Woodstock Looking For Sponsors

Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang says plans for a 40th anniversary concert are "all speculative ideas" at the moment, but he's searching for sponsors to make it all possible.

Lang, who was part of a South By Southwest Music Festival panel discussion about Woodstock in Austin, Texas, told Billboard.com he envisions "a free event... a very green project," in New York City.

"We want to have as small a carbon imprint as we can and use as many green techniques as we can," he said. "[But] it's got to be sponsor-driven.

"It's free, but it costs a lot of money. That's kind of what we're in the middle of right now. Depending on how successful we are in raising that sponsorship [money] will determine when and how we do this event – or if we do this event, frankly."

Lang added previous reports about a show in Berlin at the Tempelhof Airport were "premature," but still "kind of a thought."

Musically, Lang wants the 2009 edition of Woodstock to go "back to its roots."

"There would be a lot of legacy bands — The Who, Santana, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker maybe. And it would be people like Steve Earle and Ben Harper.

"There's certainly room for the [Red Hot] Chili Peppers and Dave Matthews...That would be the shape of the music."

Even if the concerts don't go ahead, Woodstock's 40th anniversary will be celebrated with various other projects this year. Lang wrote a book, The Road To Woodstock, with Holly George-Warren, which will be published by HarperCollins on July 14. He's also working on a Woodstock documentary with Barbara Koppel that will air on VH1 in August.

Warner Home Video will release new DVD and Blu-Ray versions of The Director's Cut edition of Woodstock: 3 Days Of Peace & Music on June 9. It will feature 18 new performances, including appearances from Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter, Mountain and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band that didn't appear in the original film. A six-CD box set of original Woodstock live performances will also be released by Rhino Records.

The Ang Lee-directed Taking Woodstock, which hits theatres on Aug. 14, is based on the autobiography Taking Woodstock: A True Story Of A Riot, A Concert, And A Life by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte. It follows Tiber (Demetri Martin), who helped move the 1969 festival to Max Yasgur's (Eugene Levy) farm in Bethel, N.Y. The film also stars Imelda Staunton (Sense And Sensibility) and Liev Schrieber (Defiance, The Manchurian Candidate).