genesis.
double aught
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That's a lazy take. The large majority of people are good, and the examples are endless. Civilization itself is a testament to it.
Ag_07
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I watched this all last night and I think the big takeaway for me was that the promoters wanted peace love and hippies but also wanted the big pay day so they booked bands that would bring crowds and sell tickets.

However, the bands the booked Korn, LB, Kid Rock, Chili Peppers, etc aren't really bands that exude peace and love. I mean what did they think was gonna happen?

One of the security guys said it best at one point 'I don't blame Limp Bizkit. They were being Limp Bizkit'.

Good doc and thought it was very interesting to hear the musicians speak on feeling the crowd, the vibes, trying to manage things on stage, etc. From someone who's never been on a stage for anything I thought that aspect of this was captivating.
BJM1781
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johnnyblaze36 said:

Half way through the first episode and have so many thoughts already that I will get to later after I finish it but this one "journalist", David Blaustein, blames the "psychology" of all the "toxic white frat boys" that attended the festival on their love of movies like "Fight Club".

Which is a really odd statement considering this event took place in late July of 1999 and one of the greatest films of all time wasn't even released until October later that year.

Episode 1 is titled "How the **** Did This Happen?". My question is, who the **** produced this thing and how could this guy be considered a journalist when he can't even get basic history and timelines correct?




Dude literally said that that movie captured the zeitgeist of the era and maybe the attitude of the male crowd there. He never said that Fight Club influenced the concert attendees.
BJM1781
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Pretty much agree with your assessment. Couldn't really have it both ways.

Also, John Scher is a pompous arse.
TheMasterplan
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Ag_07 said:

I watched this all last night and I think the big takeaway for me was that the promoters wanted peace love and hippies but also wanted the big pay day so they booked bands that would bring crowds and sell tickets.

However, the bands the booked Korn, LB, Kid Rock, Chili Peppers, etc aren't really bands that exude peace and love. I mean what did they think was gonna happen?

One of the security guys said it best at one point 'I don't blame Limp Bizkit. They were being Limp Bizkit'.

Good doc and thought it was very interesting to hear the musicians speak on feeling the crowd, the vibes, trying to manage things on stage, etc. From someone who's never been on a stage for anything I thought that aspect of this was captivating.
This.

A bunch of hippie boomers didn't realize Korn, Limp Bizkit, Rage, DMX and RHCP aren't the same as Jimi, Santana, Janis Joplin and Joe Crocker. It was hilarious seeing that lady trying to get these young people to pick up trash. How out of touch do you have to be?

And all of those bands have something I like in them and both festivals would've been great to attend.

I put on the Woodstock '99 playlist on Spotify. Some of that music needs to stay in the '90s.

I hope we millenials don't make the same mistake.

BadMoonRisin
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AustinAg2K said:

The Collective said:

16 year old me loved the live version of of Bawitdaba from that concert because, "If you don't like Kid Rock, you can suck my ****"


I saw Kid Rock live back in 99 or 2000. It remains one of the most impressive shows I've ever seen. I was not a fan back then (went because he was playing with Metallica), nor am I fan now, but there is no doubt he's an immensely talented musician. I was completely shocked by the range of songs he chose to play. He played his rap rock stuff, classic rock, country, pop, classical (just him on piano), etc. Dude is a talent, he just chose to go in a musical direction that sucks.
Was that Summer Sanitarium tour?

I saw it in St Louis at Gateway Motorspeedway. It was my first concert in person (I was 15).

It was Powerman 5000, System of a Down, Korn, Kid Rock, and Metallica.

James Hetfield would injure himself on a jetski accident a few days later and miss the rest of the leg of that tour.

Good times.
sanitariex
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BadMoonRisin said:

AustinAg2K said:

The Collective said:

16 year old me loved the live version of of Bawitdaba from that concert because, "If you don't like Kid Rock, you can suck my ****"


I saw Kid Rock live back in 99 or 2000. It remains one of the most impressive shows I've ever seen. I was not a fan back then (went because he was playing with Metallica), nor am I fan now, but there is no doubt he's an immensely talented musician. I was completely shocked by the range of songs he chose to play. He played his rap rock stuff, classic rock, country, pop, classical (just him on piano), etc. Dude is a talent, he just chose to go in a musical direction that sucks.
Was that Summer Sanitarium tour?

I saw it in St Louis at Gateway Motorspeedway. It was my first concert in person (I was 15).

It was Powerman 5000, System of a Down, Korn, Kid Rock, and Metallica.

James Hetfield would injure himself on a jetski accident a few days later and miss the rest of the leg of that tour.

Good times.
I was fortunate to get to go to both Summer Sanitarium tours as one of the first concerts I ever saw. James did hurt himself, I think, a few days prior to the Dallas show. It ended up being a lot of fun with the other bands joining them to get through the show. Even better was the free show Metallica ended up doing at Coca Cola Starplex with Corrosion of Conformity. We were sitting on row 20-something and I felt like Metallica played for 3 hours. It was AWESOME for a high schooler like me at the time!
emando2000
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Where do you start with this one? I can't even figure out which was the biggest mistake. Those idiots were clueless!

Sanitation. You probably need 1000 porta potties for $300K people, especially if you're not going to empty them daily. Who knows who the trash crew was. They never showed them.

