I was very young, maybe eighteen,when my girlfriend and I drove my VW bus from Los Angeles to the Altamont concert. Picked up a bunch of hitch hikers along the way. Had a head on collision with a drunk driver coming off the Bay Bridge into Oakland at midnight . Totally fucked up the front of the bus, but nobody hurt, bus still driveable.The afternoon and night of the concert was dark, foggy and cold. The bad vibe was everywhere. I witnessed such a spooky, scary setting . Little fires lit everywhere, Jagger singing Sympathy for the Devil and dancing around the stage in his red cape. Chaos everywhere ...fighting, overdoses. After the concert, hundreds of thousands of people walking back to their cars in the dark in complete stunned silence. There are no words to describe how fraked out everyone was. Thank God I didn't drop any Acid that night. I pity the poor people who did.
That's wild, and I know exactly what you mean about the creepy feeling. I went to the last LA Street Scene in 1985, and remeber watching the Untouchables play and the crowd was a combo of skin heads, crips, bloods, punks, vatos, you name it, and even as liquored as I was there was a serious eerie feeling in the air, and in the end there was like 3 deaths and 30 stabbings, and mayor Tom Bradley banned it forever.
Hells Angels, Cheap wine and speed, poor hippies never stood a chance in 69 in Cali, that was a witchy year here. Should have had the free concert in Detroit, with the Mc5 and stooges, their audience would have ate the angels for lunch.
@@Mike-gn4un actually by this time the angels were on the losing end esp with recruiting..and as a midwest boy whos own father was a California angel i will say detroit would pulverize an angel gang in a setting such as the stooges n such..the energy would be unstoppable
Absolutely stunning footage and audio of CSNY here. The camera panning the enormous crowd at Altamont is so good, thanks for this priceless piece of rock history.
Went to Altamont as with some buds, just out of high school and looking for a great time at a free stones concert. Got there about 11pm night before and hung out. Very weird vibe for the times. Wandered up to the stage area around daylight and we were all freaked out by the bad vibes. People were strange (as the doors would say). We left before the music started and never regretted leaving. Loved the Stones and all the other bands but just felt like it was not going to be much fun. How right we were! Sorry end to the magic that was the 60's,
Phil Gunter same "weird vibe" was at The Station right before the fire. Many in the crowd had been drinking all the way up to that point, so I've heard from people that were there. It's not a good thing in overcrowded places...with a very narrow point of escape.
So tell us more about this "weird vibe." You mean the Hell's Angels were already acting like assholes? Anything specifically? Btw, good move on deciding to leave. Gotta listen to that little voice in your head.
I got there about 430 in the morning had gone to the Fillmore the night before and saw the Dead play. I woke up on the ground with a girl and a blanket with Santana started playing. I had a good time but it was chaotic all day. I had been up closer to stage early in the day but moved back. There was not fighting and everybody was peaceful where I spent most of the day but still was very aware of the kaos going on closer to stage. I didnt noticed any weird vibe when I first arrived. Sam Cutler was going off acting like a madman and screaming at everybody once the music started however.
Winds of March Journey/Perry tribute band I was at the Station also. I was doing a job in West Warwick and my company was putting me up in hotel. I got a call on my cell and I couldn’t hear it because of the amount of people. I knew it was my buddy, and he was saying something about meeting him at a bar, which was weird because he never wanted to go out and certainly not to drink on a week night. The call dropped. So I walked outside to call him back, it was so cold that I walked over to my car and got in to stay warm. I called him back, and he said he was going out w/ his brother that was in town and wanted me to meet him, they were an hour and a half away. I figured I’m already in the car, so why not. The only downside at that point I thought was I had to be back on the job at 6, I was young. So I left go to meet them. After the night I get in my house at midnight and turn on the news Fox 25 was going live long after they were supposed to end. I grabbed my phone and immediately called my boss that I left at the Station. He answers, I breathe a sigh of relief and he said he went home after I left so he was asleep (he lived in RI) He was pissed that I called he didn’t think me ditching him was worthy of a late night call. I finally got him to turn on the TV. He says “Yeah I’m going to take tomorrow off and play with my kids, you do the same” Since the job was next door to the Station he figured there was no sense of us being around that agony. It was just going to be him working and I because the rest of our work crew split because there wasn’t enough work the next day. The next day I get a call from my regional office in NJ. My boss’s boss was pissed at me because I never checked into the hotel room and that was an offense worthy of a write up. The the big boss’s bitch at the office wanted know a fax number where she could send the form. When I told her I wasn’t at work, she blew a gasket. I kept telling her that had I stayed, I likely would have been dead. The bitch wasn’t hearing it and said I was likely going to be terminated for blowing off work, and not providing a fax number. When she said that I was like “Fuck it, okay...you do what you gotta do” and hung up. About 15 minutes later I get a call to be on a conference call. It was me, my boss, the big boss, and the big boss’s office bitch. I barely said a word and the big boss said less during that conference call because it was mostly my boss ripping the office bitch’s ass wide open. 20 minutes and she was reduced to tears in the 1st 2. I don’t know why I just typed that. RIP to the victims, 1 of which I knew however it was so packed we wouldn’t have known each was there. Thank God for T-Mobile sucking or I wouldn’t have walked out of that bar and hopes to you and anyone else that night that you are doing well.
I had no idea this and other footage even existed. I'm 62 years old and was there. Up on the hill to the left of the stage. The side the Hell's Angles road down when they arrive in a show of force. Many of us to this day had no idea how potentially explosive this event was. Most of us were too stoned to give a damn anyway. wow what flash back in time.
I was there on that same slope. All the picnic blankets were spread out on the ground. I was driving my white '64 Chevelle Malibu SS. I actually managed to drive it to our spot on that hill, from the freeway. When my wife and I saw that the freeway was shut down I turned left , traveling East, and found a 2 rut road through a cow pasture that went to a path under the freeway. It was like magic. I drove onto the grounds there to the left of the stage and parked probably 200 yards from the stage.
Did anyone notice that awesome 1970 roadrunner with the air-grabber hood in the beginning, must have been manufactured late 69, one of the first 70's to roll off the assembly line... wow
Saw CSN&Y 12-5-69 the night before Altamont in Sacramento Ca at Cal Expo.Took two girls I knew and it was a great concert with CSN coming out first to do some songs and then they introduced Neil who played Down by the River that night. Glad I missed Altamont the movie is testomony to why.
