Fred Durst stood in the middle of the stage with arms outstretched, watching the world burn. It was Saturday, 24 July 1999, and the soon-to-be-notorious Woodstock ’99 festival was on a tailspin into a night of chaos and violence. Amid soaring temperatures, flimsy camping facilities and inadequate water supplies, the three-day event at Griffiss Air Force Base in upstate New York was a shambles long before Durst led his band, Limp Bizkit, from the wings – but his angry performance seemed to intensify the negative energy. “When this song kicks in, I want you to f***ing kick in,” said Durst as the crowd moshed, fought and began to tear pieces off the main sound tower.
This last ever Woodstock was regarded as a low watermark for 1990s youth culture. With subsequent reports of vandalism, arson and multiple sexual assaults, it also appeared to confirm another fact. The ugly, ill-tempered performance by Durst and his band was regarded as proof that the genre of nu-metal – which had turned Durst into a megastar – was a nadir for rock’n’roll, music itself and perhaps even civilisation.
