How the Altamont Free Concert Ended the Summer of Love
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- čas přidán 9. 11. 2023
- Lambasted by Rolling Stone magazine as "rock and roll's all-time worst day - a day when everything went perfectly wrong," the 1969 music festival at Altamont Speedway in Northern California was a concert unlike any other. Immortalized in the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter, Altamont was scheduled during one of the most rebellious and heady times in American history, filled with gritty guitar riffs, lots of recreational drugs, and young people looking to rebel. The free concert gave fans a chance to jam out with some of the most epic bands of the counterculture, including the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. But when the Hells Angels showed up to work security, things took a turn for the worse. Fans expecting free love and peace were treated to brutality and general mayhem. Forever remembered for its shocking violence, destruction, and chaos, the tragic events at Altamont ended the era of free love and marked the death of the swinging '60s.
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I was there. We were sitting up front, between the Hell's Angel's bus and the stage. There was a lot of free "bad acid" being passed around, and we saw a lot of people on bad trips. Half the people there were very high on the free acid and freaking out. I was only 21 years old and still pretty stupid due to my youth and inexperience, but even I was smart enough not to take any free acid. There were a few port-a-potties, just nowhere near enough. The Hell's Angels were throwing full cans of beer at people from on top of their bus, hitting people in the head and so on. Honestly Mick Jagger saved all of our lives when he got up on the stage, and pleaded with the crowd to settle down a little, "Brothers and Sisters! Brothers and Sisters!" Had he not, I am convinced that I would not be alive today. There was so many people there that (being that close to the stage) we were hemmed in by the crowd and couldn't get away and go home.
Since that day, I have purposely never attended any concert without tickets and assigned seats.
However, Mick Jagger was also selfish enough to take th chopper and let that man die.
Never liked the stones and this is the main reason. Micks ego created the perfect storm. This wasn't his first concert. Who hire the hells angels for security they were already flooding the west coast with crystal speed at that time.
Thanks
@@saltysliegh The fact that the concert was free forced it to be organized on the cheap. When concert admission is paid for, you get water, food, toilets, legal security and professional organizing. Mick later commented that The Stones were relying on the peaceful love-and-flowers San Francisco people to make the concert work but that's a weak cop-out. The fact that optimistic Woodstock producer Michael Lang was consulted also didn't help. Lang was a Sagittarius and was characteristically optimistic, never-say-die, carefree and free-spirited which leads to leaping before you look. Of course 20/20 hindsight says that the concert should have been cancelled. For all of the criticism that The Hells Angels took, to their their credit they were abundantly clear upfront that they are NOT cops, and they were trapped in a dire situation with a fiercely unruly, violent and drugged-out crowd that could never be tamed. Consider that The Angels were outnumbered 300,000 to 25 - that says a lot, and they did the best that they could under the circumstances and may have saved as many lives as heads that they cracked open.
@DDEENY The Hells Angels are badass, I don’t care what illegal shit they get up to 😉
My history professor was one of those California hippies. She said late 60’s mentality was that if it feels good, do it!
Then in ‘69 the Tate-LaBianca murders - Manson family and the Altamonte concert happened.
She said these events really put the brakes on the trusting feel good vibe for a lot of hippies and the sixties ended.
Once again Hells Angels ruining everything, even one of the best movements ever created
Idealism came up against the American underbelly
A big reason the 60’s ended was the fact that it was 1969. I remember how the ‘80s ended when it was 1989.
Thousands of people raised in civilization think civilization is bad, then proceed to find out why civilization is needed.
I would hesitate to sum up the 'Sixties in those words. A lot of what we take for granted, from women coming out of the kitchen, moving into the boardroom, to open acknowledgement of different sexual practices and beliefs, came after long years of struggle. Blacks started the decade in near-servitude, where TV shows openly used the N-word and towns openly boasted of their racism, to some semblance of respect and dignity. The 'Sixties opened those floodgates and others.
