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The Hudson Project had been going so well… for the first two days, anyway. Majical Cloudz opened up the festival at about 1 PM on Friday July 11. From there, Modest Mouse and The Flaming Lips rocked on into the first night of the festival, when Flying Lotus and Bro Safari took over. On the second day, Kendrick Lamar stole the show and artists including Gold Panda and Moby defined the electronic atmosphere of that Saturday. On the third day, Sunday July 13, the show was cancelled due to rain.
There was a sharp contrast between The Hudson Project and the last concert on those grounds twenty years ago, Woodstock ‘94. For one, the crowd of about 20,000 was a fraction of the roughly 250,000 that had attended Woodstock twenty years ago. Plus, Woodstock ‘94 actually lasted a full three days inspite of comparably inclement weather. While it had been hot, steamy, and fun for my first two days in Saugerties, New York, there was a drastic and sudden shift in both weather and in mood on the third day. The cancellation of the shows planned for the third night was disastrous as far as music festivals go.
When the announcement was made at about 5 PM on that Sunday, the music stopped abruptly. Tragically, headliners such as Infected Mushroom and Bassnectar never had the chance to perform for an audience of roughly 20,000 rained-out attendees in upstate New York. On their cellular phones, concertgoers refreshed Bassnectar’s twitter feed, clinging to the hope that another venue might open up (Manhattan’s Webster Hall was actually under serious consideration). Unfortunately, that hope soon gave way to frustration and dismay as thousands of people started to pack up their tents and coolers in the rain. The rain ended by midnight (if that), at which point most people were stranded in their cars and waiting to be towed out by locals in tractors.
This was by far the lowest point of the festival that earned the moniker, “Mudson Project”.
Getting out at the same time as thousands of other people was impossible. We didn’t escape that muddy field until shortly before dawn on Monday morning. We watched and waited for hours in a filthy Toyota Corolla as cars all around us were dragged out of the knee-deep mud, one by one.
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Some chose to stay and camp for another night in the rain and I wonder if we made the wrong decision by going to the car when concert staff told us to. After all, my group had payed for three nights of camping. Still, the money was refunded for the third day and, in spite of the hours and hours of sitting in the mud, the Hudson Project was probably the most fun I’ve had all year. My only regret was that I missed Bassnectar’s set.
Tim Schobel