Woodstock Festival reportedly cancels all artist contracts

The saga that just doesn’t stop seems to have just taken a whole new turn, with Woodstock Festival organisers reportedly cancelling all performer contracts.

The American festival which was set to go down this August has apparently told performers’ booking agents their acts are no longer required to show up at the event.

According to Billboard, John Fogerty and Jay-Z had already pulled out of the troubled event. Last night, festival bookers reportedly emailed all booking agents to let them know their artists weren’t required to show up at the event.

The letter sent to agents explained the artists weren’t “legally required” to show up.

Woodstock has been struck with a raft of issues since it was announced. Despite losing its venue, and facing investor cancellations. Despite all these problems, organisers have claimed the event will go ahead.

Festival organisers have persevered, racking up months of financial losses in court. Sadly, too, they’ve had numerous permit applications rejected. All of this has led to festival employees attempting to save the event, only to quit weeks later.

Unfortunately, though, all faith in this event going ahead seems to have been thrown in the bin.

But as many wouldn’t, Woodstock organisers are still trying to keep the event alive. They’re now reaching out to venues and artist to make it happen.

Merriweather Post Pavilion has offered itself to host the massive event. Venue operator Seth Hurwitz has claimed they’ll welcome Woodstock Festival to its space.

“Michael Lang called me a week ago about doing the show in DC proper but, on this short notice, there really wasn’t anywhere to do that. I suggested Merriweather would be a low risk option and is considered DC. Plus it has a similar historic legacy,” Hurwitz explains.

“We made a deal quickly contingent on him putting a show together and dealing with the fact that we have a show booked on one of those dates. So now I’m just a venue waiting to see if the promoter with the hold is going to confirm.”

Nothing Woodstock-related is certain right now, but one can only hope an event of this magnitude won’t cause, or be prone to further damage.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.