What happened at the Altamont Free Festival?
A handful of events went on to totally define the world of rock music, ranging from the original Woodstock festival of 1969 to the day the music died, as Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and ‘The Big Bopper’ J. P. Richardson perished in a catastrophic plane crash. One of those historical rock music events also occurred on December 6th, 1969, the day of the Altamont Free Festival.
Taking place at the Altamont Speedway in Tracy, California, the festival was supposed to be the “Woodstock West”. Hoping to create the peaceful and loving atmosphere of Woodstock on the other side of the country, bringing some of the hippie energy over from New York to California, organisers had high hopes for the day.
Taking place only a few months after the Manson Murders that had shaken the West Coast, the incidents at the Altamont Free Festival were another final death knell for the optimism of the 1960s. It was a time that Joan Didion defined as the moment “the Sixties came to an end”, bringing joy, recklessness and free love to a crashing end.
Similarly, gonzo pioneer Hunter S. Thompson described the festival as the moment the “sharks finally came home to roost”, suggesting the event was the inevitable overflowing of violence that had been brewing for a while. Not entirely living up to the organisers’ hopes of peace and harmony, the festival’s events completely redefined and reshaped rock and roll, marking one of its darkest ever days.
Who played at the Altamont Free Festival?
The lineup for the Altamont Free Festival is a veritable who’s who of the 1960s music scene. Bringing together many of the most defining and influential acts from the era, it was a melting pot of the decade’s countercultural sects and leaders.
First up, Santana took to the stage. Having only just released their groundbreaking self-titled debut album, Carlos Santana was well on his way to becoming the highly influential guitarist we know him as today. Playing several instrumental tracks off the album, the band kicked off the day on a relatively calm note.
Next up, Jefferson Airplane took to the stage. As California natives, the band were instrumental in defining the sound of the West Coast, especially San Francisco. The band was involved in organising the day, having suggested the idea of a West Coast Woodstock to bring the Stones to California. Spencer Dryden said, “Next to the Beatles they were the biggest rock and roll band in the world, and we wanted them to experience what we were experiencing in San Francisco.”
By the time the band got to play, they had already noted a violent atmosphere, with singer Grace Slick stating, “The vibes were bad. Something was very peculiar, not particularly bad, just real peculiar. It was that kind of hazy, abrasive and unsure day. I had expected the loving vibes of Woodstock, but that wasn’t coming at me. This was a whole different thing.”
After Jefferson Airplane, it was The Flying Burrito Brothers. Featuring Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman of The Byrds fame, the band combined rock and country to their own unique effect. Having turned down an invite to play Woodstock, the band’s presence really pushed the idea of the festival being a West Coast version of the event featuring the top bands of the local scene.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young took to the stage next, with organisers hoping they might calm the increasingly wild crowd. In contrast to the other acts of the day, the band only played a concise set list of five tracks, including no real hits, suggesting they cut their stage time short.
Afterwards, the Grateful Dead were billed to play. However, after watching the earlier set and seeing the crowd become increasingly violent, the band refused to go on.
The headline act of the day was The Rolling Stones. The band agreed to play to curb criticism that the tickets for their 1969 tour were too expensive, deciding to wrap up the trip with a free show. It was during the Stones set that the violence hit its height, resulting in a death. However, the band played a full 15-track set.
What happened at the Altamont Free Festival?
There are several accounts about what happened at the Altamont Free Festival that led to such violence. According to Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner, the conflict between the police and the hippie community led to obstructiveness. Originally the concert was set to happen in the huge Golden Gate Park, but due to lack of cooperation with the police force, it was changed to Altamont.
To the Stones tour manager, Chip Monock, the issue was the stage. “The stage was one metre high – 39 inches for us – and [at Sears Point] it was on the top of a hill, so all the audience pressure was back upon them,” he said, explaining that the set-up seemed destined for a crowd crush.
It was decided that to keep the police out of it while keeping the musicians safe; the Hells Angels biker gang would be brought in to provide security. They were paid $500 worth of beer for their services.
However, according to The Stones’ stage manager, Sam Culter, “the only agreement there ever was … the Angels would make sure nobody tampered with the generators, but that was the extent of it. But there was no way ‘They’re going to be the police force’ or anything like that. That’s all bollocks.”
