Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the Altamont concert that the Stones put on for free. Not only was someone killed by the Angels but Marty Balin from Jefferson Airplane was also punched and knocked out. The Angels were doing something in the crowd that was hard to tell what and Marty got pissed and went into the crowd and got knocked out but the angels. The Dead and CSN were supposed to play to but after they heard about the incident with Marty, they refused to play and left the venue. Below is a excerpt of an article posted at The Awl about the Altamont and it’s impact on the end of the 60′s.
This weekend, Sunday, December 6th, marks the 40th anniversary of Altamont, the free concert the Rolling Stones put on at a speedway outside San Francisco to end their U.S. tour in 1969. It was meant to be like Woodstock. At a press conference before the event, Mick Jagger said, “It’s creating a sort of microcosmic society which sets example to the rest of America as to how one can behave in large gatherings.” More than 300,000 people attended. But things went very wrong. Hired as security, but full of acid and beer, the Hells Angels motorcycle club were not on the same blissed-out flower-children vibe as much of the crowd. Rather, they beat people with leaded pool cues.
via Very Recent History: A Dispiriting End To An Earlier Decade | The Awl.