My mom wouldn't let me go. It was the only thing she was ever right about. Every friend who went told me that it was the worst experience of their life.
1:11 That aerial shot of all the cars that were lined up is amazing!
The reason The Angels were hired was that the first concert The Stones played in 1969 was a free impromptu concert in Hyde Park to memorialize Brian Jones and they had hired the English Hells Angels to do security there and even with 200,000 people it went of without a hitch, other than Keith’s guitar being out of tune for the first couple songs
xD
Aye, but the English Angels weren't nowhere near the same blokes as the amphetamine fueled war veterans of the California chapters. Way different mentality, mate.
@@archstanton4365 I know what’s odd is that no one in the states made them aware of that. I was 6 in 1969 and I knew the Hells Angels were bad people. I’ve been told by a couple other people that it was members of The Dead that suggested The Angels because they had the local chapter around San Francisco at the time do that for their shows. Apparently they weren’t as bad either but I believe they had enough of a reputation in the states to warrant someone saying “maybe this isn’t such a great idea”. It is what it is great set bad scene
I thought the summer of love was 1967. That being said 300,000 with four days notice is freaking amazing
The only time the crowd was under control was when the Burritos were playing
I was 7 when this happened and didn't hear about it until fifteen or so years later. In a way, I still can't believe it happened...but in another, it's VERY believable.
I was 13...the 60s was so crazy and faith in anything was at a low ebb...wasn't this just a succession of lunacy?
I was 13 years old living in Livermore when this happened. People were parking on the 580 freeway, town was overrun. Altamont speedway is still in use- as a speedway!
Like DC getting torched after MLK was shot and demonstrators coming up main street...you don't forget these things.
Wow it seems like the whole idea was a perfect storm for disaster! If you ever wonder why concerts have so many regulations just remember Altamont.
I lived 20 minutes away from the speedway my whole life. I heard stories from a lot of the old people in the area. At the time they were confused why hippies wanted to play music in one of the blandest places in California. They were also confused why hippies wanted to come to the area, that had a very open and violent in right wing opinion. The one of the towns in the area had a cell for the American N@z! Party and a number of private militias. Some of their members were even arrested for making death threats to hippies who stopped by. Not really an area you’d expect a hippie to hang around and no surprise he’ll broke loose.
Nobody likes OSHA, but those rules are there because some j@ck@ss wasn't making 3 points of contacts, fell off and brake their neck. Not that long ago, drinking and driving was just frowned upon. Spent the night in jail... every Saturday night. Enough people were deleted that states finally said "hey, you really shouldn't do that. we should actually do something."
Should also be noted that something very similar was allowed to happen again 30 years later at Woodstock ‘99. Riots broke out, theft was rampant, and sexual assault was reported. Just goes to show how thin that line between man and beast is.
I'm sure that they were in the middle of their set and probably weren't thinking straight (drugged out of their minds) but it sounds like their refusal to let them use the helicopter was pretty much what led to that man's death. Even if he died anyway, at least the effort would have been made. :/
The medics said the guy would have lived if he'd gotten attention sooner. I remember when this was a defining moment for the Stones. My family were music people, and my brother was beginning to earn a living from music, and we all fallowed the Rolling Stones, even our mother. Everything was love and light and the "primal communication of music" that my mother believed in...and then we heard about the deaths. Jagger wasn't actually ever drugged out of his mind, and was sober at concerts. He just didn't want the bleeding man in the helicopter. It really was a cold hearted thing to do.
Wow, what an awesome bunch of bands playing! I’m 72 so definitely lived through the 60s but this is the first time I’ve heard of this venue. Perhaps it’s because I’m English and probably had better things to think about at the time!
So nuts. How do you not have WATER at a concert in SO CAL!??
Yeah that's a huge oversight. Or, why the fuck would you have the hell's angels as security?
