[Editor's note: Over the holiday season, SonicNet is looking back at 1999's top stories, chosen by our editors and writers. This story originally ran on Sunday, July 25.]

ROME, N.Y. — Woodstock co-promoter John Scher said Sunday morning (July 25) that he and his colleagues made a serious error when they scheduled the hard-rock bands Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine and Metallica to play consecutive sets Saturday night.

Hundreds of fans were injured in the rowdy crowd during the three bands' sets.

"We probably were the victim of our own idea of ending it that way," Scher said in a press conference dominated by talk of the injuries and vandalism that occurred in the chaos that began during Limp Bizkit's set.

But Scher also downplayed the violent atmosphere in the crowd.

"It was very tough out there, but no more tough than any other Limp Bizkit show I've ever seen," he said.

The violence that erupted resulted in trauma injuries to dozens of fans, according to Dr. Richard Kaskiw, a medical volunteer on-site.

Scher defended the behavior of Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst, who egged on the moshing, crowd-surfing fans. Scher said Durst was prevented from doing more to calm the crowd by problems with the public-address system.

At the beginning of the set, Durst said to the crowd, "They asked us to ask you to mellow out — too many people are getting hurt out there. Don't hurt anybody, but I don't think you should mellow out. ... This is 1999, motherf---ers — stick those Birkenstocks up your ass."

Scher said Woodstock '99 had a different atmosphere than the original 1969 festival, which was held during the peace-and-love hippie era.

"This is a frat party to a large degree," he said.

But he added, "I agree that it is the artist's responsibility to keep control, because of the enormous influence they have."

The promoter, who has held press conferences every morning and afternoon this weekend, blamed "a few knuckleheads" for the problems Saturday night. He told reporters that they should focus on the positive aspects of the festival rather than the negative.

"As intense as Limp Bizkit was, there was very light activity at the medical tents," Scher's partner, Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang, said, contradicting reports from Kaskiw, fans and other media. Scher berated an MTV reporter who asked about the injuries by asking her if she wanted to speak at the microphone herself.

During Limp Bizkit's set, fans began tearing apart the lighting tower in front of the stage, using planks of wood from the structure to crowd surf. Durst stood on top of the crowd on one such blank while he sang a rowdy cover of George Michael's "Faith"

(RealAudio excerpt).

Ken Donahue, Woodstock's head of security, said that particular disturbance was rapidly quelled. "We immediately put additional security around the tower," he said.