So glad to see someone captured CS&N performing, as the movie Gimme Shelter seemed to have missed them. What an amazing sound on one of my favorite songs from that band. Though not the front instrument in that song, the tube driven presence of that Hammond Organ, just so unmistakable, and so correct for the time. Too bad the overall aura of that day was so messed up in the other respects.
At 4:28 you can see one of the cameras for the movie Gimme shelter at the top of the screen. At this point they should just release all the footage from all the bands that day.
My circle of friends and I had attended Woodstock. Came home to Lodi, Calif. and our very next concert was Altamont... about a forty minute drive. Ya know, I've been to many concerts with Hells Angles in attendance and normally they've been pretty cool. Don't fuck with them and usually they won't fuck with you. Before the music even started we were walking by an old bus with Hells Angles standing on top throwing full cans of beer to people. One of them threw a beer full force and hit my friends wife square in the face. We knew it was gonna be a bad day.
I remember the Angels on top of the bus. The whole experience was horrifying. I was on the right side of the stage when the Stones played. I was 18 and there alone. I thought I’d be crushed. I was cured. My hippie days ended that night.
I was there quite a day and I really enjoyed it, saw The Dead night before at the Fillmore West than hitchhiked out to speedway when dead show got out.
Yep I was there as well, down in the dirt about 1/4 of way back from stage. I dont remembner anything about getting home from that show I was so messed up.
at 3:50 right in back of Still's left, white hair and glasses is Melvin Belli , the lawyer seen in Gimme Shelter who had a hand in arranging the whole thing
I was 32 and my wife was 19 and was 6 months pregnant. There were bad vibes that evening and when some black motorcycle gang started riding their Harley's down the slope towards the stage from where I was parked, they went right over the blankets and through the picnic preparations on their way down towards the stage. I was not high on anything and we decided to leave just about the time you could see the helicopter coming with the Stones aboard. I worried we may not make it out the way we came
I like to tell my friends that I was at the Altamont concert, but as a fetus :) My Mother was 21 at the time and about 3 months pregnant and I'm most certain 6 months later upon my birth I entered this world "high as a kite". Weeeee!
@Albert Dibari I do know more than you trust me. I've been researching this for years. And yes I've know many bikers. I grew up in a tough city. Trust me, HA, Mountain Men, here. Laconia is a short drive for me.
@Albert Dibari I don't, what would make you think so? I am also as old as you. I am referring to that day, that crew of prospects who were out of control and so much a senior Angel quit after that day a few months later. Everybody was out of control, the hippies, the HA. You know that they have some racist tendencies just like all gangs. The Mexicans don't like Blacks, Blacks don't like Mexicans, the Angels don't like Blacks. It just is. I've even said the guy stabbing Hunter wasn't to blame because all he saw was the gun. The fight was already in progress and Hunter was being beat up by others. That's why he got off in court. I also say nobody would rat out the Angels because they were afraid. Jagger had a bounty on him for years because of the way he talked. Using the Angels chapter that the Dead didn't know was a recipe for disaster. It wasn't the SF one. Just like Mafia and other people like that, I've known some shady people in my life, but you can feel safe around them if you are a respectful person (which I am to everybody). They normally don't bother anybody but their rivals.
@Albert Dibari I found it. This is your comment, "Passaro didnt see color, he saw 6 possibly dead ppl. And shots were fired" Why would I say something so definitive if you didn't? And just because an Angel said shots were fired (your new addition) why should anyone believe him? A lot of reports say the gun wasn't even loaded. Watch the film, he is raising the gun for the first time and then his arm is chopped and the knife plunged into his neck. If a shot was fired someone would have been hit as tight as that crowd was. Yes I research, (which you seem to think is slur) and unless you were in the middle of that scuffle, you are only going by hearsay. I've read court documents, witness accounts, books, and talked to people who were there. When I said your story wasn't close to the truth was because you said flatly, "shots were fired". I wouldn't be so blunt in my rebuttal if you didn't make that statement. On TH-cam you can delete or edit, but we both know what you said. Whatever, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I was just referring to your public comments.
at 3:53 behind Stills is an older , white haired chap with glasses. Melvin Belli, the famous attorney who is seen in the 'gimme shelter' movie setting the whole thing up in his SF offices.
Notice Stills singing into a hand-held mike? He said that every time he went near the edge of the stage, someone stabbed him in the foot with something like a compass point. Its was very hard to get C,S,N or Y to talk about this show.
@@lynnhenson3042 Just making an observation Lynn. Young people often don’t associate older persons having similar experiences to themselves in their youth. If you choose to insult my intelligence over that then that’s more of a reflection on you than me.
@@lynnhenson3042 Nothing to do with being insecure, just don’t appreciate trolling comments from the likes of people like you and decided to call you out over it. Mystifying to me why you would choose to insult someone over what was essentially a harmless, non judgmental comment.
Thanks for the memories. What an amazing event, although having Hells Angels terrorizing us in the front was quite frightening. Other than that it was fantastic! Thanks again! I’d love to hear from others who were there. Blessings!
Magically, again, I drove under the freeway and back across the same little pasture that led us there and back onto the freeway traveling West. Pretty much missed all the music and the bad stuff going on there, but we saw what we came to see anyway. We had never seen 1/4 million people in one place before.
@@teleguy5699probably Neil young saying no as he is very finicky . Just like Woodstock: he didn’t want his part to even be filmed. To see them in a strange concert, on TH-cam go to “ celebration at Big Sur”
It's amazing to me that after what took place during the Jefferson Airplane set with Marty Balin getting knocked out by a Hells Angel, CSN&Y still decided to play.
@arne berg I think your mixing Sam up with scottish comedien IVOR CUTLER. lol Sam went on to become the tour manager for the Grateful Dead not long after Altamont.
