Michael Lang, the iconic co-founder of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, has passed away. He was 77 years old at the time.
Billboard reports Lang died Saturday (Jan. 8) after a battle with a rare form of non-Hodkin’s lymphoma. He passed at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City.
The inaugural Woodstock was held at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York. He created the festival with Joel Rosenman, Capitol Records’ Artie Kornfeld, and John P. Roberts. The lineup boasted acts like Santana, The Grateful Dead, and Sly and the Family Stone.
“I booked the three hottest bands at the time — Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat and Credence Clearwater Revival,” Lang said to Billboard in 2019. “That gave us immediate credibility and the word got out and then suddenly the stone was rolling downhill. Then we started adding bands left and right. I remember when David Geffen walked into our office with a test pressing of Crosby, Stills and Nash. He put it on the turntable and made a deal right there on the spot. Same thing with Joe Cocker. We heard his voice and booked him pretty quickly.”
Woodstock would have another legendary event in 1994 with the 25th-anniversary festival The brand would seak a revival with Woodstock 50 but ultimately fell short and was canceled.
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