Michael Lang: Woodstock co-creator has died

THE Michael Lang, co-organizer of its legendary festival Woodstock, passed away on Saturday, January 8, 2022, at the age of 77.

A family friend told CNN he was taken to Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York. He suffered from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Lang left behind his wife, Tamara, his sons, Harry and Laszlo, and his daughters, Larry Ann, Sala and Molly.

The news of his death was also confirmed by his daughter Molly.

Lang was born in Brooklyn on December 11, 1944. In 1968, after a series of concerts in the Miami area, Lang and Marshall Brevets organized the Miami Pop Festival in 1968, which attracted about 25,000 people on its first day. It featured Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, John Lee Hooker, Arthur Brown and Blue Cheer.

After moving to Woodstock, New York, and meeting Arty Cornfeld, a musician, they considered organizing a festival to celebrate the social movements of the 1960s and planned to open a recording studio in Woodstock. With Cornfeld and John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, Michael Lang started the Woodstock Festival.

The Festival, also known as the “Three Days Of Peace and Music”, took place from August 15 to 17, 1969, at the Max Yasgur Dairy Farm in Bethel, 69 miles (69 km) southwest of Woodstock, New York. During the 32 artists performed in the countryside in front of an audience of more than 400,000 people. It is widely regarded as an extremely important moment in alternative culture

. In fact, “Rolling Stone” magazine recorded it as one of the 50 moments that changed the history of rock and roll. The event was recorded in the Oscar-winning documentary “Woodstock, 1970”, the accompanying soundtrack and the song “Woodstock” by Johnny Mitchell, which refers to the event and became a huge success for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Matthews Southern Comfort. .

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