Sheryl Crow says she had human poop flung at her while onstage at Woodstock '99
“At one point, some [feces] landed on my hand while I was playing bass during ‘My Favorite Mistake,'" Crow recalls. "That’s when we stopped.”
If the hazy, summer-of-love atmosphere of Woodstock ’69 is remembered through rose-colored glasses, Woodstock ’99 is remembered through shit-stained ones. At least, that’s the case for Sheryl Crow, who performed during the raucous, dirty, and downright disastrous festival, which has been the subject of two documentaries and a podcast in recent years.
During a recent episode of Dana Carvey and David Spade’s “Fly On The Wall” podcast, Crow reminisces on Woodstock ‘99 through a performer’s eyes. Immediate descriptive adjectives that came to mind for Crow: “disgusting,” “awful,” “so bad,” and “bananas.”
“It was debauched from the beginning, because we were on the first day. You could look out and see girls who were topless on guys’ shoulders, trying to get the MTV camera to sweep around in front of them and get on TV,” Crow recalls.
Unfortunately, topless frolicking would prove to be the least of the crowd’s (and Crow’s) worries at the New York festival. Even on day one, Crow laments, people were “already throwing shit from the outhouses” that, due to shoddy setup, began “leaking.” It wasn’t long before Crow, while performing onstage, came into direct contact with feces of unidentified origin.
“At one point, some landed on my hand while I was playing bass during ‘My Favorite Mistake.’ That’s when we stopped,” Crow says. “We played about four songs, and I remember saying, ‘Nah, not gonna do it.’”
However, for the woman who invented soaking up the sun, even the shittiest of experiences have a bright (and nostalgic) side. Later in the interview, Crow also describes Woodstock ’99 as a “highlight” of her career. It’s an odd sentiment for an undeniably unsavory experience, but hey— sometimes even the most literally shitty memories gain a rosy glow over time.