It was the Hells Angels’ involvement that resulted in violence boiling over. Many reports suggest that the gang were drunk on the job, arming themselves with sharpened pool cues and motorcycle chains as the crowd became harder to handle. At some point, one crowd member was hit in the head by an empty beer bottle thrown from the crowd and suffered a skull fracture.
Later, a Hells Angel member was allegedly toppled by a crowd crush, leading the gang to get even more violent. During their set, Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane jumped down from the stage to help resolve a conflict but was punched and knocked unconscious by a gang member.
Stephen Stills reported similar treatment, claiming he was repeatedly stabbed in the leg with a sharpened bicycle spoke by a stoned member of the gang. After that, the Grateful Dead wouldn’t go on stage.
While the crowd had been rowdy and unsettled since the start and violence had been brewing all day, things got even worse during The Rolling Stones’ set. The crowd of 4,000 to 5,000 people were dangerously packed up to the stage, with many attempting to climb onto it. Visibly shaken by the scene, Mick Jagger called for the crowd to “Just be cool down in the front there, don’t push around”.
At some point, Meredith Hunter, an 18-year-old fan, attempted to get on stage. When the Hells Angels grabbed him and started beating him up, things quickly escalated. Some say Hunter was trying to hurt Jagger, others say he was merely high and confused, but at some point, he drew a gun from his jacket. In response, the Hells Angels stabbed him twice, killing him.
The Stones finished their set, reasoning that if they’d stopped, the riots only would’ve got worse. But the day went down in history as one of the darkest in rock.
How did drugs affect the Altamont Free Festival?
Drugs played a huge role in the violence of Altamont. By the late 1960s, the drug scene that started out as relatively harmless, with weed and LSD providing mellow highs, had taken a dark turn. Just as Charles Manson used LSD and amphetamines to whip his family into violent frenzies, the new wave of speed led to a more chaotic crowd situation.
In the case of Meredith Hunter, drugs undoubtedly led to his death. According to the Gimme Shelter documentary producer Porter Bibb, who managed to film clips of the day, Hunter’s girlfriend had tearfully begged him to calm down as he took a bad trip. One roadie said of Hunter, “I saw what he was looking at, that he was crazy, he was on drugs, and that he had murderous intent. There was no doubt in my mind that he intended to do terrible harm to Mick or somebody in the Rolling Stones, or somebody on that stage.”
Hunter’s autopsy showed he was on methamphetamine when he died.
How many people died at the Altamont Free Festival?
In total, four people died at the Altamont Free Festival. Meredith Hunter’s murder is the well-known event of the day, happening in front of The Rolling Stones and leading to a lot of songs being written about the incident.
But three other people also died at the festival. Two concertgoers died in a hit-and-run car incident. Another passed away as a result of drowning after an LSD trip. Countless others were injured in the crowd.
How did the Altamont Free Festival influence rock?
The events at Altamont led to numerous songs and pieces of literature. The event was viewed as the violent end to a hopeful era, with one critic writing that “Altamont became, whether fairly or not, a symbol for the death of the Woodstock Nation.” Leading to a darker sound across counterculture; some claim it was the violence of the day that ended the joyful hippie sound.
The Rolling Stones’ 1970 documentary film Gimme Shelter is perhaps the most notable piece of art made at the event. The film feels almost like a thriller as the day’s violence draws closer and closer. The depiction of the Hells Angels in the movie could have led to a very different world, as the FBI shared that the gang had attempted to assassinate Mick Jagger as a result.
Plenty of artists wrote songs about the event. The Grateful Dead regularly revisited the event as they wrote ‘Manson’s Children’ about the death of the 1960s and ‘New Speedway Boogie’, singing, “One way or another, this darkness got to give.”
Similarly, Altamont also inspired songs by Blue Oyster Cult, Don McClean, Black Cab and more.
Deemed “rock and roll’s all-time worst day”, the festival brought an end to the optimism of the era and the early joy of rock and countercultural sound. Changing the face of the genre forever, Altamont spoke to a darkness and danger that coloured the 1970s and beyond.
