Altamont Free Concert
The Free Concert That Went
Wrong And Ended An Era
A moment of truth. A chilly California evening. A free concert moved quickly from an earlier location. A wrong security choice. What went wrong? Why did four people end up dead? In the second installment of Tragedies, Great Moments, and Other Interesting Episodes, the tragedy we still talk about over thirty years later: an incident sometimes dubbed "The End of an Era." This is the story of the tragic, horrifying concert at Altamont Speedway that left many with bruises and cost four concert-goers their lives.
There's a lot to this and a lot happened on the day in question, December 6th, 1969. The events are listed in order of time in which they happened, as I can best find out. Some events have been contradicted by other sources, but I'm taking the most widely stated form of what occurred. If you know, for fact, an event is incorrect information, please let me know.
The Rolling Stones were the remaining band of the three major 60s super groups. The Beatles were breaking up and Bob Dylan was taking time off. The now infamous 1969 tour of the Rolling Stones was probably one of the most covered of the year. Then little known rock magazine, Rolling Stone, was following every show. The tour ended up releasing two bootlegs ("Liver Than You'll Ever Be" and "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out") and a documentary entitled "Gimme Shelter," directed by brothers Albert and David Maysles. What a great ending it would be to hold a free concert in California, especially with the bad press they were getting over high ticket prices. The documentary directors would be there to capture it and wrap up the documentary, plus it could be a small thank you to fans. Most of the other bands set to perform were coming straight from Woodstock '69 and/or small tours themselves to play at what was being dubbed "Woodstock of the West." But before a concert can be held, you need a venue.
Finding a venue isn't as simple as it sounds, especially for the ready-to-advertise Rolling Stones. It was a big and free concert, so why couldn't they talk about it? Well, that's simple: their first venue was Golden Gate Park. The Parks Department asked that they not announce where the concert actually was until 24 hours before the concert. Should they talk, the permit would be dropped immediately. Needless to say, The Rolling Stones did not comply. They announced the concert and its location and Golden Gate Park dropped. Another venue was quickly chosen, but, at last, 24 hours before the concert, the owner of the Altamont Speedway volunteered for the publicity. Volunteers moved the stage and sound equipment all night in the chill to Altamont. Teens from all across America were already in California and hundreds more were arriving, so the move had to be swift and efficient. Luckily, with the help of many volunteers working all night, the risk worked and the stage was ready in time for the concert to begin. Despite venue problems, things seemed to be going alright. What could possibly go wrong? A lot.
The Rolling Stones hired the San Francisco and Oakland chapters of the Hell's Angels to handle security. They had worked with the Hell's Angels for a free concert in Hyde Park on July 5th, 1969, but England's Hell's Angels were basically Jagger-lookalikes in leather coats. America's Hell's Angels were known to be rougher. Grateful Dead had hired Hell's Angels for security before, each time without incident. There was difference though. The Hell's Angels hired were young and had big egos. The older ones were back at home, settling disputes amongst gangs for territory rights. These were the ones who the Grateful Dead usually hired. The Hell's Angels, who still claim their payment was five hundred dollars in beer, drank and did drugs excessively. Since they were the only security, if they got out of control, there was no stopping them.
The Angels, with beer and pool cues in hand, were dormant for the time being. Other problems were similiar to the ones at the year's other big festival, Woodstock, started to occur though. There was excessive drug use, poor toilet facilities, and inadequate medical facilities. Food and water was almost non-existant. The stage also wasn't very high and, with film crews, sound equipment, and Hell's Angels sitting on the edge of the stage, it's hard to believe anyone a few dozen feet back could even seem the performance. The Altamont Speedway also had some steep hills, which caused some concert-goers to slide and fall down into the ravine. Around 300,000 young Americans had shown up, instead of the promoter's estimates of a mere 10,000. In the mere morning hours, the Rolling Stones had arrived via helicopter and, on the way to their trailers, Mick Jagger was punched in the face by a fan. An omen.
Santana took the stage around, most normally it is stated, from ten in the morning to around noon. A few scuffles broke out during the early concerts, which consisted of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, who went early so they could get to a concert they had scheduled for later that evening, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. These scuffles were regarded as minor, just resulting in minor injuries. Surely it was the small inconviences and the noon day sun. Then, all Hell broke loose.