The Altamont is like 30 miles from San Francisco. No where near SoCal
Not southern california, it's in the bay area by livermore
When the concert promoters are too too cheep to buy enough water for the fans.
nobody has ever accused hippies of being smart.
So rolling stones killed that guy by not letting them use the helicopter and they got away with it. Unbelievable. They should have been charged with manslaughter for that and gone to jail.
It was the 60s, Celebs had a lot of political power as far as the law goes.
That was the most shocking to me that they refused to help; the guy was stabbed multiple times! What garbage humans. It's so sad.
Having a man die in your helicopter sounds worse than having someone die at your show
From a pr stance at least
Saving a man in your helicopter so he doesn't die is better--but not rock and roll enough for Mick Jagger i guess.@@Whitehorse_crimefighter
My favorite CZcams channel right here ❤
There’s a lot of inaccuracy in this video. Meredith wasn’t stabbed during Sympathy for the Devil. As seen in Gimme Shelter and told everywhere else it was after Under My Thumb. He’s also shown on film being airlifted by a helicopter.
69 was the year I was born. I heard about this when I was in my teens, however it did not make much of an impact on me. Today I realize that they may have set the stage for crowd control at concerts.
“Less like a music festival and more like a prophecy” Brilliant.
I remember watching an interview with Keith Richards and he was asked about Altamont. He responded, "Ya see? Alltha time wih tha concur it was tha crahneh abou' fah and Mick wuz nah tha billyfuh nagga sheelah angels bou' fuh blussnah fuh cuh nah glaryfoo. Heh heh heh... ya know?"
Thus expressing a prevailing shared view, with its vocabulary. Good hell.
Incorrect about the song where hunter was stabbed. It was during under my thumb
The reason why they didn't have the infrastructure in place was because it was planned for another location but the owner pulled out at the last second.
Thank you guys. I've been begging for an episode like this since I found you.
PLEASE! Give Us An Update On Season 4 Of The Timeline Series!
It may have been the end of the counter culture but not the end of great music. Some of the best rock and roll was yet to come. Altamont and Woodstock ushered it in.
Everyone had been after the Stones to do a "free concert", since the 1969 American tour started in Ft Collins, on Nov 7.. By the New York shows, the pressure was on, for the band to commit to a free concert. That was only two weeks before the date, announced later, they settled on; Once the die was cast, the wheels came off, and things devolved into chaos. The first venue was snatched back, and the Altamont Speedway was a last-ditch alternative.
Losing Game by The Flying Burrito Brothers was a good track.
When I saw Eric Clapton in Barcelona, there was no seating and everyone just sat on the floor.
Thanks for this! ❤🔥
Watkens Glenn was another concert like this one I heard about. People parked all the way down near my house many miles away around 20 miles.
Interesting. I lived through thise years but never heard of this. How many folks outside of USA know these details?
A+ video!
Very eye-opening video!
Thank fucking god it did, what a scourge that is still felt to this day.
I distinctly remember standing in our kitchen in kansas city listening to my older sister ask our mother if she could go to Woodstock,NY for a concert. There are some things that just stick with you, right? Lol The look on her face was memorable but the words she spoke were unfamiliar to me and i guess my brain threw them aside but im sure my sister didnt ask again.
The Woodstock of the West is kind of a fitting name
I have never heard of this concert.
4:13 When I saw Stone Temple Pilots at Rock Fest, Scott Weiland saw a guy blatantly grope a girl who was crowd surfing.
He immediately stopped (mid song), looked straight at the guy, and told him to stop it because we were trying to have fun.
The entire crowd froze immediately and there was a break before the next song.
It was probably his heroin dealer and he was scared they were pickpocketing his fix.
@@icaanulSo you decided to make an unfunny, dickhead joke as a reaction to this story 🙄? Got it.
Perfect timing
The summer of love was the summer of 1967. Altamonte was around 2 and a half years later.
