Music festivals that ended in disaster from Burning Man to Woodstock 99 to Fyre

19 September 2023 , 16:00

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Woodstock 1999 was anything but "peace and love" (Image: Sipa/REX/Shutterstock)

As thousands of entrepreneurs and bankers in fancy dress slowly trudged out of the Nevada desert earlier this month, chances are they were all thinking twice about forking out thousands to attend Burning Man next year.

The week-long hedonistic arts festival is known for its elite crowd, and has been attended by billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. However, this summer it descended into chaos due to heavy rain, leaving revellers stuck in their camps and told to eke out dwindling supplies, as they waited for the desert to dry out.

But it isn't the only event to go badly wrong over the years. Let's take a look at some of the festivals that offered very little festivity, leaving punters scrambling for the exit - or in some cases much worse.

FYRE FESTIVAL 2017

Fyre Festival in 2017 was a huge flop, and the luxury accommodation revellers had paid thousands for turned out to be disaster relief tents (Prahl / Lee / Splash News)

Some festival goers paid up to $10,000 to attend a music festival in the Bahamas, reeled in by the promise of pure luxury. What actually transpired was no music, disaster relief tents instead of villas, a lack of basic amenities including water - and total pandemonium. Instead of gourmet meals, a photo of a flimsy slice of cheese sandwich in a polystyrene box went viral, becoming a symbol of how Fyre had gone up in flames. Founder Billy McFarland pleaded guilty to defrauding ticket holders and investors and Netflix made a documentary about it.

WOODSTOCK 1999

Unlike the iconic 1960s event from which this festival in New York state derived its name, Woodstock 1999 was anything but peace and love. The nu-metal music, with anthems such as Limp Bizkit song Break Stuff, created an aggressive vibe which led to the festival descending into widespread destruction, riots and arson. There were also many allegations of sexual assaults in the toxic environment as well as severe water shortages, poor facilities and overcrowding.

ALTAMONT FREE FESTIVAL 1969

Hell's Angels before the Rolling Stones played at Altamont (Hulton Archive)

This was all set to be a fantastic concert with Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on the bill - and the Rolling Stones booked as headliners. However, within minutes of disembarking their helicopter in California, Mick Jagger was punched in the head by a concertgoer and this was only the beginning of what was to be a very unpleasant event, in which four people died. One young man drowned in an irrigation ditch, two men were killed in a hit-and-run after the show and Meredith Hunter, 18, was stabbed multiple times by Alan Passaro, 21, one of the Hell's Angels inexplicably in charge of security at the event.

STONEHENGE FESTIVAL 1985

Police arrested hundreds of men and women miles from Stonehenge (Mirrorpix)

This festival ran from 1974 to 1984 and hosted bands at the ancient Stonehenge stone circle. It was stopped in 1985 when English Heritage was granted an exclusion zone 11 miles around the landmark at Salisbury Plain, Wilts. Despite this, several hundred new age travellers - known as The Convoy - still headed to the site but they were halted eight miles away by police. During an hours-long standoff, violence broke out between the travellers and police. The event came to be known as the Battle of Beanfield. Travellers later sued Wiltshire Police and were awarded damages for false imprisonment, damage to property and wrongful arrest.

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GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL 1990

The 1990 Glastonbury was muddy and rainy, but that is no real shock. However, it was after the festival ended that things really went wrong. A group of travellers who had been present at the festival since its inception in 1970 had been allowed to host free music in an adjacent field to the site, including bands such as Hawkwind.

When the event ended they went into the festival to look through the plentiful supplies left behind and got into a violent fight with security. This caused Glastonbury to be cancelled the following year as they reviewed their security measures.

POWDER RIDGE ROCK FESTIVAL 1970

Powder Ridge Festival in 1970 was without basic amenities (NY Daily News via Getty Images)

In the days before the internet, the news that Powder Ridge in Middlefield, Connecticut, USA, had been cancelled due to a legal injunction clearly did not reach revellers fast enough. Around 30,000 people turned up to dance, but there was only one artist there to play, no food, water or entertainment.

What there was, however, were barrels of a concoction called "Electric Water", free to drink. This did nothing to quash the negative vibes as punters were invited to drop donations of drugs into these barrels, creating cocktails, no doubt including LSD. The organisers later fled with the funds.

ZOO8 2008

Billed as the UK's first festival in a zoo, this festival flop weathered all sorts of animal behaviour. Held at Port Lympne Animal Park in Kent, big name signings such as rappers Wiley and Dizzee Rascal pulled out, and the crowd were furious. They began throwing bottles of urine and getting steadily wasted without any music. Although some acts did perform, there were inadequate toilets, resources and lengthy queues - no surprise that this fledgling festival did not happen the next year.

TOMORROWWORLD 2015

The elements, not poor planning, were to blame for destroying this electronic music festival in Georgia, USA. But as heavy rain and flash flooding pelted the site, around 40,000 people were stranded with no shelter after organisers limited transport on the Saturday due to poor conditions. Thanks to social media, many watched the drama unfold, and fans slept by the road with no water. The promoters filed for bankruptcy the following year.

ASTROWORLD 2021

Rapper Travis Scott performing at 2021's Astroworld Festival (Getty Images)

Rapper Travis Scott's festival in Houston, Texas, ended in tragedy with 10 people dead - the youngest just nine years old - and more than 300 injured. As Travis began his Friday night set the crowd surged forwards, creating a crush which people could not escape from. The rapper later apologised, saying: "I'm absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted." No Astroworld festival has been held since and no one was indicted on any criminal charges.

BLOC festival 2012

This East London docklands event was so badly organised that all alcohol ran out at 10:30pm on the first night. It took place on a boat that was shipped over from Germany but it was nowhere near big enough. On top of complaints of poor sound quality, nearly 15,000 cramped and bewildered partygoers were penned in with metal barriers before the plug was pulled at 12.45am on the advice of the Met Police.

Lydia Veljanovski