Woodstock 1999. The festival that went one to be more infamous for stupidity and all the other crap that went on during those 3 days than most of the performances. The lineup featured the biggest bands in the world at the time like Metallica, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Rage Against The Machine, and so many more. This was definitely not the Woodstock of 1969. There are many bands performances that I could feature and I likely will one day but, I’d like to focus on one that never gets the acclaim it should. Before the band I’m about to discuss would take the stage, Korn was on before and they absolutely stole the night and show! I really do recommend you watching their Woodstock 99 set. It’s that damn good. The band I’m talking about though is Bush and their performance that closed out the night. Having to go on after Korn is never an easy task. To this day, that band brings it every single time. Plus whoever made the lineup for that day must not have been thinking right. It really made no sense to have Bush on after Korn but, the end result was definitely one of those that saved the day (to an extent).
Bush at the time of Woodstock 99 was one of the biggest bands in the US. Their first album Sixteen Stone had sold millions of copies and so many of the songs on there became radio staples, even to this very day. Their second album, Razorblade Suitcase had debuted at number one and saw the band go even higher into the stratosphere. Bush was also about to release their anticipated third album, The Science Of Things (which is actually a pretty good album and I often think it gets overlooked). So the idea of them headlining did make sense on paper. And when you watch and listen to Bush’s set, you get the feeling that one they had to really step up their game after what Korn just did and two, the band understood what the original idea of the festival was all about. Gavin’s stage banter even hints at it many times. Throughout Bush’s 90 minute set they blazed through the hits as well as some really good deep cuts and a couple covers. Now, Bush is not a metal band or even one of the heaviest bands on the bill but, they delivered a set that was straight up rocking and one that they could walk off the stage and look back on proudly. Bush have always been a solid live band and to this day they still are. In fact their last two albums, The Kingdom and The Art Of Survival are some of the best complete work they’ve done since Sixteen Stone and Razorblade Suitcase. Take a moment and watch and listen to this very memorable performance and one that essentially saved night 1 of Woodstock 99.
Bush- Live at Woodstock 1999 (note: whoever was doing sound for their set, messed up bad on the first song):
audioeclectica 