Rapper Jay-Z has pulled out of an August bash commemorating Woodstock's 50th anniversary, a source said on Friday, the latest blow to hit organizers after months of setbacks.
Speaking to the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity a source close to the matter said Jay-Z, arguably the top act, would no longer bring down the curtain on the festival that reportedly will now be held in Maryland on a smaller scale, instead of upstate New York where the legendary 1969 festival took place.
John Fogerty - who played the original weekend of peace, love and music with his band Creedence Clearwater Revival - said that he would be returning to the original site to mark the anniversary but would not perform at the Maryland commemoration.
This is despite having appeared alongside promoter Michael Lang in March to announce the Woodstock 50 line-up.
"John Fogerty knows where he will be for the anniversary weekend of Woodstock. At only one site... At the original one - the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts," his team said in a statement obtained by AFP.
The August 16 to 18 Bethel Woods celebration, which marks the original festival that saw hundreds of thousands descend on a dairy farm to see Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and other icons in the pouring rain - will feature sets from Ringo Starr, Santana and Fogerty.
Just weeks after Lang, who was behind the original weekend, unveiled the Woodstock 50 line-up, the festival's lead financier announced its cancellation, citing production difficulties.
Festival organizers insisted the show would go on, but it hit hurdle after hurdle, including the withdrawal of the planned venue at Watkins Glen, New York. The artists' contracts were linked to that original venue.
Other towns in upstate New York denied permit applications for the event, until Thursday when The New York Times and Bloomberg reported that the fest, also slated for August 16 to 18, would be held at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
Organizers have not responded to AFP requests for comment regarding the new location, which has a capacity of just 19,000, a far cry from the 100,000 people Woodstock 50 had once anticipated to descend over the three-day weekend.
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