Fire festival

Netflix's three-part documentary about Woodstock '99 is called Trainwreck - but Complete And Utter Clusterfuck might have been even more appropriate.

Telling the tale of how the festival spiralled out of control through archive footage and interviews with the key protagonists, the makers guide the viewer towards the conclusion that the fault lay with the organisers - principally promoters John Scher and Michael Lang. Their motivation, it is said on more than one occasion, was not the hippy ideal of peace, love and togetherness but pure unadulterated greed.

Everything that went wrong is essentially attributed to their decisions and financial corner-cutting - from the choice of site (a largely tarmacked former airbase) to the dangerous crowd conditions (due to a lack of security), horrendous price gouging (because they auctioned off the rights to provide food and drink to vendors, who could then charge what they wanted) and water supply contaminated with shit (due to the totally inadequate infrastructure).

A weekend that was supposed to evoke the spirit of 1969 quickly developed into a powderkeg situation and ended in chaos, with fires raging around the site, production staff barricaded inside their office and the intervention of state troopers. And all the while Scher and Lang stood up at press conferences and gaslit all of those present, insisting that everyone was having a wonderful time and pointing the finger at a tiny minority of bad apples rather than any infrastructural deficiencies.

The pair's refusal to accept responsibility even now is alarming and offensive, and the documentary makers' implicit line is understandable given the perception among many that the bands and punters were to blame.

And yet the bands and punters were guilty too. Limp Bizkit may have been booked by the promoters, but they seemed to relish the dangerously febrile atmosphere and the opportunity to incite destruction. Likewise, on the final evening, Red Hot Chili Peppers fanned the flames by electing to perform Jimi Hendrix's 'Fire' as the apocalyptic scenes unfolded.

But should festival goers have reacted the way that they did? One attendee makes the point that in the days before social media, there were limited means to express dissatisfaction at the conditions. However, does that really excuse the orgy of destruction and looting? How many of those partaking in the violence were doing so as a genuine form of protest, and how many were just whooping meathead frat boys pumped on Limp Bizkit's 'Break Stuff'?

And then there are the instances of rape and sexual assault. It's suggested that lax and insufficient security contributed to the situation, and that is no doubt true - but nothing can or should excuse the conduct of the individual perpetrators.

Ultimately, then, no one comes out of Trainwreck well. And I don't recommend watching it if you're about to go to a festival, as I am...