In '67 and '68 my band was Lagoon's (20 minutes from Salt Lake City) Patio Gardens "house band". We opened for all but a few touring big-name bands, right at the Summer of Love genesis that overcame the awkward era between Folk rock and the hard-to-believe avalanche of the psychadelic, notably intro'ed by Sgt. Pepper, et al. We were in that whirlwind of great influential sounds, too many times being played and created by musicians who were dead within only a few years from the catalysts of booze & drugs. There was only one shared Blue Room, and we could talk intimately with some true rock legends who, all of them, it seemed, got big fast and found it hard to take the road schedules without pills and booze. The heady TOP was as phony as the whole scene overall. Too many kids thought hippie music was life's answer to EVERY SOCIAL ILL. Dizzying is the word I'd use for the time, the music and the bad management of the bands. To have lived thru it without some brain damage seems fortunate to me. If one began as an "ass", at the end he would easily find his "hole."
"300,000 people and no bathrooms is less a music festival and more like a prophesy." 😂😂😂
Since Altamont was in '69, I'm going to go ahead and say that what stopped the summer of love was the 1967 calendar. You know, since the summer of love was in 1967 and not 1969.
As for ending the hippie movement you've also got to give some credit to the Manson family, the black panthers and other things that resulted in hippies being seen as other than just flower children. Also, coming out of the moon landing and transitioning into the 1970s with the end of the Viet Nam war, Watergate, disco, etc. time had just run out on the hippie movement. Like the beatniks who came before them, the hippies found themselves in a time and place where it was no longer hip to be a hippie. Of course, about 99% of the hippies sold out and today you'd never have any idea they were hippies. The hippie movement, as is the case with all movements, came to a stop. It's the nature of movement. Start, then stop.
I had someone arguing with me about that, trying to say that it was 69. They got really upset and started calling me stupid. People are weird. I’m pretty sure the concert was in December of 69 as well so the summer had been over for months
Grouping the Black Panthers in with the Manson family is crazy
@@KingLucy - Not in the context I used. The "summer of love flower children" hippies were all about peace (and sex/drugs). The panthers were militants open to violent tactics. They had more in common with the 1970s SLA, by far, than they had in common with hippies. Don't apply 2023 social justice so you can say what feels good rather than what IS true. HOWEVER, to acknowledge your point's merit, the Mansons were evil and utterly criminal while the panthers were not evil. Really, all I noted is that the panthers weren't peace and love flower children.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw this. I'm old enough to remember it (though I wasn't there!). By 1969 the party was over and a funeral procession made it official.
You should do videos on the 2 more recent Woodstock festivals both were epic disasters lol
Woodstock 2 wasn’t a disaster! You must be thinking of Woodstock’99.😒
@@thehutch7728 it rained for the entire 1994 show making it into a giant mess. Though it was tame compared to the 1999 burning the stages down
I think they did do a video on one of them
czcams.com/video/gH6-nBwOwkA/video.htmlsi=La3SnqqjZRZBFFJ9
@@michaelmayhem350it rained a lot in 94 too. In both 69 and 94 the rain and mud made it fun. 99 was in an earlier part of summer with lower chances of rain (although the venue and price gouging were bigger issues making it a shit show
For me the 60s ended with two events that happened almost on the same day. One, the Woodstock Festival, represented the best of the decade. The other, the Manson murders, the worst.
I like the idea behind making a spontaneous concert with little notice and making it feel natural. When its headlined by bands as huge as the Rolling Stones, it has to be planned out.
A spontaneous free concert would probably only work for a smaller indie band.
or just a small venue in general. Woodstock in the 60s is a one time only thing, ever.
Like Corey Feldman
Not true at all. I went to a spontaneous concert the Ramones had at San Francisco City Hall when I was in high school and it was AWESOME! Just don't have the Hell's Angels do security. LOL
They did it in the UK which is how they met the angels in the first place
Could Weird History please do another season of Timeline? They could try the 1960s.
I'd take that gig.
