Woodstock did not exactly go down as planned when the music festival went down in 1999. With utter chaos going on behind the scenes as well as throughout the crowd, one word that could accurately be used to describe the event would be the slang term “clusterfk.” With that in mind, it’s no coincidence that Netflix’s new documentary on the festival, coming to the streaming platform on Aug. 3, is called Clusterfk: Woodstock ‘99. You can watch the official trailer below.

The documentary consists of three parts, each running 45 minutes in length. You can read the official synopsis below.

Jamie Crawford directed the documentary with Cassandra Thornton and Sasha Kosminski producing. It is executive produced by Tom Pearson and Tim Wardle for RAW as well as William Swann, Casey Feldman, and Amani Duncan for BBH Entertainment.

Woodstock ‘99 Was Controversial

     Netflix

Woodstock ‘99 was held in upstate New York on July 22-25, 1999. The goal was to recreate the massive scale festival that Woodstock had been in the past in 1969 and 1994. Over the course of four days, around 400,000 people had attended. The event had also been broadcast on pay-per-view with extensive media coverage on television and radio. Live performances from Woodstock ‘99 were also released on CD and DVD.

A wide variety of the era’s most popular music artists had also performed at the event. This includes Sheryl Crow, DMX, Jamiroquai, The Offpsring, Korn, Bush, Buckcherry, The Roots, Insane Clown Posse, Dave Matthews Band, Counting Crows, Alanis Morissette, Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine, Ice Cube, The Chemical Brothers, Jewel, Creed, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Godsmack, Megadeth, and Everlast. Many other music legends like James Brown and Willie Nelson also performed.

But the festival was mired in controversy, given the reports of looting, vandalism, rioting, fires, assaults, and other kinds of mayhem. Footage of destruction had painted the festival in a negative light with its coverage on MTV and other outlets. The backlash cast a shadow over the large-scale music festival and some of its artists’ acclaimed performances.

“It was dangerous to be around,” MTV’s Kurt Loder said of the fest, via USA Today. “The whole scene was scary. There were just waves of hatred bouncing around the place… It was clear we had to get out of there…. It was like a concentration camp. To get in, you get frisked to make sure you’re not bringing in any water or food that would prevent you from buying from their outrageously priced booths. You wallow around in garbage and human waste. There was a palpable mood of anger.”

Clusterf**k: Woodstock ‘99 is set to start streaming on Netflix on Aug. 3, 2022.