Dentsu Aegis Network

Woodstock organizers claim former financial partners Dentsu Aegis Network ”illegally swept” the $18.5 million from festival bank accounts.

”We believe in Woodstock as an important American cultural icon and look forward to its regeneration in the green fields of Watkins Glen this August with all of the artists on the remarkable lineup,” a representative of new Woodstock 50 investor Oppenheimer & Co said in a statement.

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, where he suggested a ticket sale may be announced in the next week to ten days.

”Woodstock 50 LLC’s and Michael Lang’s misrepresentations, incompetence, and contractual breaches have made it impossible to produce a high-quality event that is safe and secure for concertgoers, artists, and staff,” the lawyer of former Woodstock financial partner Dentsu Aegis Network writes.

In a recent letter, Lang accused his former financial backer of ”illegally swept approximately $17 million from the festival bank account, leaving [Woodstock] in peril.”

”It is one thing if your company, Dentsu, wanted to back out of its commitment to Woodstock because it would not make as much money as it had hoped, but to try to suffocate and kill Woodstock so that we could not have a festival for our Golden Anniversary without you is puzzling for any company, let alone one that claims reform,” Michael Lang writes.

Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang continues to insist, “we’re gonna get this done,” but the circumstances around producing the festival – even over usage of the Woodstock 50 name – make that seem unlikely.