Altamont Free Concert -1969 (site)

USA / California / Tracy /
 interesting place, historical layer / disappeared object

The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was an infamous rock concert held on Saturday, December 6, 1969. Approximately 300,000 people attended the concert.

The event is best known for having been marred by considerable 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. Four births were reported during the event. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen and then abandoned, and there was extensive property damage.

This is where the stage was set up, 80 feet wide, 30 feet deep, three feet high, and facing south by southeast toward a low natural amphitheater.

There was no shade, no water, and for the public's convenience there were just 17 porta-potties: six to the right of the stage and eleven to the left.

The opening act, kicking things off at around 1:00 p.m. was the Jefferson Airplane.
"You need people like the Angels to keep people in line," Grace Slick said on stage -- moments before Marty Balin jumped into the pit to break up a fight and was knocked out by the Angels.
From there the violence escalated thoughout the afternoon, until the Rolling Stones finally came out on stage well after dark, at about 6:00 p.m.
Photo shows a few of the three or four dozen Hells Angels present, about an hour into the Stones' two-hour show, as they move to stage front and dispense their own rough-and-ready version of "crowd control."
Minutes later, a young African-American named Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by a Hells Angel, just in front of the stage, which was ultimately ruled "self-defence."
Footage from the documentary film "Gimme Shelter" (1970) shows Hunter (seen in the film in a bright lime-green suit) drawing a long-barreled revolver from his jacket, and Hells Angel Alan Passaro, armed with a knife, running at Hunter from the side, parrying the gun with his left hand and stabbing him with his right.
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Coordinates:   37°44'16"N   121°33'35"W
This article was last modified 12 years ago