It’s so weird how people forget the past so easily. I mean, this was fifty years ago, you’d think people from this time in history would be on here commiserating about what happened that fateful day? Or don’t they want to remember? Due to the violence. I was born in 1970 and this seems so other worldly to me. Like How many people have ever witnessed anything like this in history
Please forgive what I wrote earlier, the event is well remembered in this comment section. I almost feel like I was there, after reading some of these comments...
has anyone ever seen more footage or even a recording of the flying burritto brothers other than six days on the road, that is the onky clip i have ever seen of them from that show, any help i thank you
Un sueño termino allí eso era estar todos juntos haciendo eso q hacíamos muy bien q era escuchar buena música disfrutar de lo q te combidavan por ahí algunos le pegó mal q lastima por ellos Dave brillará siempre fue hace mucho tiempo by
The Angel stabbing Hunter is so clear I don't know how anyone could not see the knife in his hand as he stabs and keeps stabbing again and again. A giant horror show that I wouldn't be caught dead going to. Any time you have a drug fueled mob like this bad things will happen.
george fedorcik No one disputes that he was stabbed. He had a freaking gun and was pointing it at people. I'm no fan of the Angels, but they did the right thing in that instance.
gotta luv the 60's ! Truly I be so glad that I was alive then, was like, 15 in 1969, so was feeling the vibe , for sure, magical , yup, I hope to get to the dawn befor I die, ... dig it, groove on, be...
Seen concerts like this all the time in The 7 Stars pub on Great Homer Street Liverpool in the 1980's...the Altmont Concert was an open ticket for a whole range of audience participants whereas the 7 Stars was a disciplined selection of the top fucked up local lads who didn't know that Elvis was the King...
'Who wants to fight' you can hear someone ask near the beginning of the recording...'we do' you can hear 200 Angels scream in their impossibly demented minds.
I've seen very short outdoor stages like this in Puerto Rico (1995), but there's always a barrier between the crowd and the stage. There's always fencing, namely because of overcrowding. I've seen idiots oversell the GA tickets. It takes forever to get from one side of the stadium to the other. One was the Eagles with Melissa Etheridge in one of the big outdoor places near Chicago, back when she opened. Every imaginable space on that lawn was sold. It was WAY too crowded. That's thing one of any concert disaster. Badly planned is #2. And you never know what a crowd is going to do or when. Unpredictable. They normally stampede for the door they came in at.
Yep. In fact, for a long time they would never talk about their playing there because of all the bad vibes. I wish they also had footage from when Santana played. In fact, they opened the festival.
For a long time CSNY would never talk about their appearance at Altamont. If anyone brought it up to them they would try to change the subject. Btw. When the 25th anniversary of Woodstock was being celebrated, the LA Times did a feature on the fact that 1994 was also the 25th anniversary of Altamont and they had interviews with many of the people were involved including Melvin Belli and Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane and Belli had the nerve to say he had an enjoyable experience there and even thought about staging an anniversary festival. Balin, who was knocked out by the Angels when he tried to break up a fight during the Airplane's performance, pretty much shot it down by saying that the only ones who would show up would be the skinheads and the stompers.
+Brian Washington I know, they were really too good for what they were doing there. The only thing I can think is because they may have been offered some good $$$$$, what other reason? If all of those who attended paid to get into that concert; then there would be money to be made, no doubt. However, there's no way with a humongous crowd like that, people walking and coming from all over creation would there be any kind of organized system of currency going into the coiffers. Especially the Hell's Angels they wouldn't pay for shit and would riot over just about anything. All I can say is that it was as close to anarchy as you could get, fights, riots, murders, you name it they had it. And I imagine that there were a lot of protesters and other malcontents thrown in jail that weekend. Notice that none of the members of the Beatles wouldn't step within a foot of that place, with CSNY agreeing to play there, it's a miracle that none of them got injured, really they were too nice for that thicketed hell-hole.
They are using the Dead's psychedelic/tie dye painted Fender amps....cool. The gear got there even if the band didn't. Good job by the Dead's roadies to get their gear in and out of there. I believe the Stones were using their giant Ampeg amps that they used in 1969....that must have been fun loading those SVTs in there.
Oh the Dead were there, they were hiding in their bus and refused to play after witnessing the beating of lead singer of The Jefferson Airplane, Marty Balin, by the HA.
Richard Rybinski, the Ampegs failed during the first Oakland show 11/9. The Dead’s crew fetched them across the bay and they were used for the second show. That equipment was used for the rest of the tour.
The only thing that return on my mind..how is possible for the artists or groups playing with so many peoples on the stage...a stage 70 cm high..has been really a madness...without talking to the angels arrived to the stage with their bikes trought thousand and thousand of people...as nothing...other madness..too much people top stoned for understanding the dangers...the list is long....
Some of this clearer footage is from the Gimmie Shelter film during the what we've been led to believe during the Flying Burrito Brothers and Jefferson Airplane set. Although after listening to the live Altamont audio on other you tube videos I can see the film and film audio of the movie is greatly out of context and severely altered. Great film though it is. Certainly not the way the Gimme Shelter DVD portrays things.
The Angels were there largely because The Stones and alot of the other musical artists of that era, wanted to be associated with these "Renegades". The Dead used them for security before and they recommended the Angels for Altamont. How gutless of them to back out of concert because of violence & Marty Balin getting knocked out by Angels.To easy to blame everything on Angels. The Stones deserve alot of blame for being determine to stage this event, despite all the fore told problems that existed
I was up on the hill, and found a video with a picture of me in it, sad and tragic. But good vibs and love can never be taken from us,who know the truth, of Love.
I'm surprised Crosby didn't have a gun on him even in those days he had a collection of guns and used to carry Just as he does today He did some time for illegally carrying in the early 1980s
+Littlebit English Really? Is that right? Well, that's why nobody messed with those guys, he doesn't seem like the type who carry them illegally though. Oh, and yes, this was a free concert, good heavens. Why would CSNY want to go put on a free concert for that crazy crowd? I guess they were really nice people in order to do that.
"One sat beside Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Stephen Stills as he performed and stabbed him in the leg with a sharpened bicycle spoke every time Stills stepped forward to sing. Streams of blood soaked his trousers." from the Daily Mail - any truth to it?
