Michael Lang, the guy who helped organize Woodstock in 1969, one of the most memorable events in music history, has passed away. He was 77 years old at the time.
Lang died at Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York Friday night (Jan. 8). Michael Pagnotta, the promoter’s representative and lifelong family friend, confirmed his death, claiming it was caused by a rare form of non-lymphoma. Hodgkin’s
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was co-founded by Lang, John P. Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld. The “Three Days of Peace and Music” festival drew 400,000 visitors to Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. Joan Baez, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and many others were among the performers on the bill.
In 2009, Baez told Rolling Stone, “Everybody was nuts.“I guess the collective memories that people have, I have in a sense. It’s the mud and the cops roasting hot dogs and people wandering around in the nude. And the fact that, looking back, it was in fact a huge deal. It was like a perfect storm and I realized that Woodstock was like the eye of the hurricane because it was different. It was this weekend of love and intimacy and attempts at beauty and at caring and at being political.”
Lang was only 24 years old when he aided in the creation of the event. In 2009, Lang told Rolling Stone, “Woodstock came at a really dark moment in America,” Lang also told Rolling Stone in 2009. “An unpopular war, a government that was unresponsive, lots of human rights issues–things were starting to edge toward violence for people to make their points. And along came Woodstock, which was this moment of hope.”
Following Woodstock’s popularity, Lang founded Just Sunshine Records in 1971, signing a teenage Billy Joel. In 1994, he co-produced another Woodstock event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Green Day, and Nine Inch Nails were among the artists who took the stage. Later, he assisted in the planning of Woodstock ’99 and sought to stage a 50th-anniversary celebration of the festival, but the event was canceled.
Lang is survived by his wife Tamara, sons Harry and Laszlo, and daughters LariAnn, Shala, and Molly, as well as his daughters LariAnn, Shala, and Molly. At this time, Loudwire wishes to express its heartfelt condolences to Lang’s family.
