Woodstock 50 announces lineup headlined by Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, The Killers

The concert celebrates the 50th anniversary of the seminal rock show.

March 20, 2019, 2:54 AM

Hip hop didn't exist, let alone feature, at the original Woodstock -- but that won't stop Jay-Z from headlining the 50th anniversary concert.

The legendary rapper will be the final performer on the final night of the three-day show taking place from Aug. 16 to 18. The Killers will headline night one, while Chance the Rapper will headline on night two.

Among the other bold-faced performers: Miley Cyrus, The Black Keys, Imagine Dragons, Halsey, Common, Janelle Monae, Sturgill Simpson and Greta Van Fleet.

PHOTO: This combination photo shows, from left, Robert Plant, Miley Cyrus and and Chance the Rapper, who will perform one of the 50th anniversary shows commemorating the Woodstock festival which will take place Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
This combination photo shows, from left, Robert Plant, Miley Cyrus and and Chance the Rapper, who will perform one of the 50th anniversary shows commemorating the Woodstock festival which will take place Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
AP

"[I]t's a broad spectrum of what really this country and this world's supposed to be," Common said at a special event held Tuesday night at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. "Anybody who loves music or loves love can go and appreciate it."

The show celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1969 show -- featuring such legendary performances as Janis Joplin, The Who and Jimi Hendrix. The "Three Days of Peace and Music" was held on a farm in the Catskill Mountains and was intended to have about 200,000 attendees. Instead, twice that showed up.

Michael Lang, one of the organizers of the original show, was involved in planning the 2019 show.

"We've lined up artists who won't just entertain but will remind the world that music has the power to bring people together, to heal, to move us to action and to tell the stories of a generation," Lang said in a statement. "Our hope is that today, just as in 1969, music will be the constant that can inspire positive change."

Santana and Country Joe McDonald will be the only true originals to return for the 50th anniversary show, though Dead & Company, which includes many of the original members of the Grateful Dead, will also be performing. John Sebastian will be there and David Crosby, who performed with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young at the original, will also appear. A reformed version of Canned Heat will perform and John Fogerty, sans the rest of Creedance Clearwater Revival, will perform, too.

PHOTO: In this Nov. 26, 2017 file photo, Jay-Z performs on the 4:44 Tour at Barclays Center in New York.
In this Nov. 26, 2017 file photo, Jay-Z performs on the 4:44 Tour at Barclays Center in New York.
AP

"I'm very glad I'm able to be here 50 years later celebrating it," Fogerty said at the press event. "I hope to have a great time. I'm gonna be playing most of the same songs that I played then."

Fogerty and Common both performed at the press event.

The show will be held in Watkins Glen, New York, almost three hours from Bethel, where the original was held.

It's been 20 years since a major anniversary concert was held after the 30th anniversary show in 1999 devolved into a riot on the final night during performances by Limp Bizkit and show-enders Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The full lineup, as announced by the organizers:

Scheduled on Aug. 16, Friday: The Killers, Miley Cyrus, The Lumineers, The Raconteurs, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, Run The Jewels, The Head and The Heart, Maggie Rogers, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Bishop Briggs, Anderson East, Akon, Princess Nokia, Grandson, Fever 333, Larkin Poe, Dorothy, Flora Cash, Brian Cadd, Ninet Tayeb and more.

Scheduled on Aug. 17, Saturday: Chance The Rapper, The Black Keys, Sturgill Simpson, Greta Van Fleet, Portugal. The Man, Leon Bridges, Gary Clark Jr., Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Dawes, Margo Price, Nahko And Medicine For The People, India.Arie, Jade Bird, Rival Sons, Emily King, Soccer Mommy, SiR, Taylor Bennett, Amy Helm, Courtney Hadwin, Pearl, John-Robert, IAMDDB. and more.

Scheduled on Aug. 18, Sunday: Jay-Z, Imagine Dragons, Halsey, Cage the Elephant, Brandi Carlile, Janelle Monáe, Young the Giant, Courtney Barnett, Common, Vince Staples, Judah and The Lion, Earl Sweatshirt, Boygenius, Reignwolf, The Zombies, Pussy Riot, Cherry Glazerr, Leven Kali, The Marcus King Band, Victory, Hollis Brown, John Craigie, Amigo The Devil, Liz Brasher and more.

ABC News' Matthew Friedlander contributed to this report.