The Summer of Love was 1967, NOT 1969 as almost everyone claims it was. Monterrey Pop Festival was the peak of peace, love and the hippie movement.
Crazy
"And who doesn't have a Flying Burrito brother's favorite song?" OMG your commentaries are hilarious 👌🏼🤣😛❗ Now I'm at the part where the Hell's Angels have been hired for security. What could possibly go wrong🙄🤣⁉️ Throw in No water no food no seating no toilets no parking. still ROFLMAO, 🐦😚🇨🇦
0:42 Jagger looks like he dressed up as "Uncle Sam."
Fun Fact: Uncle Same was originally a meatpacker.
“Please don’t dominate the rap, jack, if you got nothin new to say”
Inaccuracies abound here. Hunter spent much of the evening attempting to get onstage, and he had a pistol under his belt. He drew his gun before he was stabbed, attempting to shoot the Angel he was fighting with. The Angel was acquitted, as he acted in self defense.
Also, he died during Under My Thumb. And Sympathy was played near the beginning of the set.
The Angels had somewhere around 100 members there. They were outnumbered 3,000 to 1 by the crowd.
The crowd was out of their minds on free acid laced with speed. They were out of control before the music even started.
1:58 Sin City is my favorite Burritos song
❤ peace
I do not remember the summer of love being too loving. Guess I was busy.
0:34 When I went to the Maha Music Festival in Omaha, where Garbage was the headliner, I hung out with a couple who had a single blanket and nothing else.
4:37 Marty Balin was the singer, not the guitarist.
Free love comes with a price
The first place the Stones played in California was at The San Bernardino orange show
The biggest lie that gets repeated over-and-over again is the one that says Altamont killed the "hippie rock festival" forever, and that no one ever tried to do another Woodstock again. When the fact of the matter is, there were SEVERAL "hippie type" rock festivals into the 70s---and I would even include the California and Texxas Jams! Now were there some poorly managed stinkers---yes! (Bull Island '72). But by and large, promoters had learned their lessons from the mistakes made at both Altamont AND Woodstock, with better planning, better crowd management, and better sanitation
The Altamonte Free Concert was a shocking thing to happen.
Woodstock 99 was my generation's Altamont.
Since I have seen the second thumbnail recommendation at the end of the video ('99 Woodstock) I am going to watch the first (What Was The Original Woodstock Like) and:
x 13 Bizarre Pirate Traditions Most People Don't Know About
x How the "8 CDs for Penny" Club Worked
No AI in this video. Good!
You need to re-brand your channel to the "Inaccurate History" channel - The "Summer of Love" was 1967, not 1969.
"300,000 people and no bathrooms is less like a music festival and more like a prophecy." Sounds like a real sh!t show to me 😂😂😂
What got me was the helicopter , researved for the Stones, not people dieing.
Hell's Angels and beer. Brilliant! Beyond stupid the way this was thrown together. Makes the Fyre Festival look like a raging success.
No it’s doesn’t lol at least this one wasn’t a blatant scam
Manson Family murders was a few months earlier and Kent State / various other college violence was around the corner. It was more than Altamont.
For me, the 60s died on that day December 31st 1969
Planning and having an organized concert is part of The Man, mannnnnn!!! LOL!!!!
If you want the real story about Altamont then read Sam Cutler's book "You can't always get what you want". Truth is, the promoters threw the concert together quickly. It was a bad location, the stage was at the bottom of a slope on two or three sides so basically a pit. It wasn't so much the Hell's Angel's that caused the issue but rather many of their prospects and hang arounds. Notice in the pictures and videos how many HA's are without a patch or both top and bottom rockers. The HA had done security for the Grateful Dead and even the very first North Face store (yes, that North Face) in San Francisco. A lot of the blame went to Sam but he was just working with what he was given. Read the book.
I'm willing to believe that about most of it was done by prospects, because I also saw the pictures and understood the lack of colors, but still, the prospect can't do anything without permission.
It was so sad.
