'I was harassed non-stop, touched by strangers, groped in crowds'
Being a woman at Woodstock 99 was no laughing matter. Plus, everything you need to binge over the weekend...
Hello!
Last week, I interviewed Aaron Pacy about his experience at Woodstock 99, the infamous turn-of-the-century festival that ended in riots, flames and claims of sexual harassment and abuse. That piece was called, ‘There are a lot of stupid humans around here,’ and if you haven’t read it yet, you might want to go and do so before moving on today’s piece, which is a follow-up.
Afterwards, Aaron’s friend Tamera Pierson, the one standing next to Aaron in the trailer for HBO’s upcoming documentary, got in touch. She wanted to chat too, to tell me her side of the story, about what it was like being a woman at a music festival full of men behaving incredibly badly. And, sometimes, illegally.
It’s a different kind of story, one that I wanted to handle carefully. We talked via email, and today’s interview is all in Tamera’s words. So here’s a trigger warning: if you’ve ever been sexually harassed at a concert, or touched against your will, or worse, be careful with this one. Maybe it’s not the story for you.
As we exchanged emails, Tamera told me: “I got upset typing and re-living this.”
Let’s go…
Interview with Woodstock 99 festival-goer Tamera Pierson
(Edited for clarity)
I was no stranger to festivals, being on the road, or the camp life. When preparing for this particular festival and camping experience, we immediately noticed one big difference: no perishable foods, and if I remember correctly, no beverages either, were allowed inside the venue. Being there for three days, it puts you in a spot to rely on vendors. At first I was excited to explore the foods on vendor row. I love a good festival burrito. So, excited to see bands that we thought we would never see and ready to party with a big crowd, off we went.
The parking was a lot. Everyone arrived at once. We parked exactly where we were told, grabbed our gear and stood in a long line watching the beginning of what was about to become a disaster. The crew at the gate were taking food and water out of everyone’s coolers and just dumping it all in a large pile. I could have had a gun on me - but don’t you dare have peanut butter and some bread. It was unsettling to watch.
We set up camp in a big, dry, hot-as-heck open field. People were packed in pretty tight. Exploration began, there was a DJ tent going all night for the raver kids, several stages with great bands, lots of vendors, and things to do and look at.
Now let’s get to the meat of it all. The part where a place that could have been filled with joy, memories, and magic, turned into the ugly side of humans. There were large clusters of Portaloos and directly next to them was a hose and spout situation. You could rinse and fill your water bottle. See, they were selling water, tiny bottles, for like $5 (or that’s how I remember it), or you were welcome to fill it with the the suspicious water near the overflowing bathrooms.
We decided to go into town and get water and some other things we could keep in the car. The little town was filled with “good” Christians holding explicit photos and signs that were anti-abortion, just screaming at us and calling us sinners. We were just getting some water, but okay. When parking again, we went to the exact spot we parked the first time.
Next was vendor exploration. The vendors were charging a fortune, the portions were small, and the lines were so long because everyone was starving. For alcohol there were beer gardens. You were to stay inside with your overpriced beer. Near the beer was a lot of mud. These people even ruined mud. I can’t explain it, people were just acting gross and immature about being in mud and that’s where I really noticed the terrible testosterone starting to kick in.
I walked around in small clothes, because damn it was hot! This part gets me fired up. I was harassed non-stop to show my tits, touched by strangers, even groped in crowds. I’m not sure why most of the men got caught up in filthy rape culture and encouraged one another to a disgusting boldness that was frightening. Some of the stories of what happened to young women, while in the crowd listening to music, is truly evil. These pigs just marched around spewing harassment and smashing things. Destroying art, breaking fences, and that was just the beginning.
As time went on the chaos just grew until it was all set on fire, literally. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were on stage, the crowd was huge, candles were passed out for a tribute of some sort. A big mistake! There was a white Mercedes or BMW randomly in the crowd. Stupid people here we go! They tipped the car and started it on fire! I was terrified of being trampled by the crowd trying to get away. We went back to our tent and just watched as people lost their minds. Stealing from vendors, knocking over the bathrooms, breaking everything, refrigerated tractor trailers were busted into and started on fire, then explosions.
We were in a dry field filled with nylon tents, so I was terrified about the fire spread. Then the national guard came, because it got that bad. We wanted to leave that night, I can’t remember why we didn’t. The morning after the storm we started off to the car to leave and the car was gone! They towed hundreds of cars from the spots they told us to park. No cellphones, no pay phones, where was the car?! We eventually hunted it down and had to pay hundreds of dollars, but we did escape the hell that was Woodstock 99. Then, Aaron’s car was stolen from his driveway after arriving home. What a time!
In conclusion, there is something to be said about the greed, the music, and the culture of that time. A time where young men wanted to rape the world. Barf.
Watch the trailer for Woodstock 99 below:
Everything else you need to worry about this weekend…
It’s time, it’s here, it’s finally here! Season two of Ted Lasso kicks off tomorrow and we all know what that means - it’s time to get your fake moustache and your southern accent out for some comical football shenanigans. (Via Apple TV+)
The White Lotus is out now and I know I’ve raved about it before but I’m going to rave again: this is going to be one of my fave shows of the year. (Via Neon)
I’ll be saying more about this one next week, but ‘Kura was a major local hit last year, and the Papakura comedy is back for season two. (Via TVNZ OnDemand)
I’m really enjoying Heist, although it may have made a better podcast. (Via Netflix)
Kanye West’s releasing a new album called Donda tomorrow. Let’s hope divorce has made him leave all that God-fearing stuff in the past. (Via streaming services)
I’m sorry, I really am. I wanted to end in a classy way, perhaps with the trailer for The Last Duel, which features Adam Driver and Matt Damon fighting to the death over Jodie Comer, or Old, M Night Shymalan’s new film that’s in theatres this week. Instead, I’m going to leave you with something I enjoyed far too much, the new trailer for Jackass Forever. They really are way too told for this…