This weirds me out, because I was at this concert and I remember CS&N playing acoustic guitars at twilight without Neil Young. I dunno....this just seems not right to me. Most of the audience footage looks correct though. I was pretty close and not on acid.
ah... that might explain it. Maybe I got the twilight thing from watching Woodstock. It's been sooo long ago. It makes sense though, cause the Stones came on about twilight. We left about halfway thru the Stones set....to avoid the massive rush. Were you there too ????
+Dave Furgess Yeah, I know what you're talkin' about. I was in Hawaii when Woodstock happened. The closest I got was the LIFE magazine commemorative issue (which I still have). Lot's of people were at Altamont. KSAN kept announcing it and prompting people to go, go, go. We went the night before and slept in sleeping bags on the ground. In the morning, people mashed the fence down and just started pouring in. The night before was pretty wild....lots of bon-fires, dancing and general stoned revelry.
+Carl Rudd Interesting because You're the first person that I read were at Altamont. The history isn't clear about that for example you wrote about the night before It was at began of winter I think It was so cold.. I would like to know more...for example About Jefferson Airplane Performance....The film makes me thought that Marty Balin was knock and after that stops the concert but that's not really true I read the set list and The airplane did the complete performance
I was at the Altamont Speedway free concert and remember CSN at some point, but I believe Neil Young was not there. How can I NOT remember the Airplane being there; I wasn't even stoned. The Angels were there as "SECURITY", as in many places, and not just in California The ANGELS feel vilified; they do not feel responsibility for the violence at Altamont. How can any promoter rely on his "OUTLAW" security guards not to go overboard. I couldn't find the bus, so hitched back to SF.
@ Jay...you're right but that's how things were done in those days (I lived it), that was the mind set. In those days it all made perfect sense...let's throw a free concert any where we can, no one in charge of any traffic, probably no insurance of any kind, we'll hire the Hells Angels in case anybody gets roudy, the stage will be low so anybody can climb on it, hey...let's do it! Today something like this would never happen, not in a million years.
No it wouldn,t because of all the rules and fear of lawsuits or the health and safety police stepping in because someone might get hurt. It would require alot of money and about a year of paperwork.
I was very young, maybe eighteen,when my girlfriend and I drove my VW bus from Los Angeles to the Altamont concert. Picked up a bunch of hitch hikers along the way. Had a head on collision with a drunk driver coming off the Bay Bridge into Oakland at midnight . Totally fucked up the front of the bus, but nobody hurt, bus still driveable.The afternoon and night of the concert was dark, foggy and cold. The bad vibe was everywhere. I witnessed such a spooky, scary setting . Little fires lit everywhere, Jagger singing Sympathy for the Devil and dancing around the stage in his red cape. Chaos everywhere ...fighting, overdoses. After the concert, hundreds of thousands of people walking back to their cars in the dark in complete stunned silence. There are no words to describe how fraked out everyone was. Thank God I didn't drop any Acid that night. I pity the poor people who did.
Gary Abelov Unreal. Thanks for the first hand account. Absolutely amazing.
That's wild, and I know exactly what you mean about the creepy feeling. I went to the last LA Street Scene in 1985, and remeber watching the Untouchables play and the crowd was a combo of skin heads, crips, bloods, punks, vatos, you name it, and even as liquored as I was there was a serious eerie feeling in the air, and in the end there was like 3 deaths and 30 stabbings, and mayor Tom Bradley banned it forever.
Maybe eighteen?? It was December 6, 1969. Start with your birth date and do the math.
We now know that we can thank Leary, Kesey, SRI Institute & CIA (Operation Chaos) behind those 'bad vibes'.
@@larryn2682 What a fucking douche you are.
Hells Angels, Cheap wine and speed, poor hippies never stood a chance in 69 in Cali, that was a witchy year here. Should have had the free concert in Detroit, with the Mc5 and stooges, their audience would have ate the angels for lunch.
hammer44head 😆😆👍
Got that right
Mc5and the stooges for sure woulda kicked serious ass!!!!
Bullshit, the audience in Detroit would have been on the receiving end just like in Altamont
@@Mike-gn4un actually by this time the angels were on the losing end esp with recruiting..and as a midwest boy whos own father was a California angel i will say detroit would pulverize an angel gang in a setting such as the stooges n such..the energy would be unstoppable
Absolutely stunning footage and audio of CSNY here. The camera panning the enormous crowd at Altamont is so good, thanks for this priceless piece of rock history.
Went to Altamont as with some buds, just out of high school and looking for a great time at a free stones concert. Got there about 11pm night before and hung out. Very weird vibe for the times. Wandered up to the stage area around daylight and we were all freaked out by the bad vibes. People were strange (as the doors would say). We left before the music started and never regretted leaving. Loved the Stones and all the other bands but just felt like it was not going to be much fun. How right we were! Sorry end to the magic that was the 60's,
Phil Gunter same "weird vibe" was at The Station right before the fire. Many in the crowd had been drinking all the way up to that point, so I've heard from people that were there. It's not a good thing in overcrowded places...with a very narrow point of escape.
So tell us more about this "weird vibe." You mean the Hell's Angels were already acting like assholes? Anything specifically?
Btw, good move on deciding to leave. Gotta listen to that little voice in your head.
I got there about 430 in the morning had gone to the Fillmore the night before and saw the Dead play. I woke up on the ground with a girl and a blanket with Santana started playing. I had a good time but it was chaotic all day. I had been up closer to stage early in the day but moved back. There was not fighting and everybody was peaceful where I spent most of the day but still was very aware of the kaos going on closer to stage. I didnt noticed any weird vibe when I first arrived. Sam Cutler was going off acting like a madman and screaming at everybody once the music started however.
Winds of March Journey/Perry tribute band I was at the Station also. I was doing a job in West Warwick and my company was putting me up in hotel. I got a call on my cell and I couldn’t hear it because of the amount of people. I knew it was my buddy, and he was saying something about meeting him at a bar, which was weird because he never wanted to go out and certainly not to drink on a week night. The call dropped.
So I walked outside to call him back, it was so cold that I walked over to my car and got in to stay warm.
I called him back, and he said he was going out w/ his brother that was in town and wanted me to meet him, they were an hour and a half away. I figured I’m already in the car, so why not. The only downside at that point I thought was I had to be back on the job at 6, I was young. So I left go to meet them.
