Altamont Free Festival, 50 Year Anniversary

Is there an anniversary show planned 

Gimme Shelter is still a really disturbing movie.  You can smell Mick's fear when he is looking over at the fucked up Hells Angels standing around on the stage.   

Here is a cool Washington post article  from two weeks ago that looks back at Altamont, includes some great photographs and first hand accounts

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/lifestyle/altamont-rolling-...

...Were any of you Zoners there that can share first hand memories?

That photo has it all.

Yes

I was there. LLTD probably remembers more than I do about being there.

Dave, the first Mr. Judit, and I lived just south of Eureka and heard the day before it that there was going to be a free concert with bands we loved, so we took off that evening and drove to Alameda to pick up a couple of friends on the way. We got there in the middle of the night, slept for a couple of hours and started driving east toward the Raceway. We had no idea what to expect nor where we were really going. Traffic got thicker as we got nearer and people were beginning to park on the side of the Highway. That was mindblowing to me, but we did it, too. By the time we parked, cars were two and three deep on the side of the road.

Less clear memory of traipsing across fields with streams of people around the walls of the raceway to an entrance. The place was filling up; we stayed toward the back and side of the growing crowd. That was the biggest crowd either of us had seen or been in, and I was a bit intimidated. The sound was pretty low and dull back there, in fact it was hard to tell who was playing. We walked around to find a better place to hear from but it never got great. We did hear bands but never well, and not clearly.

We never had any idea of what was going on in the front. I don't remember how things went down in the back of the crowd, nor how the music ended. I also don't remember how we found the car, maybe Dave knew where we'd left it. I just remember lots and lots of people, very little infrastructure, lots of alcohol... Woodstock never made it to Altamont.

edit: looking at that picture makes me think we weren't all the way in the back, I can't even tell where that would have been.

very cool Judit thanks for sharing 

Looks a little like Jerry in the orange poncho.

That motorcycle is awesome! 

No Stab Taken ,,,

We got there the night before -- late.    Scored some pot and parked right near the track.

2 girls in the station wagon - 4 guys. Don't know how we got any sleep.

Made our way around the track to the site  the next morning and found we were halfway up the hill.

Got very very stoned....passed out for a while. Don't remember too much about the other bands -we could tell there was a ruckus going on.

Stones played great despite the violence. First time they broke out Brown Sugar.  Bonfires everywhere- we split. Stuck in traffic for hours.

Quite a scene.

I read the Washington Post article that Wingfan posted the link to, after I posted my memories. I wasn't surprised by what they wrote, but was surprised at how much I remembered after reading it. I forgot to mention some of what they did, like no porto boxes. That was noticeable the minute we walked into the area, as well as there being no water, food or anything else.

Ralph Gleason was my friend's father and I spent a lot of time at their house in the mid-sixties. He wasn't very cranky (or whatever they called him in the article) at home. He had shelves and shelves of LP's, many many feet of albums, and he knew "everything" about all of them and their artists; I was a teenager and thought I knew a lot. Our opinions weren't always in agreement but neither of us was disrespectful. 

Wow, the anniversary is opening up lots of memories.

The Stones and GD waiting for their ride. I'm sure you've seen it before. Mick is such a wanker!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQl1heKBNWI

Jerry & Phil and Mike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QEo6UnI64M

I know there was a four night Grateful Dead run of shows happening the same weekend-December 4-7 @ Fillmore West, with the Saturday show cancelled because of Altamont. 

Judith or Lloyd were either of you in for the Dead Shows in SF? or were you even aware they were happening? 

< Gimme Shelter is still a really disturbing movie >

I couldn't agree more. From Marty getting knocked out to the Stones powder keg. Jerry caught wind of it and wisely bailed. Sounds like if you weren't right down near the stage you were at least safe,  I bet some of the good party vibes in the back were epic. So glad to hear you attendees made it unscathed. Good stuff Judit

prequel:

https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1969/12/04/talk-about-what-became-alt...

>>>>Is there an anniversary show planned 

That was called Woodstock 99.

Appreciate the thoughts, Judit.

sam cutler’s book really gets into the nuts and bolts of altamont

Greg -  did not make it to FW for the the Dead- I was still going through my british blues band phase at that time.

I did read about some of the goings on there that weekend in Bill Graham's biography.  Check out that book if you haven't. Graham had some SCATHING remarks about Altamont & the Stones.

He said he tried to warn everybody in advance.

>>>>Check out that book if you haven't.

One of the very best rock bios I have read (and I have read many).

From Rosie McGee's book pg 1

pg2

pg3 

Thank you Lloyd for thait input. It seems like you would have to choose one or the other as far as the FW or Altamont though I'm sure some managed to hit Thursday and Friday FW then went straight to the festival to get a spot.  I'm guessing the Dead were going to play FW after their scheduled performance at Altamont?  but cancelled the sat FW show because of the stabbing

Also that is great footage Dave. Good work

Good find!

Joel Selvin's book lays some blame on the dead and calls them out for not playing, the only band that didn't....maybe they would have helped chill the crowd, who knows...

.https://www.marinij.com/2016/08/11/grateful-deads-role-in-infamous-altam....

Waiting for a helicopter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQl1heKBNWI

Sam Cutler's book 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' is also available as a Book On Tape Phone App with Sam doing the narration himself.