Altamont: The Stones Free concert-What I saw and what I learned

Altamont: The Stones Free concert

After being labeled as mercenary by the press, there was a solution to put an end to the name calling during their 1969 tour in the US, the Stones decided to do a free concert and was unable to do it in San Francisco, they did it at Altamont Speedway.
The word came out of nowhere...a free concert, a Stones free concert (Rolling Stones had been always referred to as stones)! Although Santana, the Dead, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, Jefferson Airplane would also be there...but the Stones.....short notice.....and luckily someone got the right directions to where the concert was actually going to be held....not the anticipation of a few weeks..this was hustle fast...not the norm for free concerts...those tended to be a point-of-interest in conversations for weeks on end...not the case with Altamont...what wham-bam thank you ma'am...
I will focus on the experience from getting there, being there and leaving, rather than, as some writers propose, was the end of peace and love for that era. Seems people want to sell papers. But as I researched things I could not see or know a picture comes to light that makes you take pause...and wonder.
Well it was the talk of the Bay Area, to say the least....the Stones were going to hold a concert...and free at that...first ever and there was a feeling of a second west coast Woodstock.
It was a haphazard situation that got our ride there. My road dog, Bart, who was a car affectionado whom just enjoyed working on cars, which goes back to...we drank a lot of coffee and had different interests...I digress...
so a friend of a friend said she was going and would love some company on the ride there... so the motley crew of about seven people boarded the car and as we got closer it was a mass outpouring of cars converging at Altamont Speedway, at a slower pace than our enthusiasm bargained for, but being on the way was a reward in itself...
Conversation abounded within the car and waves were motioned to those in other cars and v-signs (the "rock on" finger gesture wasn't around yet) possible, all in good fun a moon or two which added to that free concert fun madness..someone with the wherewithal, not us by any means, had brought stuff to eat and drink...a plus in the slow caravan making it's way to the Stones concert..after a long procession on the freeway, we followed the convoy and it was near the freeway and seemed to be residential and not exactly Haight-Ashbury loving people.
We actually got there sorta early-morning and it was just a sea of cars all descended up from front of the stage, which was massive with speaker towers reaching to the sky. There were droves of people
just getting there or making the rounds, as it were...there were people from, said to be, Owsley people so it was said (he "the bear" being the first mass manufacturer of LSD in 1965 and on) and others it seemed were Berkeley people, and the LSD wasn't well-made. It was not Owsley's and had too much speed in it, passing out free LSD, they had baggies full and gave you a partial handful, neither Bart nor I indulged at this venue. It seems it was passed out around the stage area so add that to the booze and whatever else the Hells Angels ingested, which seemed to be red mountain wine, a staple of that era as a chaser of sorts and would be another factor in the chaos and violence. Pot smoke wafted through the air with hashish being more odoriferous. People from everywhere in every type of garb, which was accepted and complimented at times, it's hard to express that many people in that small of an area , and then being able to see the stage.
Most very friendly (the Hell's Angels a different story). You chatted with so many different people from locals, to around the US, to around the world. Truly a global crowd waiting for the Stones; estimates were about 300,000 or more sitting, singing, walking, dancing, tripping, chatting, laughing, carrying on, as anyone would at the first free Stones concert ever with a line-up for all.
Line-up for the day was set up like this: Santana- Jefferson Airplane and lead singer, Marty Balin, was punched in the face by a Hells Angel, a sign the Angels were getting out of control and too violent; Flying Burrito Brothers; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Grateful Dead; and the Rolling Stones closing the concert and they wanted to come out at night as sympathy for the devil as a theme had a better semblance of the image that was wished to display.
