Altamont Free Concert

For other uses, see Altamont.

File:RollingStonesAltamontFreeConcert.jpg

Promotional poster for concert.

The Altamont Free Concert was a famous rock concert held on December 6, 1969 at the then-disused Altamont Speedway in Northern California, between Tracy and Livermore. It featured The Rolling Stones and other bands such as Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Jefferson Airplane. Approximately 300,000 people attended the concert, and some speculated it would be "Woodstock West." Filmmakers Albert and David Maysles shot footage of the concert and incorporated it into a subsequent documentary film entitled Gimme Shelter.

The event is best known for having been marred by violence, including one killing and three accidental deaths (two of the deaths were caused by a hit-and-run car accident, another death was the result of a drowning in a drainage ditch). There were also four births.

Planning

The concert was originally scheduled to be held at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. However, the permits were never issued for the concert, or were revoked after the fact. This was a result of Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones announcing in a press conference that they would be performing at the event; they were to be a surprise appearance. (Their American Tour of 1969 had recently concluded.)

With the public revelation that the Stones would be performing, San Francisco city officials feared a repeat of the crowd control problems that occurred at Woodstock. Accusations have arisen that Jagger made this announcement to ensure a large crowd for a planned concert movie. The venue was then changed to the Sears Point Raceway, but after a dispute with the owner of Sears Point, Filmways, Inc., over film distribution rights, the festival was moved to the Altamont Raceway at the suggestion of its then-owner, local businessman Dick Carter. The concert was to take place on Saturday, Dec. 6; the location was switched on the night of Thursday, Dec. 4. This resulted in numerous logistical problems. Most importantly, facilities such as portable toilets and medical tents were lacking in number. The stage, which was only three to four feet high, was surrounded by the Hells Angels, led by Oakland chapter head Ralph 'Sonny' Barger, who acted as bouncers. The sound system was hardly sufficient for such a large audience.

Hells Angels

By some accounts, the Angels were hired by the Rolling Stones' road manager, Sam Cutler, for $500 and free beer, a story Carter and Barger both vehemently denied. Other accounts claim that the initial arrangement was for the Angels to watch over the equipment, but that Cutler later moved the Angels, and their beer, near the stage in order to settle them down or to protect the stage. Hells Angels had provided security at Grateful Dead shows in the past without reported violence, and some have speculated that the Rolling Stones thought that their experience with the Angels would be a peaceful affair, much in the way The Dead had experienced their presence.

The crowd management proved to be a disaster: many spectators were injured and four were killed. Over the course of the day, the Hells Angels became increasingly agitated and violent due to a combination of alcohol and drugs, and perhaps due to a panic of not being able to control such an enormous crowd. The Angels used sawed-off pool cues in order to control the crowd. After one of the Angel's motor bikes was knocked over, the Angels became even more aggressive, even toward the performers onstage. Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane was knocked unconscious following an altercation with an Angel right off the stage as seen in the documentary film Gimme Shelter. The Grateful Dead refused to play following the Balin incident, and promptly left the venue.

The organizers hoped to ease tensions in the crowd by having the Stones perform early, but it took hours before the Stones could take the stage. Accusations that Mick Jagger did not want to take the stage during daylight hours due to the filming of the concert have been voiced in the past, but in commentary on the official Gimme Shelter DVD, it is reported that Stones bassist Bill Wyman was having difficulties reaching the venue.

The death of Meredith Hunter

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Meredith Hunter

The most famous death was that of Meredith Hunter. Hunter, an 18-year-old African American, became involved in an altercation with some Hells Angels and drew a long-barreled revolver. It is disputed whether or not Meredith drew his weapon before or after he was stabbed the first time. He was stabbed five times in total and kicked to death during the Rolling Stones' performance. His graphic death near the stage was clearly captured on film by three separate cameras. The killer, Alan Passaro, was arrested and tried for murder in the summer of 1972, but was acquitted after a jury concluded he acted in self-defense because Hunter was carrying a handgun, drew it, and allegedly pointed it at the stage. It was also alleged that Hunter was under the influence of methamphetamines.

Perhaps due to early, incorrect reporting by Rolling Stone magazine, an urban legend holds that the song playing when Hunter was killed was "Sympathy for the Devil". This is false — as the Maysles film footage shows, while "Sympathy" was part of the Rolling Stones' set at the show, they were performing "Under My Thumb" when Hunter was stabbed.

There have also been rumors over the years that a second, unidentified assailant had inflicted the fatal wounds, and, as a result, the police considered the case to still be open. On 25 May, 2005, however, the Alameda county sheriff's department announced that it was officially closing the stabbing case. Investigators, concluding a renewed two year investigation, dismissed the theory that a second Hells Angel took part in the stabbing.

Reactions

Various news agencies reported the event as a "drug induced riot." The Rolling Stones, who reacted rather helplessly in the face of the brutality within the crowd, had to interrupt their performance numerous times. Unaware that Hunter's stabbing was fatal, they decided to continue to prevent a possible riot. The Altamont concert is often contrasted to the Woodstock festival that took place four months earlier, and is sometimes said to mark the end of the innocence embodied by Woodstock, or the de facto end of the 1960s. Critics therefore, called the tragedy the "Death of the Woodstock Nation" and all future rock concerts were banned at the site.

Several Grateful Dead songs were written about — or in response to — what lyricist Robert Hunter called "the Altamont affair," including "New Speedway Boogie," featuring the line, "One way or another, this darkness got to give," and "Mason's Children." Both songs were written and recorded during sessions for the early 1970 album Workingman's Dead, however "Mason's Children" was viewed as too "popular" stylistically and was consequently not included on the album. A later Dead song, "My Brother Esau," contains the line, "My brother Esau killed a hunter/Way back in 1969," perhaps a reference to the death of Meredith Hunter.

Also, while the lyrics are subject to interpretation, it seems likely the song "American Pie" refers to the deaths at the Altamont festival in the verse about the spell of "satan" (presumed to be Mick Jagger) that could not be broken by even an "angel born in hell" after a "sacrificial rite".

Trivia

Upon arriving at the concert, Mick Jagger was struck by a crowd member.

In the 1996 film The Cable Guy, sociopathic cable guy Chip Douglas (played by Jim Carrey) performs a karaoke version of Jefferson Airplane's Somebody to Love. Before he begins singing, he introduces his memorable rendition with: "you might remember this song as performed by Jefferson Airplane, in an inter-rock-umentary called Gimme Shelter, about the Rolling Stones and the nightmare at Altamont. That night the Oakland Chapter of the Hell's Angels had their way. Tonight...it's my turn!". At the end of the soundtrack version of the song, Carrey also yells "whoa! Who hired security on this gig, man? They're a motorcycle gang, come on!"

In October 2006, Sole Technology, Inc. launched Altamont Apparel, Ltd., the name of which was inspired by the 1969 concert.

George Lucas, of Star Wars fame, is listed in the credits of "Gimme Shelter" as a camera operator.

Blue Öyster Cult wrote a song that appeared on their début album Blue Öyster Cult (1972) titled "Transmaniacon MC" which calls the incident at Altamont as part of an elaborate "conspiracy theory" by a secret inner circle of Hells Angels who were trying to give rock n roll an aura of evil that would eventually lead to the apocalypse at the hands of Rock N Roll.

Among the other acts that appeared at the festival were Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Santana and The Flying Burrito Brothers.

There were three other deaths that occured at the festival. One was a young man who suffocated after falling into a ditch; the others were a young couple whose car plowed into a bonfire.

See Also

• Woodstock Festival
• Rolling Stones
• Hells Angels
• SchwagStock