MUSIC, PEACE, NO JUSTICE

CHAOS RULES WOODSTOCK '94. SOME WITH $135 TICKETS ARE TURNED AWAY; OTHERS GET

SOURCE: By KEVIN C. JOHNSON, Beacon Journal pop music writer

When Michelle Roe of Elizabeth, N.J., bought her $135 ticket for Woodstock '94, she thought, as her ticket stated, she'd be able to enjoy a weekend of peace and music. She was wrong on more counts than she could have imagined. After driving with friends yesterday to her assigned parking lot, where buses were shuttling concert-goers to the concert site, she was turned away, ticket in hand. She was told by a local police officer that the lot was full, as were the 10 other lots, and to try again the next day. Police weren't letting any more people onto the concert site. "I can't believe this," said Roe, 24, who said she wasn't offered any options or recourses for her ticket. "I knew coming here it would be crazy. But this is more than I expected and I expected the worst." "I wanna know how I can get half of my money back," said Roe's friend, Mindy Butler, 26, also of Elizabeth, N.J.. Not only were all the satellitelots closed by noon yesterday, most of the roads and exits leading to them were barricaded, with only Saugerties residents allowed through. Ticket-holders, press, VIPs, and even Woodstock * staff were out in the cold unless they knew of back roads in (which some people used to get in). Those who either bicycled or hoofed it into the site managed to get in with little problem.

HOW FREE MIGHT IT BE? By late afternoon yesterday, the crowd was estimated at more than 230,000, according to organizers. This number was particularly interesting. While people like Roe couldn't get in with tickets and parking passes, countless others got in without either. Prior to the event, 250,000 tickets were available for sale (ticket sales were cut off Friday night) and about 185,000 actually had been sold, meaning about 45,000 people got in for free. An organizer claimed at one point, however, that only a few hundred people actually got in free. "We didn't know it was going to be free again," said Valeria Trindade, 24, of Long Beach, Calif., referring to the first Woodstock where free entry was * the norm. "We just walked in." In addition to a lax ticket check, the weapons check was apparently lessened, when some members of the 1,000-strong Peace Patrol walked off the job yesterday afternoon, letting the state police take over. Those who followed the prescribed plan of entry -- tickets, parking passes, satellite parking lots and shuttle buses -- often had to wait several hours in the lots for shuttle buses. Once inside, one had to wonder if it was worth all it took to get in. "It's too many people. I would have had a better time watching it on pay-per-view," said Chuck Burns, 30, of New York City. The musicians -- the reason so many converged on the usually quiet town of Saugerties -- were for many a distant rumor better heard than seen.

THEY CAME FOR THE MUSIC Sure, things got off pretty much on schedule around noon yesterday when opener and Woodstock veteran Joe Cocker got things rolling with Feeling All * Right on the main stage, while the Cranberries got it going simultaneously on the second stage. Others acts following on either stage included The Band, with Bruce Hornsby, fully capable of carrying The Weight; a screaming set from the Rollins Band; a passionate and crowd-pleasing one from Melissa Etheridge; the pro-marijuana antics of Cypress Hill (a member smoked what appeared to be an oversized joint on stage); and Blind Melon, whose hit No Rain was followed by a heavy downpour. Other acts scheduled to perform later yesterday included Crosby, Stills &

Nash, Primus, Zucchero, Youssou N'Dour, Salt-N-Pepa, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica and Aerosmith. Hearing these performances was for the most part no problem. But there weren't many spots to get a good view of them on this 840-acre farm, though the projection screens at either end of the stage helped. By the time Cypress Hill, the first rap act to play Woodstock '94, ended its set of beats and rhymes, the rain had started. Shortly afterward, when the Rollins Band was up, it was pouring, much to the pleasure of the mud-divers wallowing like pigs in all the mess. But Woodstockers haven't seen anything yet. After Peter Gabriel finishes his set tonight, the final one of the festival, all those thousands of people will be trying to get out at the same time. It's expected to take shuttle buses up to a full 24 hours to get everyone back to their cars. Then there's the lines to turn in unused scrip (Woodstock money needed for all purchases on site) back into legal currency. Still, many remained optimistic about Woodstock '94. Clayton Denwood, 22, of Woodstock, was having a fine time. "There's only so much preparation you can do," he said, defending the organizers. Attempting to get philosophical, he said, "I see this as a bird, a big bird flying for a long time. It landed in 1969. That was the last time it touched down. Now it's landing again."

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