listen to Michael Lang talk Woodstock 50: "all the talent is still in"

Woodstock 50 got one key piece of good news in Wednesday’s (5/15) ruling on the court order they filed against former financial partner Dentsu Aegis Network. State Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager ruled that Dentsu didn’t have the right to cancel the festival, effectively allowing it to continue. However, he also said the festival “has not met the high burden entitling it to a mandatory injunction” that would return the $17 million it claims Dentsu “illegally swept” from its bank account. All in all, it was a mixed outcome in court for Woodstock, but original festival co-founder Michael Lang discussed it with his usual uncanny optimism in a new interview with Q104.3’s Jim Kerr, which you can listen to in full below.

Lang and Woodstock 50 partner Greg Peck continued to be enthusiastic about the festival’s prospects, insisting “all the talent is still in” and they “have been paid 100%.” They chalked up ongoing permit delays to “an administrative matter,” saying, “we essentially have” them. They also returned to their shock at Dentsu’s April 29 statement cancelling the festival, saying, “everybody was blindsided by” the news… “it wasn’t valid or authorized.”

Lang and Peck said they’re “still looking at a capacity of 75000 and we’re going to go with that because of the time element.” When asked about when tickets will go on sale, they seemed less sure, but said, “we’re going to try to at least announce the on-sale within the next week or ten days.”

According to them, they already have a replacement for former producer Superfly lined up: “we have an amazing production partner coming in, I can’t discuss who it is yet, but when that’s announced I think everybody will be really pleased.” They even seemed positive about finding future funding. “All the investors we’ve been talking with who are ready to close on arrangements have been waiting for” the ruling to come down, they said.