Sadly since violence broke out, the Grateful Dead refused to play (a smart move, the irony was they had Angels as a casual security, but as opposed to other articles that were incorrect, there were incidents. I saw an acquaintance who happened to be black get a broken jaw from the Angels-in Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Part and saw him later with a wired jaw-why the Dead didn't warn promoters or why didn't promoters ask- or maybe not playing was their warning) and the Rolling Stones came on at night so began the wait after the cancellation of the Grateful Dead which for some it increased the violence wanting to see a band play increased impatience and frustration of the Altmont concert. And the simmering violence of the Angels playing security-tactical cops, the Stones later said they had not expected the Hells Angels to act like they did, they assumed it would be like Hells Angels bikers back home in London rather docile, however not the case. The reputation alone should have stopped the idea, but there was poor planning and the Hells Angels in London had suggested the Hells Angels and the management of the Stones went along duped to a degree these were not boy scouts. Sadly this gave the tone of violence to the concert and was truly one of the worst choices made.
Hells Angels had been hired by the Stones as security guards (a new thing to concerts from what I remember-there may have been one or two at a concert hall, but no army as at Altamont) they were given $500 in beer, and began getting shitfaced not being choir boys, they were at the bottom of the band stage as a human fence, they began to throw full cans of beer, broken pool ques, and pieces of chain to keep the crowds away. I remember walking around and a full beer can landed next to me and I wasn't that close to the stage. A biker was throwing cans from the top of a big yellow bus and needless to say, I headed back to the car, post haste, if you happened to walk by a few Hells Angels they gave you a look over not in friendly terms almost as a challenge or they pushed their way past you, it was not peace and love that came to mind, and was incongruous with a free concert based on peace and love. The interview with Hells Angel's rep Sonny after the sad incidents, shows I am not exaggerating nor judging-they were outlaw bikers-their behavior was normal in their circles, nor what ensued, this is a reality, it is the choice to use them for security were it added to the poor preparations for the concert.
Several times you would see a sea of people in front of the stage just open apart like the Red Sea, mainly attributed to Hells Angels taking their job a little too seriously and being loaded, and some enjoyed the power and violence and some delusion they were a tactical squad of some sort.
To see the concert, people we standing on the roofs of their cars. We were parked way past the speedway on a somewhat barren land with patches of greenery sparse with people as an endless sea swirling past the parked cars, stopping to chat, share a smoke or hit, look lost, or stoned...but happy. People gave out food and water, so to say the Age of Aquarius had died is an overstatement if not just hubris. It was true in the sense of concerts afterward, very few free concerts and especially of this magnitude What did die at that time, was the concept of large free concerts, and it was now in venues like Fillmore, Hullabaloo, Avalon Ballroom, the Whiskey and smaller clubs, and the idea of security for bands became more common place. Chance meetings or chats were to become a thing of the past. Point in case there that helped lead to having security for bands, Mick Jagger was just getting off the helicopter and was on way to the stage when someone punched him (which showed the Hells Angels were useless and whatever other organizers, that security was poorly planned-and one can assume wanted to prove themselves after this fiasco hence the gearing up for violence). There was that feel of concerts..from Speedway Meadows..Golden Gate Park..to free concerts..admittedly it was not well served having security by the Angels, and that tone of fear they seem to love was there, but in increments and you could avoid it best you could...300,000 people is a lot of interaction and not belittling what violence did occur. Violence wasn't dominant among the crowd, it was a free concert with a lot of artists, the Stones as icing on the concert cake. But to be fair, the crowd by the stage and in small scattered places, was getting rowdy, the wait, in reaction or in tandem with the Angels, violence and that did take the community feeling and more of what's happening here not cool even if we are at the concert.
This was so massive as to defy any concept of a concert and did take on Woodstock dimensions, but being in both size, layout of the land, and the major attitude of the crowd....concert time and free...the venue was only advertized for four days prior, and the site chosen and set up..but changed the location 20 hours before the concert. The sound was so so sad but you strained to hear when you had to-and the stage was too low and not set up as a normal stage in terms of total access to it, and add the mix of Hells Angels high and playing sheriff... being free and look at the lineup..it was overwhelming...people had camped out and brought tents, bathrooms/outhouses were there but not enough. I truly do not remember any concessions, people gave you food and drink (maybe we were lucky there), others had brought their own. So in that sense, organizers had planned poorly and had to hastily in that time-frame which added to chaos then amplified by the poor choice of Hells Angels and their violence that ensued and therein provoking violence from some of the crowd. I did mention there were not enough johnny outhouses, so apart from long, long unending lines, some people took to finding relief elsewhere on the terrain hopefully not on your car.
