The organizers of Woodstock 50 are officially calling it quits.
The music festival, which was to take place next month to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original Woodstock, has been canceled, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reported on Wednesday.
"We are saddened that a series of unforeseen setbacks has made it impossible to put on the Festival we imagined with the great line-up we had booked and the social engagement we were anticipating," co-founder Michael Lang said in a statement, per the Reporter.
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The event was already thought to be off months ago when in April its financial partner pulled out and announced it was canceled. But the organizers shortly came out and insisted it would still take place, though they would later have to scramble for a new location and end up relocating from New York to a smaller venue in Maryland. Although Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus were among the artists set to perform, they recently dropped out after being released from their contracts.
Tickets for Woodstock 50 had also still not gone on sale despite it being meant to take place in just more than two weeks on August 16, only increasing speculation that it would never actually come to pass; it was recently reported that it would go on but that tickets would now be free. But it's off entirely now, for real this time, with Variety reporting that vendors and stakeholders were informed earlier today.
"We thank the artists, fans and partners who stood by us even in the face of adversity," Lang said, while the Merriweather Post Pavilion's operator tried to look on the bright side by saying per the Reporter that "hopefully, with plenty of time to prepare, Merriweather will become the site of a future festival that captures the original vibe."