"Summer of Love" was 1967 🤔 Maybe...
How about an episode on the acid daze festival in Finsbury Park in the 80s
People need to start fact checking the summer of love was 1967 not 1969 another channel has said this mistake a few times also. The summer 1969 was the end of the hippie era because of altamont and the Manson crap. The summer of love was 1967 San Francisco
My great uncle Brian was there. He got whacked over the head with a pool cue so went straight home, probably for the best with what happened after
The "Summer of Love" was 1967, not 1969. 🤦♂️
I always heard 69
@@YoursUntruly The ""official"" Summer of Love was 1967 in San Francisco. Another Summer of Love were gatherings in New Orleans, starting in 1969.
and Bob weir actually told it was really 1966 and pet sounds was released then and the last Beatles concert or should I say 1969 on the roof?!?😅
I m.o It WAS the say the music died. Still music can go on like a fenix from the ashes
Phoenix.
can you do a video on poveglia and centralia
Oppikoppi voor Oppikoppi...
❤🇿🇦
Some of those bands played at woodstock then Altamont
So hunter had a gun? Whoever wrote this forgot a line of the script.
He was American.
You know.., Americans and guns...and shootings.
Cowboy mentality and all...
NBA coaching legend Phil Jackson is a huge fan of The Grateful Dead and has a relationship with the band.
Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead said this about Phil Jackson: “He’s a guy who is a pure manifestation of spirit - both in physical, mental and emotional form."
I mean.. weird to bring up Phil Jackson. But yeah sure.
@@72vince27 Isn't it a...weird history
Even though it was 50 years ago, people are still animals.
They always were, even now.
We’ve gotten a much better handle on organizing music festivals since then.
@@mrdankhimself Travis Scott would disagree
I'm glad for that. All the ones I attended when I was a kid were well organized and actually well mannered. I've seen this concert film before and wow what a mess.@@mrdankhimself
Stuff just got out of hand. Better planning would avoided the chaotic storm.
Woodstock plan in advance. Altamont plan out of no where.
You know the concert is going to be bad when the VENUE is giving an "oh shit!" face.
Fun Fact: lt was Mick Jagger's idea to hire the Hell's Angel's for Security at Altamont.
Yes that was implied in the video
Timeline? At least an update?
Well considering the concert was in November or December that’s why it ended the “summer” of love it was winter!
Just noting, reference to this being the end of "the summer of love".... summer of love was 1967. Unless this is more meant as the end of that "era". Which it was.
Surprise!...Mick may not be the sharpest tool in the shed.
Hubter was stabbed because he pulled a gun on either the Angels or the Rolling Stones
I was only 3 and my sister was just born sooo we never heard about this or Woodstock
That would be 11:59:59pm!!!!!
Mick Jagger hasn't been punched in the face enough in my opinion.
To me the 60s died in the 80s
What? You discredit the disco era?
BIG mistake in this video. Sympathy for the Devil was not the last song of the concert (it was played early in the show.....Hunter was killed during Under My Thumb.) That's why Jagger sings "I pray that it's all right" during the ending. Big mistake. Actually.....an inexcusable mistake. Also....the Dead pulled out of the show. They were there but decided against taking the stage. This video is pretty bad.
Please can we get one thing correct. The Summer Of Love was the summer of 1967. Monterey Pop and Greyhound tour buses stopping outside the home of the Grateful Dead near the corners of Haight - Ashbury. Not 1969. Altamont was supposed to be the west coast version of Woodstock and of course it failed miserably.
THANK YOU! I made the same comment above. This just irks me, how everyone claims it's 1969. By then the hippie era was winding down, and there was even a funeral procession to bring it to an official end.
@@ferociousgumby That's correct. The hippies held the mock funeral service when they realised business types were trying to commercialize the hippie culture and so the "Death to Hippie March" was organised.
Sounds insane, worse than Woodstock, no bathrooms and no food or water, disaster😢