Carson Daly says he “thought I was going to die” at Woodstock ’99

Carson Daly has opened up about his experience at the notorious Woodstock ’99 festival, saying he “thought I was going to die” at the event.

The festival is currently being revisited for the three-part Netflix documentary series Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99, which was released earlier this month.

  • READ MORE: “Down with Profitstock!”: Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 shows festivals at their exploitative worst

The 1999 festival, held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Woodstock, descended into violence and riots during performances by Limp Bizkit and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

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Taking to Instagram, Daly, who was at Woodstock ’99 to present MTV’s TRL show, discussed his experiences of the event.

Revealing that he has been asked about his time at Woodstock a lot recently due to the Netflix show, Daly wrote: “All I can say is I thought I was going to die. It started off great, TRL live from the side of main stage interviewing all the bands (like Jay from Jamiroquai) & then started getting pelted with bottles, rocks, lighters, all of it. It got insane, fast. Nightfall, Limp plays ‘Break Stuff’ & the prisoners were officially running the prison.”

The presenter added: “My boss MTV Dave says to our staff/crew backstage, ‘We can no longer guarantee your safety, it’s time to go!’ I remember being in a production van driving recklessly through corn fields to get to safety. It was so crazy & a blur now.

“I just remember feeling like I was in another country during military conflict. I have so many fun memories from that era, this was not one of them. Needless to say, I haven’t taken the fam back to Rome, NY for a vacation.”

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Woodstock was set to hold a 50th anniversary festival in 2019, but after months of controversy, venue changes and more, Woodstock 50 was officially cancelled.

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“We are saddened that a series of unforeseen setbacks has made it impossible to put on the Festival we imagined with the great line-up we had booked and the social engagement we were anticipating,” Michael Lang, co-founder of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, said in a statement.