After the night I get in my house at midnight and turn on the news Fox 25 was going live long after they were supposed to end. I grabbed my phone and immediately called my boss that I left at the Station. He answers, I breathe a sigh of relief and he said he went home after I left so he was asleep (he lived in RI) He was pissed that I called he didn’t think me ditching him was worthy of a late night call. I finally got him to turn on the TV. He says “Yeah I’m going to take tomorrow off and play with my kids, you do the same” Since the job was next door to the Station he figured there was no sense of us being around that agony. It was just going to be him working and I because the rest of our work crew split because there wasn’t enough work the next day.
The next day I get a call from my regional office in NJ. My boss’s boss was pissed at me because I never checked into the hotel room and that was an offense worthy of a write up. The the big boss’s bitch at the office wanted know a fax number where she could send the form. When I told her I wasn’t at work, she blew a gasket. I kept telling her that had I stayed, I likely would have been dead. The bitch wasn’t hearing it and said I was likely going to be terminated for blowing off work, and not providing a fax number. When she said that I was like “Fuck it, okay...you do what you gotta do” and hung up.
About 15 minutes later I get a call to be on a conference call. It was me, my boss, the big boss, and the big boss’s office bitch. I barely said a word and the big boss said less during that conference call because it was mostly my boss ripping the office bitch’s ass wide open. 20 minutes and she was reduced to tears in the 1st 2.
I don’t know why I just typed that. RIP to the victims, 1 of which I knew however it was so packed we wouldn’t have known each was there. Thank God for T-Mobile sucking or I wouldn’t have walked out of that bar and hopes to you and anyone else that night that you are doing well.
I've had those vibes before at different large event. Part of us humans I believe is we can sense foreboding.
I had no idea this and other footage even existed. I'm 62 years old and was there. Up on the hill to the left of the stage. The side the Hell's Angles road down when they arrive in a show of force. Many of us to this day had no idea how potentially explosive this event was. Most of us were too stoned to give a damn anyway. wow what flash back in time.
I was there on that same slope. All the picnic blankets were spread out on the ground. I was driving my white '64 Chevelle Malibu SS. I actually managed to drive it to our spot on that hill, from the freeway. When my wife and I saw that the freeway was shut down I turned left , traveling East, and found a 2 rut road through a cow pasture that went to a path under the freeway. It was like magic. I drove onto the grounds there to the left of the stage and parked probably 200 yards from the stage.
Sounds like you had a great time!!, wish l could have a beer with you talking about that,real cool!!!
All of those cars-trucks at Altamont are now CLASSICS!!
I noticed a 69 roadrunner!!! ✌️
They were good cars
Idk if it's just me but they don't make cars to look as cool as they used to
@@stevencastillo8914 Yeah they look hideous now,69 was the peak of autos really,it all went downhill after that a bit like Gimme Shelter ....
and all those beautiful young girls now weight 300 lbs with no teeth
Did anyone notice that awesome 1970 roadrunner with the air-grabber hood in the beginning, must have been manufactured late 69, one of the first 70's to roll off the assembly line... wow
You'd better believe that!!!!!!!!!! That sunlit yellow one? In the Woodstockfilm, I saw a '69 Charger.
Now that's the right machine to take to a Rolling Stones concert!
Thanks for sharing the footage!! Also, thanks to all of you that were there leaving comments about your experiences!
Saw CSN&Y 12-5-69 the night before Altamont in Sacramento Ca at Cal Expo.Took two girls I knew and it was a great concert with CSN coming out first to do some songs and then they introduced Neil who played Down by the River that night. Glad I missed Altamont the movie
is testomony to why.
Most had a good time and weren't even aware of the violence, it's been overblown over the years...
So glad to see someone captured CS&N performing, as the movie Gimme Shelter seemed to have missed them. What an amazing sound on one of my favorite songs from that band. Though not the front instrument in that song, the tube driven presence of that Hammond Organ, just so unmistakable, and so correct for the time. Too bad the overall aura of that day was so messed up in the other respects.
Both CSNY and Santana refused to allow their performances to be used in the movie and have rarely spoken of it ever since.
@@petemartin295 I hadn't known that before.
So cool to see independent footage of shows like this. Thanks for posting.
Half of that is in Gimme Shelter...
At 4:28 you can see one of the cameras for the movie Gimme shelter at the top of the screen. At this point they should just release all the footage from all the bands that day.
They really sounded great here.
What a huge mistake hiring the hells angels for security.
what a mess that stage was...wow...great footage...thank you
Man csny was such a awesome band, idk why I never payed much attention to them until recently
dude same
My circle of friends and I had attended Woodstock. Came home to Lodi, Calif. and our very next concert was Altamont... about a forty minute drive. Ya know, I've been to many concerts with Hells Angles in attendance and normally they've been pretty cool. Don't fuck with them and usually they won't fuck with you. Before the music even started we were walking by an old bus with Hells Angles standing on top throwing full cans of beer to people. One of them threw a beer full force and hit my friends wife square in the face. We knew it was gonna be a bad day.
Those goons should never have been hired as 'security'.
I remember the Angels on top of the bus. The whole experience was horrifying. I was on the right side of the stage when the Stones played. I was 18 and there alone. I thought I’d be crushed. I was cured. My hippie days ended that night.
A pregnant woman picnicking got hit by a can and had to go to hospital as sustained a very serious head injury I heard on a podcast about this concert
I was there quite a day and I really enjoyed it, saw The Dead night before at the Fillmore West than hitchhiked out to speedway when dead show got out.
Nice
Yep I was there as well, down in the dirt about 1/4 of way back from stage. I dont remembner anything about getting home from that show I was so messed up.
I wanted to go to this but because I had just turned one years old a few days before my mom wouldn't let me go. I haven't spoken to her since.
Damn why were you such a baby. You could have been part of history. Hahah. Jk
I was 6
Bad mommy
at 3:50 right in back of Still's left, white hair and glasses is Melvin Belli , the lawyer seen in Gimme Shelter who had a hand in arranging the whole thing
I was 32 and my wife was 19 and was 6 months pregnant. There were bad vibes that evening and when some black motorcycle gang started riding their Harley's down the slope towards the stage from where I was parked, they went right over the blankets and through the picnic preparations on their way down towards the stage. I was not high on anything and we decided to leave just about the time you could see the helicopter coming with the Stones aboard. I worried we may not make it out the way we came
Uhh black motor cycle gang? Pretty sure there were never any black ppl in the hell's angels
I like to tell my friends that I was at the Altamont concert, but as a fetus :) My Mother was 21 at the time and about 3 months pregnant and I'm most certain 6 months later upon my birth I entered this world "high as a kite". Weeeee!
