Original subtitles

MONCK: There were technical issues continuously.

The ineffective cabling on headsets

and trying to keep in touch with the crew, with the operators.

The roads got overcrowded

and the mechanical systems couldn't possibly work.

LANG: Constantly getting bands ready to get on stage, getting equipment,

getting everybody in one place at the right time

to be able to go on with the show was another...

GOLDSTEIN: The pump trucks for sanitation couldn 't get out

and couldn 't haul things away.

There were always these little things that kept coming up.

Things, which days before the show,

we were told we couldn't possibly do, was utterly illegal .

Mike, what's the worst part of running one of these things?

I don't know. I don't know.

It was continuous. It was...

As I said , there's no single incident that stands out that way.

It was just one after another after another.

EDDIE KRAMER: I remember seeing the sun coming up over the stage.

People were hammering and sawing and things were going on .

I mean , this was Friday morning and it started in about five hours.

And as I got closer to the stage,

I realized, "My God, how much work still has to be done."

You know, we were kind of on the fly.

And the idea of the stage was a round stage cut in half, so to speak,

so that the first half would be the first band ,

and then the back half would be the second band

with their gear ready to go.

And the idea would be, once the first band finished ,

they would turn the platform ,

and then the secondary band would be in position .

The whole thing was kind of jerry-rigged .

MONCK: There were so many people on stage

watching the existing act that was on and performing.

The problem was that they all stood on the turntable,

which was far more weight than they ever intended to support.

When I was there and something was wrong ,

and someone said ...

"Get off the turntable elevation because it's over loaded ."

They attempted to turn this platform and all the wheels fell off.

(MIMICKI NG WH EELS DROPPI NG)

(LAUG H I NG) And it just sat like that for the entire three days.

MONCK: Yeah, I mean, Grace and Janis and everybody was standing on it,

and you know, you can't really just sweep them off with a broom , you know.

The best laid plans of mice and men .

MARCELLI NO: I don't even know how they kept the power on ,

because it really rained on Sunday.

MONCK ON PA: Please move away from the towers.

Please move away from the towers.

Because the ground was wet,

and because the cables did run into the audience to the towers...

Some people, at one point, thought that the power to the towers

was becoming exposed , the cables were becoming exposed ,

and that because there was a field of wet people

that we were suddenly about to electrocute a half a million people.

I was frightened to death every second . I didn't want anyone to get hurt.

And then , to hear the stories of how the stage was sinking .

When we played , the stage was collapsing ,

people screaming , "The stage is collapsing , the PA is out! "

Everybody was getting shocks.

It was not necessarily the safest place to be.

You know, things like that would come up, and you'd have to

sort of suss them out and see what the reality was,

and then go deal with it.

I think we can be very, very proud

of what we accomplished in the face of enormous obstacles.

There were so many things that could've been disastrous,

you know, but it alljust made it, it alljust made it.