Fyre Fest, Woodstock ’99, Altamont… there have been many great festival disasters over the years. But none of these come even close to 1972’s Erie Canal & Soda Pop Festival (Also known as “Bull Island.”) The lack of preparedness, the lawlessness, the desperation of the crowd; it’s like the bad-acid trip version of Woodstock where [spoiler] everything burns down. [/spoiler]
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Some of the music heard in this video:
0 : 00 — In the Hall of the Mountain King
2 : 48 — Zodiac Structures by NoMBe
6 : 53 — Washington Post by US Army Band
7 : 43 — Blues Power by Albert King
9 : 53 — Free Spirit by Birtha
14 : 41 — Firebrand by Kevin MacLeod (
17 : 48 — The Sticks by Engine Summer (
So basically it was because the city government didn’t like rock.
I've never in my life heard someone say Boones was okay. Is Boones paying you? 😉
Stop the cubs don't sell out
They're lucky it was an election year. Otherwise, I would've authorized a couple of kilotons.
In September 1970, there was a similar incident on Fehmarn, a small island in northern Germany. It rained throughout the first two Days, a group of 180 violent bikers from Hamburg declared themselves as the security, the Kinks, Ten Years After and Procol Harum bailed last minute, and on the last day, the ticket booths and organisations headquarters went up in flames after the last band, Ton Steine Scherben, commanded the crowd to "punch the orginazisers into the ground". On a bittersweet note, the organizers had actually managed to get Jimi Hendrix, who played his last official concert there, just two weeks before his death.
Alexis Korner, Jimi Hendrix, Canned Heat, Ginger Baker, Mungo Jerry, Sly and the Family Stone and the German bands Frumpy, Embryo, Floh De Cologne and Ton Steine Scherben were among the Line Up
45 minutes away from me
Disturbing
I was there in ‘72! It was a pretty intense long weekend. I remember thinking if something serious happens, there’s no way out. Later, someone behind me (accidentally) caught my hair on fire. 🔥 It was pretty terrifying!
Gosh I love when the crew hosting the festival think everything will run flawlessly… And then here comes chaos
So my dad played college basketball in the mid 70s and he actually led his team to the finals for the first time I'm many years. He got the cover of his local newspaper and it's a picture of my dad dunking the ball in the hoop. Now this has nothing to do with this festival but if you read it, you're a real one 😀
This just shows how people become savage and animalistic when In stress situations
Worse than fyre festival?
I've always thought the worst was Mar y Sol in Puerto Rico, but nobody died there.
275,000?? Wtf I live a stone's throw away. How the hell, that many people???
bullshit on strynine and bleach being sold as drugs. That is some urban legend type stuff with no basis in reality.
its funny that the square world always thinks shakedown street is some anomaly. All these mainstream fest dont have it I would imagine and even at dead and co shows it has become watered down, declawed and sanitized, made safe for mass consumption that grateful dead inc now churns out.
The very first sentence! LOL! Love it!
Pretty good video. Obviously John and Michael from Woodstock 99 didn't learn anything from Bull Island when it came to sanitation and trash and not enough security. But hey all the drugs you want some real some not. Wild Wild west anything goes except the bands showing up to play.
You need a degree in America now to be a festival promoter. Don't you just need food water sanitation a festival sight and some music?
10:16 this man's face in the lighting conditions is fucken terrifying
Best festival ever.
here
Woodstock 99 was way worse
It's tough to top Fyre as far as bad festivals.
Hippies being peaceful is one of the biggest lies ever created.
1:27 the Guy with the flag is scene from Altamont, not Woodstock.
Some of the same things happened at Woodstock 99 and nobody recognized the similar situation (food, water, & sanitation) from decades before…"doomed to be repeated" SMH
Wow
A testament?? Ba ha ha, good one.
Festival was doomed as soon as they tried to refer to soda as “pop”
Sat with Foghat on stage;
Holy shit gentle giant played?? Ahahahahhaa
Best line of this documentary. This one made me laugh out loud: 9:06
NO NO NO NO. Never had an urge to go camping, woodstock 2, nascar etc. Need indoor plumbing, this is disgusting.
GD dirty hippies..
Not as bad as Fyre Fest
Bowl island has 2 deaths Travis Scotts astroworld says here hold my beer….
I just can’t see a pampered millennial influencer surviving one day at a 60’s or 70’s rock festival. No toilets or running water was no problem for a hippie.
Boones Farm is only meant to be drunk from the bottle.