Collective Soul's Ed Roland remembers "really, really special" experience at Woodstock '94

In between the original Woodstock in 1969 and the disastrous Woodstock '99, there was Woodstock '94.

The three-day event began Aug. 12, 1994, 30 years ago Monday. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Green Day, Aerosmith and Bob Dylan were among those on the bill, along with a young Collective Soul.

"I'll never forget Live, the band, showed up," Collective Soul frontman Ed Roland tells ABC Audio. "Ed and Ed [Kowalczyk], we're exchanging picks, 'cause they were blowing up at the same time, so they were just as excited as we were."

"[We were] following King's X around, who were very influential to us," he continues. "I think that's the first time I spoke with Elton John, some guy came up and said, 'Elton wants to talk to you on the phone.' So it was a crazy day."

Roland adds that he and his bandmates felt "way over our heads" playing the festival. After all, they'd just recently signed with Atlantic to rerelease their 1993 independent debut album, Hints, Allegations & Things Left Unsaid.

"Before then, I mean, whenever we did play, it was just whoever we were dating at the time, and that was just 'cause they got free beer," Roland says. "So all of sudden you're thrown into tens of thousands of people, but I think we came through it OK."

Collective Soul also played Woodstock '99, and, needless to say, Roland much preferred the '94 experience.

"[Woodstock '99] was just mayhem, of course, as we all know," Roland says. "But the '94 was really, really special."

While it didn't devolve into riots like Woodstock '99 did, Woodstock '94 did have to deal with some inclement weather, which led to infamously muddy sets by NIN and Green Day.