We've documented the boondoggle Michael Lang's proposed festival marking the anniversary of his 1969 event has become. Just when it seems it can't get any more ridiculous, it does. Lang evidently released all of the previously announced artists from any obligation to appear after John Fogerty and The Dead and Company dropped out. (Jay-Z did too, but him being out of the lineup would probably increase interest). Lang probably had no legal basis for requiring performances since the contracts specified Watkins Glen as the site and were made between the bands and the anniversary festival's early financial backers. The backers lost confidence in Lang and backed out, and Watkins Glen denied him permits, as did another potential site. He finally landed a venue, Merryweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, and a promoting partner willing to run the event "if the bands show up". His latest ploy is rebranding it as a benefit concert to raise money to fight climate change and encourage voter turnout in the next election. Whether enough people will pay to attend a festival that can't guarantee who is going to perform to make it viable is such an obvious problem that there's even talk they could end up giving tickets away to fill the venue that holds 32,000.