Jay-Z To Headline Woodstock’s 50th Anniversary Festival

Contemporary heavyweights including Jay-Z and Chance the Rapper will headline this year’s Woodstock festival marking the 50th anniversary of the legendary concert weekend, organizers announced Tuesday.

Veteran acts that played the 1969 festival in upstate New York — considered a definitive moment in pop culture history — are also on the lineup set for August 16-18, including Santana, John Fogerty, Country Joe McDonald and Canned Heat.

The 2019 edition of peace, love and music will span the genres, in a bid to appeal to fans of the original weekend — where icons including Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin jammed in the pouring rain — as well as today’s young concert-goers.

Michael Lang — a promoter who co-created the 1969 show — had promised an “eclectic bill,” telling Rolling Stone that Woodstock 50 aimed to be “multi-generational.”

This three-day event to be held in Watkins Glen, New York is separate from one slated for the same weekend at the first festival’s site, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) away.

With a lineup that includes everything from hip hop to country with more than 80 artists, Woodstock 50 lives up to vows of widespread appeal, featuring a diverse billing of artists including rapper Common, rockers The Black Keys, pop futurist Janelle Monae and folk-rock troubadour Brandi Carlile.

“See ya in Aug! Performing on Friday, so I have all weekend to party!” tweeted pop star Miley Cyrus.

The 73-year-old Fogerty, frontman of the legendary rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, also tweeted his delight: “Come join me on my 50 Year Trip at Woodstock 50!”

“I was there 50 years ago in 1969 and I’m back to celebrate 3 days of Peace, Love, & Music.”

AFP