Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 review: A harrowing portrait of the 90s riot mentality 

Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 premiered on Netflix on August 3, 2022, bringing forth the story of one of the most extraordinarily violent, chaotic, and problematic music festivals of all time. In Michael Lang's attempts to replicate the success of the brilliant original Woodstock music festival from 1969, the men behind the scenes made one blunder after another, resulting in what is known as the worst music festival of all time.

The three-part exploratory documentary takes the help of previously unseen archival footage and interviews from visitors, journalists, and the creators of the festival to pinpoint what went wrong in the massively anticipated event that ended in a full-blown riot.

The documentary also tries to show how the mob mentality and the unseen side of American youth energy contributed to the event's failure.

Read on for a detailed review of Trainwreck: Woodstock '99.

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Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 review: A thorough examination of music's worst nightmare

Director Jamie Crawford's well-paced examination of the harrowing events from Woodstock '99 is nothing short of spectacular. Though the new three-part documentary shares its DNA with last year's HBO documentary film Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage, this one has sufficient new material and angles to keep things very interesting till the end.

The film had a last-minute title change, becoming Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 from Clusterf**k: Woodstock '99. Considering how the film delves into the chaotic side of American society while being subject to extreme discomfort in an era of rage-fuelled protest mentality, Clusterf**k: Woodstock '99 would have just as aptly summed up the content of the documentary, though a "trainwreck" isn't any less apt.

One of the striking things about the documentary is the unbound realism of perspective. The film does not comment or hint in a certain direction when the blame for the debacle shifts from creators to frat-minded teenagers to Limp Bizkit and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

The Jamie Crawford film almost walks around observing the scene; letting the viewers decide who is to blame. Bizarrely, the creators are seen blaming Fight Club for budding destructive mentality of the youth. In truth, Fight Club was released almost six months after the infamous music festival.

While the problems behind this deranged mentality of the audience are highlighted in detail, it does not dive into other significant issues (like sexual assault) until the very end. The problems included a lack of proper security, expensive food and water, a lack of proper sanitation, and the failure to understand the effects of present-day music on the audience.

Greed is also highlighted as the main reason for the chaos in Trainwreck: Woodstock '99. The management opted for amateur security and sold food and water rights to outside companies to turn in a greater profit. They also compromised on the location that made the 1969 version of the event so popular. All this led to a mob mentality, fueled by miscreants, that ultimately resulted in chaos of unparalleled magnitude.

It is fascinating to see how John Scher and Lang still refuse to blame themselves for the chaos and pass it around like a football in Spain's Tiki-Taka era.

Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 concludes with footage of "survivors," who still claim that they had the best time of their lives at the festival. Without a doubt, it was an event to be remembered for centuries to come but not for the positive aspects.

All in all, Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 is a beautifully made documentary that is appealing to both music enthusiasts and others.

Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 is now streaming on Netflix.