Ongoing History Daily: The most disastrous music festivals of all time
So much can go wrong when it comes to a music festival and the industry has scene is share of disasters. These are among the most disastrous music festivals of all time.
In 2005, there was so much rain at the Glastonbury Festival that rivers formed and began flowing through the campgrounds. Tents and festivalgoers did not fare well.
A similar thing happened at the Hudson Project in upstate New York in 2014. The rain and mud were so bad that the final day was completely washed away.
Atlanta’s TomorrowWorld in 2025, the 2012 Isle of Wight Festival, and the UK’s 2008 Bestival event were all rain and mud disasters.
But the worst may have been the 1970 Powder Ridge Rock Festival in Connecticut. About 50,000 people showed up—but no performers bothered to appear. Well, not quite. Melanie, the folksinger, did do a set, but that was it. But then the power to the stage was cut so she had to use a sound system rigged up from the generator of a truck selling soft ice cream.
