What happened to Woodstock founder Michael Lang and how did he die?

His death was just three months after Netflix interviewed him for the documentary series


Right now, the documentary everyone is talking about is Trainwreck: Woodstock 99. The three part series tells the story of the festival that descended into chaos, and how it all went so horribly wrong. The Netflix documentary ends on a very sudden note, announcing the death of Woodstock founder, Michael Lang.

Woodstock 99 has gone down in history as one of the biggest festival disasters there has ever been. It was called out for awful conditions, the security set up, and violence, crime and awful behaviour among the crowd. It’s reported Woodstock 99 lead to the deaths of three people, with 1,200 people needing on-site medical assistance and a total of 44 arrests.

The Netflix series goes into depth about what happened during the festival, and how over the three days it got progressively worse and more and more out of control. The news of the death of Michael Lang comes in the final minutes very briefly, so what happened?

Death of Micheal Lang announced in Trainwreck: Woodstock 99 on Netflix

via Netflix

Woodstock founder Micheal Lang died earlier this year, aged 77

Michael Lang founded Woodstock aged just 24, with the 1969 festival being known as generation-defining and one of the most iconic music events of all time. It was announced in January this year, he had sadly passed away. He died on January 8th 2022, at Sloan Kettering hospital in New York.

His rep, Michael Pagnotta, who was also a longterm family friend, confirmed the news and said he died of a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. On Twitter, he added: “We are very sad to hear that legendary Woodstock icon and long time family friend Michael Lang has passed at 77 after a brief illness. Rest In Peace.”

Following his death, Michael Lang is survived by his wife, two sons, three daughters, a grandson, and his sister.

Trainwreck: Woodstock 99 is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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