Security. You need actual law enforcement to keep order. The Yellow shirted Peace staff was a complete joke. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs to feel responsible. They had the appropriate number of security or "peacekeepers" for maybe a 10K show...maybe. Even if they had more numbers, you still need law enforcement to keep it from getting out of hand.

These people were so out of touch with reality it's ridiculous! Look at the lineup. WTF did you think was gonna happen? This wasn't a hippie lineup.

As promotors they blamed the kids and called out frat culture compared to the original culture of Woodstock. Those idiots envisioned the 60's playing bongos and tripping on acid and shrooms. They even had Buddist praying....smh. YET!!!! They scheduled artists like Kid Rock, Rage, Limp Bizkit, and Metallica.

And then the Rave... oooof!!! Man what did they think was gonna happen????

I was rolling my eyes at the "money grab" comments. That lineup may have been the best lineup I've ever seen! Someone has to pay for the bands.

double aught
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Any of you fellow GenXers go to Rockfest at Texas Motor Speedway in '97? It was a helluva show with every big pop/rock act at the time. They estimated up to 500k people there but no issues.
AggieUSMC
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They overcharged for inferior services, inadequate sanitation, held the festival on an airfield tarmac in triple digit temperatures with scarce water and shade. Security was practically non-existent. Mix that all together over 3 days, I couldn't imagine what could possibly go wrong.
AggieUSMC
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Quote:

Any of you fellow GenXers go to Rockfest at Texas Motor Speedway in '97? It was a helluva show with every big pop/rock act at the time. They estimated up to 500k people there but no issues.
They probably had adequate security, sanitation, and water. That's all Woodstock '99 needed but the organizers cared more about maximizing their profits.
maroon barchetta
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sanitariex said:

BadMoonRisin said:

AustinAg2K said:

The Collective said:

16 year old me loved the live version of of Bawitdaba from that concert because, "If you don't like Kid Rock, you can suck my ****"


I saw Kid Rock live back in 99 or 2000. It remains one of the most impressive shows I've ever seen. I was not a fan back then (went because he was playing with Metallica), nor am I fan now, but there is no doubt he's an immensely talented musician. I was completely shocked by the range of songs he chose to play. He played his rap rock stuff, classic rock, country, pop, classical (just him on piano), etc. Dude is a talent, he just chose to go in a musical direction that sucks.
Was that Summer Sanitarium tour?

I saw it in St Louis at Gateway Motorspeedway. It was my first concert in person (I was 15).

It was Powerman 5000, System of a Down, Korn, Kid Rock, and Metallica.

James Hetfield would injure himself on a jetski accident a few days later and miss the rest of the leg of that tour.

Good times.
I was fortunate to get to go to both Summer Sanitarium tours as one of the first concerts I ever saw. James did hurt himself, I think, a few days prior to the Dallas show. It ended up being a lot of fun with the other bands joining them to get through the show. Even better was the free show Metallica ended up doing at Coca Cola Starplex with Corrosion of Conformity. We were sitting on row 20-something and I felt like Metallica played for 3 hours. It was AWESOME for a high schooler like me at the time!


Username checks out.
Know Your Enemy
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double aught said:

Any of you fellow GenXers go to Rockfest at Texas Motor Speedway in '97? It was a helluva show with every big pop/rock act at the time. They estimated up to 500k people there but no issues.

I was there. Bush and No Doubt were the headliners so not really the same.
Whos Juan
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AggieUSMC said:

Quote:

Any of you fellow GenXers go to Rockfest at Texas Motor Speedway in '97? It was a helluva show with every big pop/rock act at the time. They estimated up to 500k people there but no issues.
They probably had adequate security, sanitation, and water. That's all Woodstock '99 needed but the organizers cared more about maximizing their profits.

It was only one day and there's no way in hell they made any money off of it. I think I got my ticket free with a Blockbuster rental.
Ex Ex Officio Director
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double aught said:

Any of you fellow GenXers go to Rockfest at Texas Motor Speedway in '97? It was a helluva show with every big pop/rock act at the time. They estimated up to 500k people there but no issues.

I did!! It was so damn amazing. I was 14, and had the time of my life.
BadMoonRisin
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AggieUSMC said:

They overcharged for inferior services, inadequate sanitation, held the festival on an airfield tarmac in triple digit temperatures with scarce water and shade. Security was practically non-existent. Mix that all together over 3 days, I couldn't imagine what could possibly go wrong.
This is what it all boiled down to. As the one guy in the show says, paraphrased -- for 2 days they were treated like animals, and on the 3rd night they turned into them.
double aught
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Know Your Enemy said:

double aught said:

Any of you fellow GenXers go to Rockfest at Texas Motor Speedway in '97? It was a helluva show with every big pop/rock act at the time. They estimated up to 500k people there but no issues.

I was there. Bush and No Doubt were the headliners so not really the same.
No, not the same. Different crowds. Plus, Texas is the friendship state.
Ag_07
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I hope John Scher and his 'We didn't have any more rapes than a city of that size would have' burns in hell.

What an incredibly asinine, crass, and just flat out awful thing to say. And to say it on camera for a film crew was shocking.
Redstone
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I made it to the very front as Gwen Stefani was shaking her goods. Legit thought I was going to get crushed to oblivion. She was throwing water bottles and I almost got hit in the head.

We knew there was no way to get out of that parking lot and so just passed out for nearly a full day.
 
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