Fed up with overflowing toilets and trash cans, an erratic supply of running water, high prices and a lack of shade on one of the summer's hottest weekends, concertgoers unleashed their anger in a fiery riot that required at least 500 state troopers to stop. The massive music festival's organizers said they were caught off guard. They shouldn't have been. Photo by Image Direct A bonfire blazes on Woodstock's final night. Critics charge that they may have been motivated to turn a blind eye by a Woodstock contract bonus clause worth up to a half-million dollars.
Officials deny the allegation.
Two hundred guards were fired before the festival began for threatening and bullying other employees in worker housing, according to co-promoter Lang. Some members of the Peace Patrol even took part in the rioting at the end of the festival, witnesses said. Hundreds of injuries took place in raging mosh pits during those sets, and co-promoter Scher later said the scheduling was a mistake. Scher and Lang say they never received a warning. The concert was in danger of being canceled several times because of promoters' failure to meet the terms of the event's permit.