Jefferson Airplane took the stage and played through a few songs before trouble began. A man was being beaten in the front row and Jefferson Airplane guitarist Marty Balin couldn't stand for it. He jumped into the fight, trying to get the Hell's Angels, who were beating the confused man with pool cues, off the man. Marty was punched in the face and knocked out. Fear struck the band as they realized they were not free of the abuse that was being used on crowd members. Lead singer Grace Slick, whose voice had turned from free spirited to a chilling fearful, begged and pleaded for peace. Other guitarist, Paul Kantner, grabbed his microphone in anger, explaining to the crowd why the music had stopped. After blaming the Hell's Angels for knocking out his guitarist, Paul was focused on as the object of anger. One of the Angels grabbed a microphone, yelling back in defense for his people. Grace intervened into what could have been another fight, going as far as to say, "Both sides are fucking up temporarily. Let's stop fucking up, people."
Jerry Garcia and the rest of the Grateful Dead had stayed in their bus until Jefferson Airplane took the stage. From the bus, guitarist Phil Lesh managed to see a few beatings and relayed them to Jerry and the rest of the band. They were becoming incredibly nervous. When Marty got beat, they fled back to their bus in terror. They were scheduled to go on after Jefferson Airplane and lead the way for the Rolling Stones' final performance. When asked what they were going to do, they quickly announced they were not playing and left the Rolling Stones to play.
As with every Rolling Stones concert, they waited as long as possible, waiting to make a big stage entrance. Even lights around the medical tents were asked to be turned down, so the only light seen would be a spotlight right on Mick Jagger. In this time before taking stage, Hell's Angels had continued fighting people with pool cues and even drove their bikes through the crowd. Small fights broke out, but the Stones didn't pay attention until a few songs in. With the low stage and being the frontman, Mick was almost eye-level and could no longer watch the fighting. He called for the band to stop playing and yelled for the fighting to stop. "Brothers and sisters, why are we fighting? Who wants to fight?" Mick asks, his voice no longer proud, but a scared plea. All of the Rolling Stones are frightened, but continue to play, afraid of they don't even more fights will break out. This happened more than several times during the set.
Mick stops again and pleas to the crowd, "Be cool, brothers and sisters." Much to his surprise, not a Hell's Angel, but his own guitarist Keith Richards, approached him in anger. He told Mick to just continue singing. Keith then proceeded to push Jagger aside, grabbed the microphone, and yelled to the crowd that the music would stop if they didn't cool it, the most popular threat that came from the stage several times that day. Keith's anger was not anger at all, though; it was fear. Sonny Barger, a Hell's Angel, has admitted that he approached Keith, put a pistol in his side, and told him if the Stones stopped playing, he would be shot dead.
Here's where the controversy and questions arise. During the Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb," the big scuffle of the night broke out. An eighteen-year-old black man, Meredith Hunter, had a gun. We know this for sure because of movie footage in "Gimme Shelter." We know a Hell's Angel member had a knife, also because of the documentary footage. In the end, Meredith was stabbed and beaten to death by members of the Hell's Angels. The "why" is the big mystery. Some say it was because this black man was dating a beautiful white girl and very racist members of the Hell's Angels did not approve and picked a fight. Meredith drew the gun to defend himself and the Hell's Angels responded by drawing their knives. The other story, most often told by the Hell's Angels, was that Meredith had drawn a gun and was planning to shoot Mick Jagger or someone else on the stage. They were only trying to stop the gunman before he shot a member of the Rolling Stones or the Hell's Angels.
Three other deaths occured at the Altamont concert. Two New Jersey youngsters were killed sleeping in their sleeping bags when they were run over. Another person drowned in a nearby aqueduct. Four births also happened in the process. Dozens of small fights happened all during the Altamont concert and many more were treated for drug use.
Some say there was little to no planning involved, which caused all these unforseen problems. Others say it wasn't as successful as Woodstock because at Woodstock, no one was in the way. People were free to enjoy the music and have fun. At Altamont, having fun resulted in a beating from a Hell's Angel or a scuffle of some sort, although Hell's Angels only admitted to "protecting their bikes," which were parked in front of the stage. Others even go as far as to say that this wasn't fun; it was an Apocalypse; the end of a peace and love era into a violent new era. Ethan A. Russel, Rolling Stones photographer, said, "The frightening thing at Altamont... was how much of the audience wasn't high, they were gone." ("Altamont -- The Rolling Stones 1969 US Tour.")