Altamont

quote:

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the brilliant idea of hiring the Hells Angeles

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I guess they made do with what they had since the Diegos were busy

Paint it black, you devil!

Altamont was completely overblown, scuffles between attendees and security naturally occur and, unfortunately, there are cases when people die at concerts. Altamont was one of the great festivals of the sixties but the whole "death of the hippie dream" narrative was unwarranted regarding the concert particularly since the deceased pulled a gun out.

I grew up in Livermore, the last stop between San Francisco and Altamont, and I remember that day. I was 10 years old, and I went to the local cinema with my brother for the matinee double feature. All anyone could talk about while waiting in line was the number of motorcycle riders cruising up and down First St.

The attitude toward the motorcyclists changed overnight, and even a 10 year-old knew it. I never again saw a large contingent of motorcycle gang members in Livermore despite the Mountain House, a local hole in the wall bar just outside town, being one of their favorite hangouts.

True, then again it was held at a huge remote racetrack outside of San Francisco and the Stones made a big deal about it (the concert) with all their press conferences and promotion in conjunction with their first tour after a 2 year absence. I attribute the subsequent commentary of the concert to the Gimme Shelter movie and the Angels' behavior to the loads of booze they were provided lol.