As we were waiting for the Stones to arrive, I saw people standing on car roofs...then they just
collapsed from the weight. To this day I still wonder how they left the concert. And with several of us on this car top, the girl who brought us, too, were hoping not for the same fate. Someone handed us some crackers and water to drink, and meat that was far too unknown even for me to eat. I took a break and walked around...didn't see anyone I knew although I knew some others would not miss this concert. One thing that both Bart and I saw and never heard a word about was a man had fallen from high up on the speaker scaffolds. We were neither high nor lacking sleep and remember him falling into the crowd, never saw any mention of it anywhere but we were actually there as opposed to second-hand. Getting near the stage was impossible just by the sheer number of people up front and our view was birds-eye at best from the car. It was a sea of people up front, then cars up to us as far as the eyes could see behind us.
The Stones finally came on and everyone was jazzed and pumped up......and they started with "Jumping Jack Flash"....we remember the crowd like a sea moving from the stage now and then, we having no idea it was the Hells Angels beating people to move from the state or just because....it seemed there were four tents that became little medical center's for the concert...there were more than the usual, according to the medical people not only at the concert but what could be gathered from hospitals in the area that treated people's foot cuts and injuries or bad trips associated with concerts unheard of...various fractures and lacerations and many head lacerations. With the Hells Angels taking violence to higher and higher levels, it seemed those waves would send more people to the medical tents and even if you where having a "good trip" not using what was passed out, came to an abrupt end with the violence around, fueling any paranoia and left many in fear of attack.
To make matters worse, medical tents had run out of Thorazine used to calm people down who trip, had taken a bad turn- the Angels had taken on tactical team response as if that was acceptable and condoned-which since not stopped seemed to be the case. The promoters-Stones management it seemed were (the land was free with provisions for clean-up and standard insurance) a hindrance more so than to help the Stones handling of the free concert-not the most cooperative or caring bunch around (maybe the Hells Angels rubbed off on them or vice-versa). There were issues trying to treat and evacuate the injured and many of the provisions were not being abide by and seems they just wanted the stage protected by any means at the time (Stones management) and then came to regret the actions later..
There was one point the crowd opened up like the Red Sea, we being this far away had no idea this was when the Hells Angels who had earlier thrown things at people now were beating people out of the way (when asked why the violence, the next day, Hell's Angels spokesperson, Sonny, said their bikes were getting damaged-which they had not been asked to put in front of the stage, (ah but then they could showcase their 'hogs") and basically said we ain't no peace nicks-and we'll be violent when we gotta-and no one checked these guys out before hand???)
Well some Hell's Angels had throw someone off the stage and chased him and beat him saying they saw a gun in his hand (this was said to be seen by some in the crowd) and stabbed the man, Meredith Hunter, fatally while the crowd watched. This was about 25 feet from the Stones and Mick Jagger, and as he sang and pranced, several people said they saw from the stage the glint of the long knives and only the Hells Angels saw a gun. Meredith Hunter was black and the Hells Angels were not known to be humanity at it's best in terms of race relations.
Jagger stopped singing and told everyone, "Brothers and sisters be cool!" – he had stopped singing "Sympathy for the Devil"....Jagger asked if everybody was alright? Is anyone hurt and said strange things always happened with this song they started playing again and the Angels tossed someone from the stage. Now...now at this point, the stones had a small area to play in and were surrounded by Hells Angels.
Jagger asked, "Why are we fighting?"...and the fight got worse... "We gotta stop right now!" Every other scene had been cool-a minute goes by then, Keith Richards said, "Either those cats cool it or we don't play!!!"~more fighting but so close to the stage only those right there could see it with the outlying crowd having no idea what's going on. And in answer to Richards, an Angel grabbed the mike and screamed, "Fuck you!" It was a Hells Angels concert, they had taken over since the morning, and now ran it-no cool concert, run by thugs playing tactical squad.