😂😂😂
Hire the hells angles for security with sawed-off pool sticks:What could possibly go wrong??
@Albert Dibari Your story is not even close to accurate.
@Albert Dibari I do know more than you trust me. I've been researching this for years. And yes I've know many bikers. I grew up in a tough city. Trust me, HA, Mountain Men, here. Laconia is a short drive for me.
@Albert Dibari You tell me shots were fired and you are the expert? GTFO!
@Albert Dibari I don't, what would make you think so? I am also as old as you. I am referring to that day, that crew of prospects who were out of control and so much a senior Angel quit after that day a few months later. Everybody was out of control, the hippies, the HA. You know that they have some racist tendencies just like all gangs. The Mexicans don't like Blacks, Blacks don't like Mexicans, the Angels don't like Blacks. It just is. I've even said the guy stabbing Hunter wasn't to blame because all he saw was the gun. The fight was already in progress and Hunter was being beat up by others. That's why he got off in court. I also say nobody would rat out the Angels because they were afraid. Jagger had a bounty on him for years because of the way he talked. Using the Angels chapter that the Dead didn't know was a recipe for disaster. It wasn't the SF one. Just like Mafia and other people like that, I've known some shady people in my life, but you can feel safe around them if you are a respectful person (which I am to everybody). They normally don't bother anybody but their rivals.
@Albert Dibari I found it. This is your comment, "Passaro didnt see color, he saw 6 possibly dead ppl. And shots were fired"
Why would I say something so definitive if you didn't? And just because an Angel said shots were fired (your new addition) why should anyone believe him? A lot of reports say the gun wasn't even loaded. Watch the film, he is raising the gun for the first time and then his arm is chopped and the knife plunged into his neck. If a shot was fired someone would have been hit as tight as that crowd was. Yes I research, (which you seem to think is slur) and unless you were in the middle of that scuffle, you are only going by hearsay. I've read court documents, witness accounts, books, and talked to people who were there. When I said your story wasn't close to the truth was because you said flatly, "shots were fired". I wouldn't be so blunt in my rebuttal if you didn't make that statement. On TH-cam you can delete or edit, but we both know what you said. Whatever, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I was just referring to your public comments.
at 3:53 behind Stills is an older , white haired chap with glasses. Melvin Belli, the famous attorney who is seen in the 'gimme shelter' movie setting the whole thing up in his SF offices.
He was also Jack Ruby's lawyer. He advised him to plead insanity. A defense that almost never works in Texas. Nice move Mel.
they serve the clients !! didn't know that about Ruby
mike patrick he was also Jim and Tammy Baker's atty
Dig the (at the time) new Road Runner in the very beginning...sweet
Notice Stills singing into a hand-held mike? He said that every time he went near the edge of the stage, someone stabbed him in the foot with something like a compass point. Its was very hard to get C,S,N or Y to talk about this show.
@susaninmaine yeah, speaking @1:20 is sam cutler who was there, both micks and charlie were still at the pier at this point
Amazing to think these kids in the audience would be in their late 60’s and early 70’s now
@@lynnhenson3042
Just making an observation Lynn.
Young people often don’t associate older persons having similar experiences to themselves in their youth.
If you choose to insult my intelligence over that then that’s more of a reflection on you than me.
@@lynnhenson3042 Nothing to do with being insecure, just don’t appreciate trolling comments from the likes of people like you and decided to call you out over it.
Mystifying to me why you would choose to insult someone over what was essentially a harmless, non judgmental comment.
I saw David Crosby in April 1989 at The Boathouse in Norfolk, VA.
mkl62 AND??
WOW! Just WOW!
I was there that day. A car ran over those 2 people while they were in their sleeping bag.
A lot happened that has never been said.
Jeffery Smith. Well either way if both lived or died doing the natural! 😉✌
And was hit and run.
@@zampieritto prolly never knew
The most interesting concert of all time!
Thanks for the memories. What an amazing event, although having Hells Angels terrorizing us in the front was quite frightening. Other than that it was fantastic!
Thanks again! I’d love to hear from others who were there. Blessings!
Thats my voice...saying YEAH...OUTSTANDING....then edit to something else...@ 1 minute and 30 seconds....
That’s outstanding!
little remembered is that CSNY also performed at UCLA That same evening.
Magically, again, I drove under the freeway and back across the same little pasture that led us there and back onto the freeway traveling West.
Pretty much missed all the music and the bad stuff going on there, but we saw what we came to see anyway. We had never seen 1/4 million people in one place before.
@soulsurfseeker When i got this footage it was mute so i took a song off my bootleg album and put it to the video!!Thanks for checking it out !!
Thank God someone got this on footage, thanks for sharing
Death of the Woodstock Nation. I was there
Nah, that's media hype, it wasn't all that much different than Woodstock...
After all these years I never knew CSNY played at that show. I wonder why none of the footage of their set wasn't in the movie?
Them and Santana wouldn't let them be in the movie because of the day's events.
@@teleguy5699probably Neil young saying no as he is very finicky . Just like Woodstock: he didn’t want his part to even be filmed. To see them in a strange concert, on TH-cam go to “ celebration at Big Sur”
I was there and do not remember them!! Not kidding.
Hey groovy man
Because the audio and video are different recordings. Videos are most probably silent, and audio is from an audience recording.
It's amazing to me that after what took place during the Jefferson Airplane set with Marty Balin getting knocked out by a Hells Angel, CSN&Y still decided to play.
Sound system is not the greatest and again: who
Mick Jagger didn't do the introduction it was another Brit not in the band by the name of Sam Cutler, who was the Stones' tour manager.
Yea, and he Cutler, was involved in Magical Mysteri Tour as well ---
@arne berg I think your mixing Sam up with scottish comedien IVOR CUTLER. lol Sam went on to become the tour manager for the Grateful Dead not long after Altamont.
