Limp Bizkit: new footage appears online showing controversial Woodstock 99 set from the crowd

Limp Bizkit are set to return to the United Kingdom as part of this year’s Download Festival, a little bit older and a little bit wiser. But during their rise to the top of the music industry, their wild live shows were at the centre of numerous controversies.

One of those would be the ill-fated Woodstock 1999; the festival has been a constant cautionary tale about price gouging and poor festival planning for many promoters and festival teams. 

Throw in the desperate heat and ultra-machismo acts performing that year, it was a recipe for disaster; three people died, hundreds were injured and many arrests were made after the festival, including for sexual assault.

Many fingers pointed, and still do, to Limp Bizkit’s celebrated set at the festival, which while helping propel them into superstardom and introduce the world to Fred Durst’s sardonic nature, was also blamed for stirring the crowd into a frenzy. 

Footage of the set has long been used in documentaries and streaming online, however, a recent YouTube upload shows footage of the show from the perspective of the rowdy crowd. 

YouTube channel The Parties That Made Us uploaded the video on June 7 2024, writing in the video’s information: “Experience the unforgettable Limp Bizkit live performance at Woodstock 99 from the crowd's perspective! Watch this epic concert recording now. The most famous performance at Woodstock 99'!!”

The YouTube channel also has crowd-filmed videos of other performances that took place at that year’s Woodstock, including The Offspring and Jewel.

Durst has long maintained his innocence regarding the Woodstock 99 performance, going as far as to state in a Variety interview in 1999: “It's easy to point the finger and blame [us], but they hired us for what we do — and all we did is what we do. I would turn the finger and point it back to the people that hired us.”

When is Limp Bizkit performing at Download Festival 2024?

Limp Bizkit performs on the Apex Stage at 7pm on June 16 2024. Day tickets to attend the performance are still available now through Ticketmaster UK.