Altamont Music Festival

The event is best known for having been marred by violence, including one homicide and three accidental deaths: two caused by a hit-and-run car accident and one by drowning in an irrigation canal.

Planning

The concert originally was scheduled to be held at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. However, a previously scheduled San Francisco 49ers football game the weekend of December 6–7 made that venue impractical, and the permits were never issued for the concert or were revoked. 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, December 6; the location was switched on the night of Thursday, December 4. This resulted in numerous logistical problems including a lack of facilities such as portable toilets and medical tents. The stage, which was only four feet high, was surrounded by members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, led by Oakland chapter head Ralph 'Sonny' Barger, who acted as bouncers.²

Security

By some accounts, the Hells Angels were hired as security by the Rolling Stones, on the recommendation of the Grateful Dead, for $500 worth of beer — a story that has been denied by parties who were directly involved. According to Rolling Stones' road manager Sam Cutler, "the only agreement there ever was ... the Angels would make sure nobody fucked with the generators, but that was the extent of it. But there was no 'They're going to be the police force' or anything like that. That's all bollocks."³ Hells Angels member Sweet William recalled this exchange between Cutler and himself at a meeting prior to the concert, where Cutler had asked them to do security:

When Cutler asked how they would like to be paid, William replied, "we like beer."³ In the documentary Gimme Shelter Sonny Barger states that the Hells Angels did not initially get involved to police the event, and that organizers had told him that he and his fellow Angels would be required to do little more than sit on the stage and drink beer. Other accounts^who? also state that the initial arrangement was for the Hells Angels to watch over the equipment, but that Cutler later moved them, and their beer, near the stage to placate them or to protect the stage.^{citation needed}

Since Ken Kesey had invited the Hells Angels to one of his outdoor Acid Tests, the bikers had been perceived by the hippies as akin to "noble savages".⁴ They had provided security at Grateful Dead shows without reported violence. Further, the Rolling Stones may have been misled by their experience with a British contingent of self-described "Hells Angels", a peaceful group of admirers of American biker-gear, who had been present at a free concert the Stones had given earlier that year in Hyde Park, London.⁴

Crowd management proved to be difficult. Many spectators were injured and four died. Over the course of the day, the Hells Angels became increasingly agitated and violent, fueled by alcohol and alleged violence toward them and their motorcycles from fans using drugs. In addition, at least one witness stated that the group of Angels at the concert were relatively young and inexperienced and that "their leaders weren't there". ⁵ The Angels used weighted sawed-off pool cues to control the crowd, or aimed at troublemakers with their bikes at full throttle, causing serious injuries.⁴ After one of the Angels' motorcycles was knocked over, the Angels became even more aggressive, including toward the performers. Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane was knocked unconscious following an altercation with an Angel on stage, as seen in the documentary film Gimme Shelter.⁶ The Grateful Dead refused to play following the Balin incident, and left the venue.

The organizers hoped to ease tensions in the crowd by having the Stones perform early, but it was hours before the Stones took 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,^{citation needed} but in commentary on the official Gimme Shelter DVD, it is reported that Stones bassist Bill Wyman was having difficulties reaching the venue.

Death of Meredith Hunter

Meredith Hunter, an 18-year-old black man, became involved in an altercation with some Hells Angels and drew a long-barreled revolver. It is clear that Hunter drew his weapon before he was stabbed the first time. He was stabbed five times in total and kicked to death during the Rolling Stones' performance; the incident, which took place near the stage, was captured on film. The alleged 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 methamphetamine.^{citation needed}

Footage from Gimme Shelter shows that while the Rolling Stones were ending "Under My Thumb," Hunter was approaching the stage and drawing his gun; Passaro subsequently parried the gun with his left hand and stabbed Hunter in the upper back with his right. The same footage also gives a glimpse of audience members and some of the Angels on the Stones' stage at the time. This incident is detailed in Rolling Stone.⁷

The Rolling Stones had to interrupt their performance numerous times. Unaware that Hunter's stabbing was fatal, the Stones decided to continue to prevent a possible riot. Hell's Angel Sonny Barger claims he held a gun to Keith Richards and said "You keep fuckin' playing or you're dead."⁸ ⁹

There have been rumors^who? over the years that a second, unidentified assailant had inflicted the fatal wounds, and, as a result, the police considered the case still open. On May 25, 2005, however, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office 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. ¹⁰

Reactions

The Altamont concert is often contrasted with the Woodstock festival that took place four months earlier. While Woodstock represented "peace and love", Altamont came to be viewed as the end of the hippie era and the de facto conclusion of 1960s American culture: "Altamont became, whether fairly or not, a symbol for the end of the Woodstock Nation."¹¹ Future rock concerts were banned at the site.

The Grateful Dead wrote several songs 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, but "Mason's Children" was viewed as too "popular" stylistically and was consequently not included on the album. It is rumored^who? that Don McLean took moral exception to Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, allegedly referencing the Altamont incident in his song "American Pie" with the following verses: "Oh, and as I watched him on the stage / my hands were clenched in fists of rage. No angel born in hell /could break that satan's spell. And as the flames climbed high into the night, / to light the sacrificial rite / I saw Satan laughing with delight / the day the music died." McLean has never confirmed this interpretation.

References

^ Wyman, p. 352
^ Gimme Shelter
^ ^a ^b McNally, p. 344
^ ^a ^b ^c Miller, James. Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977. Simon & Schuster (1999), pp. 275-77. ISBN 0-684-80873-0.
^ Unidentified witness, possibly Paul Kantner, quoted in Negativland's "How Radio Was Done: Episode 36". Over the Edge April 20, 2007, audio stream accessed 2007-08-28.
^ Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, directors. Gimme Shelter[1]
^ Burks, John, "Rock & Roll's Worst Day: The aftermath of Altamont", Rolling Stone, 1970-02-07, URL retrieved 2007-04-18.
^ Still On The Road. In The Guardian, June 14, 2000, retrieved 2008-08-01.
^ Barger also admits to this incident in his book Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club (Harper, 2001).
^ USA TODAY, Investigators close decades old Altamont killing case
^ Mark Hamilton Lytle (2006). America's Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon. Oxford University Press, p 336. ISBN 0195174968.

Contents

Planning

Security

Death of Meredith Hunter

Reactions

References

Further reading