It’s so weird how people forget the past so easily. I mean, this was fifty years ago, you’d think people from this time in history would be on here commiserating about what happened that fateful day? Or don’t they want to remember? Due to the violence. I was born in 1970 and this seems so other worldly to me. Like How many people have ever witnessed anything like this in history
Please forgive what I wrote earlier, the event is well remembered in this comment section. I almost feel like I was there, after reading some of these comments...
has anyone ever seen more footage or even a recording of the flying burritto brothers other than six days on the road, that is the onky clip i have ever seen of them from that show, any help i thank you
Man! Now that is a lot of crazy ass Hippies!!!
Un sueño termino allí eso era estar todos juntos haciendo eso q hacíamos muy bien q era escuchar buena música disfrutar de lo q te combidavan por ahí algunos le pegó mal q lastima por ellos Dave brillará siempre fue hace mucho tiempo by
The Angel stabbing Hunter is so clear I don't know how anyone could not see the knife in his hand as he stabs and keeps stabbing again and again. A giant horror show that I wouldn't be caught dead going to. Any time you have a drug fueled mob like this bad things will happen.
george fedorcik No one disputes that he was stabbed. He had a freaking gun and was pointing it at people. I'm no fan of the Angels, but they did the right thing in that instance.
So what? Out of 300,000 people, one stabbing isn't all that shocking, especially when the Meth freak is stealing beer and waving a gun around...
BTW, miss you brother... 😇
They should of made the stage lower. Maybe underground. We drove up from Los Gatos and saw that it was not going to end well.
Insanely low stage! 3 feet at best.
gotta luv the 60's ! Truly I be so glad that I was alive then, was like, 15 in 1969, so was feeling the vibe , for sure, magical , yup, I hope to get to the dawn befor I die, ... dig it, groove on, be...
cool thanks for posting
A beautifull generation
Seen concerts like this all the time in The 7 Stars pub on Great Homer Street Liverpool in the 1980's...the Altmont Concert was an open ticket for a whole range of audience participants whereas the 7 Stars was a disciplined selection of the top fucked up local lads who didn't know that Elvis was the King...
"This is weird man, their beating up on musician's and shit-we don't want to be here ..."
Thank you.
'Who wants to fight' you can hear someone ask near the beginning of the recording...'we do' you can hear 200 Angels scream in their impossibly demented minds.
I would too if some freak was messing with my bike...
Second live performance, you can tell the difference in later performances
Please post more soundbites you have from csn&y performance at altamont! :)
There has never been a happy time in the history of human beings on this planet. Ever.
Including this video.
.
I've seen very short outdoor stages like this in Puerto Rico (1995), but there's always a barrier between the crowd and the stage. There's always fencing, namely because of overcrowding.
I've seen idiots oversell the GA tickets. It takes forever to get from one side of the stadium to the other. One was the Eagles with Melissa Etheridge in one of the big outdoor places near Chicago, back when she opened. Every imaginable space on that lawn was sold. It was WAY too crowded.
That's thing one of any concert disaster. Badly planned is #2. And you never know what a crowd is going to do or when. Unpredictable. They normally stampede for the door they came in at.
My buddy was the one pushing the motorcycles over. So he says. At least he doesn't claim to be in the Zapruder clip anymore.
Yep. In fact, for a long time they would never talk about their playing there because of all the bad vibes. I wish they also had footage from when Santana played. In fact, they opened the festival.
Saw him onstage with the Stones 6 years later...
There is footage of Santana playing on YT.
That's a pretty hot rendition of "Long Time Gone"! I wonder who's playing the Hammond organ. Is it from Altamont itself?
That's Melvin Belli behind Stills at 3:52 . How about that 70 Roadrunner at 1:09 ?
"'Oos fightin' and whu' faw?"
😂😂😂😂
Yes.
man, I would definitely like to be there, I'll make time go back, There's a girl in a brown leather jacket I was going to dance with her
For a long time CSNY would never talk about their appearance at Altamont. If anyone brought it up to them they would try to change the subject.
Btw. When the 25th anniversary of Woodstock was being celebrated, the LA Times did a feature on the fact that 1994 was also the 25th anniversary of Altamont and they had interviews with many of the people were involved including Melvin Belli and Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane and Belli had the nerve to say he had an enjoyable experience there and even thought about staging an anniversary festival. Balin, who was knocked out by the Angels when he tried to break up a fight during the Airplane's performance, pretty much shot it down by saying that the only ones who would show up would be the skinheads and the stompers.
+Brian Washington I know, they were really too good for what they were doing there. The only thing I can think is because they may have been offered some good $$$$$, what other reason? If all of those who attended paid to get into that concert; then there would be money to be made, no doubt. However, there's no way with a humongous crowd like that, people walking and coming from all over creation would there be any kind of organized system of currency going into the coiffers. Especially the Hell's Angels they wouldn't pay for shit and would riot over just about anything. All I can say is that it was as close to anarchy as you could get, fights, riots, murders, you name it they had it. And I imagine that there were a lot of protesters and other malcontents thrown in jail that weekend. Notice that none of the members of the Beatles wouldn't step within a foot of that place, with CSNY agreeing to play there, it's a miracle that none of them got injured, really they were too nice for that thicketed hell-hole.
I did not know that.they should have been in the movie
Brian Washingtzon
zephyr
oh really marty was waiting for the reunion I swear in a video
They are using the Dead's psychedelic/tie dye painted Fender amps....cool. The gear got there even if the band didn't. Good job by the Dead's roadies to get their gear in and out of there. I believe the Stones were using their giant Ampeg amps that they used in 1969....that must have been fun loading those SVTs in there.
Oh the Dead were there, they were hiding in their bus and refused to play after witnessing the beating of lead singer of The Jefferson Airplane, Marty Balin, by the HA.
Richard Rybinski, the Ampegs failed during the first Oakland show 11/9. The Dead’s crew fetched them across the bay and they were used for the second show. That equipment was used for the rest of the tour.
WHO DO YOU THINK....WAS ME......THE ANGELS WERE GOING NUTS...AND PEOPLE WERE CRAMMING UP FORWARD LIKE SARDINES.