Jagger then said, "Someone's hurt, we need to let the doctor through, please we are trying to get to someone who's hurt." The people who were trying to help Meredith Hunter up and help visibly showed Jagger their blood-stained hands when finally a doctor arrived, however not immediate before Meredith was taken away.
The Stones then started to play again, a blues instrumental with Jagger saying, "To cool out with."
The Stones went into "Stray Cat Blues", then "Love in Vain." Jagger asked for all to sit down...and then started "Under My Thumb" and a body was throw across the stage, and he bellowed out, "We're splitting...we're splitting if those cats don't stop, I want them out of the way!"
Then all the Hell's Angels surrounded the Stones as they were in that position already-the crowed started chanting, "Music music music...get off the fucking stage, get off the fucking stage!" (a side parable power in unity power in people)
Jagger says after a few moments elapsed, "Please relax and sit down." "If you move back and sit down, we can continue, and we will continue. We need a doctor as soon as possible...please." Stones road manager and emcee, Sam, said "First of all, everyone is going to get to the side of the stage who's on it now, aside from the Stones. Please, everyone. We need a doctor and ambulance, right away. Just sit down and keep calm and relax. We can get it together."
First time ever performed once they finish "Under My Thumb"..."Brown Sugar" and the Stones carried it even with the crappy sound system.
Next "Midnight Rambler" but alas, as many others head out, Bart and I left with our original ride, the only saving grace we were some of the first and not too far from the freeway we stayed as long as we thought the concert would last...so one can scratch being first to leave off the list.
The Stones continued, more of a handle on the concert, but too little too late..they play "Live With Me" "Gimme Shelter" and "Bitch" "Satisfaction" and during "Honky Tonk Woman," he was purported to say, "I laid a divorcee right here in Frisco," or something to that effect...
Life being a carousel of ironies, the Stones ended with "STREET FIGHTING MAN" and we had moved closer to the stage as people were leaving and there was space, and so ended the concert with the Stones. Well the best laid plans of mice and men..we headed out and could not find our ride...and now it was a tidal wave of people and cars heading to the freeway. We were away from most of the violence, until we found out later what occurred was a cool concert, even if the sound was off and we had to wait what seemed forever for the Stones to play.
There were four deaths, Meredith Hunter who was stabbed to death as he was also beaten by a Hells Angels -the actual Angel who killed Meredith Hunter was later acquitted. Two people were run over by a vehicle and one person drown in a drainage ditch.
So reviewing my thoughts, my conclusions have changed, with more facts at hand, it was a death in a way of the Age of Aquarius in the physical sense But the philosophy has endured and created change, activism and awareness-it was almost a way (even if not by design) to kill free concerts which now have evolved into big-big money, massive security, and a corporate mindset. The days of mingling and chatting with musicians was now coming to an end.
Which begs these questions, it may seem harsh but then lack of attention created a harsh environment and death for some:
Why was this turned into a violent concert? Security turned into a stoned and drunken tactical squad, which became their run of the concert.
Why wasn't this treated as a paying concert? Still a write-off and good publicity
because it was free and they could care less about the audience having bad terrain, few bathroom facilities, poor sound system, poorly set-up stage and thugs for security.
Were they worried about interrupting the paid concert dates and venues?
Did the publicity of doing a free concert be the only concert as it appears?
If you look at the Hells Angels interview after the violence, it would have been expedient for promoters to interview before using them. That would have nixed that alternative, naive to think otherwise.
These were professionals in terms of Stones management and had any monies needed, so this was
their fault, if not by design, but just not doing their jobs and setting up a serious concert venue-then even with these problems Stones as most musicians know are not involved in the inner working and they arrived much later, but with the problems, the show must go on was idiotic in terms of what happened-hindsight is meaningless, the deeds had been done.
Was it to ensure the end of free concerts... thoughts to ponder...