Long time gone....ode to Bobby Kennedy
Yes
The only thing that return on my mind..how is possible for the artists or groups playing with so many peoples on the stage...a stage 70 cm high..has been really a madness...without talking to the angels arrived to the stage with their bikes trought thousand and thousand of people...as nothing...other madness..too much people top stoned for understanding the dangers...the list is long....
Watching this video I think the same thing looked like Stills was on the far end and the rest on the other end.
Some of this clearer footage is from the Gimmie Shelter film during the what we've been led to believe during the Flying Burrito Brothers and Jefferson Airplane set. Although after listening to the live Altamont audio on other you tube videos I can see the film and film audio of the movie is greatly out of context and severely altered. Great film though it is. Certainly not the way the Gimme Shelter DVD portrays things.
The Angels were there largely because The Stones and alot of the other musical artists of that era, wanted to be associated with these "Renegades". The Dead used them for security before and they recommended the Angels for Altamont. How gutless of them to back out of concert because of violence & Marty Balin getting knocked out by Angels.To easy to blame everything on Angels. The Stones deserve alot of blame for being determine to stage this event, despite all the fore told problems that existed
An absolute shambles
No man I was way too stoned to remember or think of something that smart lol
Do you have the audio recording of this one???
Can you upload¡
Please!
Stills is an amazing writer and performer but he sounds like a wounded Woody Woodpecker here several times during song.
People, who's fight and-a what for?
The sawp keeps growing
That is Sam cutler doing the introduction
I was rushed to the hospital with bad vibes at this fucking concert. Tragic.
I was up on the hill, and found a video with a picture of me in it, sad and tragic.
But good vibs and love can never be taken from us,who know the truth, of Love.
Is that Fuzzy Samuels on bass in the video?
Try pulling this concert off in East Cleveland or Youngstown or Detroit. 2 seconds of this.
These people would have been down in 2 minutes. Mafia territory.
7:21 Is that Miss Mercy from the GTO's ?
Jagger flew in attitude.
Where’s Sonny Barger ?
Wasn't it Jagger who hired the Hell's Angels for security? And then he's asking who's fighting and why as if he's shocked at what transpired?
I'm surprised Crosby didn't have a gun on him even in those days he had a collection of guns and used to carry Just as he does today He did some time for illegally carrying in the early 1980s
+Littlebit English Really? Is that right? Well, that's why nobody messed with those guys, he doesn't seem like the type who carry them illegally though. Oh, and yes, this was a free concert, good heavens. Why would CSNY want to go put on a free concert for that crazy crowd? I guess they were really nice people in order to do that.
Who's fighting and a what for?
"One sat beside Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Stephen Stills as he performed and stabbed him in the leg with a sharpened bicycle spoke every time Stills stepped forward to sing. Streams of blood soaked his trousers." from the Daily Mail - any truth to it?
This weirds me out, because I was at this concert and I remember CS&N playing acoustic guitars at twilight without Neil Young. I dunno....this just seems not right to me. Most of the audience footage looks correct though. I was pretty close and not on acid.
Carl Rudd Young was definitely at Altamont. They played both acoustic and electric.
ah... that might explain it. Maybe I got the twilight thing from watching Woodstock. It's been sooo long ago. It makes sense though, cause the Stones came on about twilight. We left about halfway thru the Stones set....to avoid the massive rush. Were you there too ????
+Carl Rudd Carl you are the first person i have ever seen who admits to being at Altamont, as opposed to 5 billion who say they were at Woodstack
+Dave Furgess Yeah, I know what you're talkin' about. I was in Hawaii when Woodstock happened. The closest I got was the LIFE magazine commemorative issue (which I still have). Lot's of people were at Altamont. KSAN kept announcing it and prompting people to go, go, go. We went the night before and slept in sleeping bags on the ground. In the morning, people mashed the fence down and just started pouring in. The night before was pretty wild....lots of bon-fires, dancing and general stoned revelry.
+Carl Rudd Interesting because You're the first person that I read were at Altamont.
The history isn't clear about that for example you wrote about the night before It was at began of winter I think It was so cold.. I would like to know more...for example About Jefferson Airplane Performance....The film makes me thought that Marty Balin was knock and after that stops the concert but that's not really true I read the set list and The airplane did the complete performance
Wow never knew CSNY played....hmmm1970 they were almost as big as the Beatles
James Mack well it was 1969 okay?
They just started to become big after Woodstock and being on the Dick Cavett show. I remember watching them that night right after Woodstock.
@@teleguy5699 they were huge in 70...4 way street,Ohio
@@jamesmack3314 True, but like Mo Mo said, this was still'69 and they were on the cusp of breaking out. Ohio wasn't released until Sept '70.
Hell angel's were like MICK JAGGER!! OH A BITCH PARTY!! HUH?? Then all hell breaks loose. 😂 lol!!
I was at the Altamont Speedway free concert and remember CSN at some point, but I believe Neil Young was not there. How can I NOT remember the Airplane being there; I wasn't even stoned.
The Angels were there as "SECURITY", as in many places, and not just in California
The ANGELS feel vilified; they do not feel responsibility for the violence at Altamont.
How can any promoter rely on his "OUTLAW" security guards not to go overboard.
I couldn't find the bus, so hitched back to SF.
Definitely CSNY. Neil's guitar very audible on this clip.
How much of the fighting involved alcohol I'd dare to say nearly all of it. Yet this is the only universally legalized drug.
Poorly planned concert, SHould have never been allowed to occur in such a hurry,
You are so right. The stage was 3 feet tall and its was on the bottom of a hill. This concert was a disaster.
@ Jay...you're right but that's how things were done in those days (I lived it), that was the mind set. In those days it all made perfect sense...let's throw a free concert any where we can, no one in charge of any traffic, probably no insurance of any kind, we'll hire the Hells Angels in case anybody gets roudy, the stage will be low so anybody can climb on it, hey...let's do it! Today something like this would never happen, not in a million years.
No it wouldn,t because of all the rules and fear of lawsuits or the health and safety police stepping in because someone might get hurt. It would require alot of money and about a year of paperwork.
eight inches not enough bathrooms or medical help. Great idea.
And EIGHT MILES from where the car is? Yeah. You get what you pay for.