Thanks to automaticchanger on the Stones IORR forum for posting. It is silent but is amazing quality. The Rolling Stones, Hell’s Angels and Altamont: A New View | Library of Congress Blog
Hey now! That's cool! Finally get to see Gram (is he wearing a sports bra?) Great footage, thanks for posting!
Thank you, this is a great find! I have an Altamont audio - am going to try to add sound to this. If it works will youtube and let you know.
This new video popped into my YouTube feed a couple days ago. Not from this source but from some hells angel youtuve channel, same video though. Has Crosby in it.
Why was there never an album soundtrack from this show? We skipped school one day in the mid 90s and crossed state lines to dubuque Iowa to hit the pawn shops. I got this on a VHS, I'd never heard of it. Talk about a video blowing your mind!
Also for years there has supposedly been a follow up documentary called Altamont 360° in the works, does anyone know what's happening with that?
Sometimes people forget that CSNY played Altamont. It’s so wonderful to see footage of them when they were just starting out. The Grateful Dead were supposed to play, but canceled after they’d heard of people being beat up and so on. I’ve always wondered if things would’ve changed at all if the Dead HAD played. Or maybe the vibe was just too dark and out of control for them to try to change. Anyhow, this is wonderful footage.
I dunno, if that guy got up there to start yammering about the "third coast" again the Angels might have just started executing people. Joking aside it certainly would have extended the concert if the Dead played so maybe by the time of the Stones set the crowd may have chilled or thinned out a bit.
Maybe a gort can add "Rolling Stones" to the thread title so that in the future Stones fans will also find this one when searching for threads on the band.
Absolutely amazing and historically significant. I had no idea that CSNY were there, so that makes Jefferson Airplane, CSNY and Santana who were at Woodstock and Altamont. It shows that Mick and Keith didn't hide in their trailer all day waiting to go on after dark, as claimed by some writers.
They definitely should/can make a better documentary on the concert with performances from all the bands. Gimme Shelter was kind of limited, as good as it was. However it all depends on how much footage still exists.
OT but related to Altamont As fantastic as the "Gimme Shelter" movie is I agree it would be historically significant and interesting to have a proper modern documentary on the concert done. But I don't think the mental and emotional wound has ever healed for the Stones about what happened that day and how they were blamed for the deaths that happened at that concert so I would not expect any support from the band to release any more material from that fateful day. More than ever in todays PC culture I think the band would be crucified for exploiting and profiting on the tragic events if they attempted to release any more material which is why IMHO we will never see any more official footage or audio from that day as long the the original members are alive. I am not sure how much proshot material there is in the Maysles Brothers archives but there is supposedly a complete video of the Stones concert and pro recorded audio per this excellent article in an old Salon magazine. "Gimme Shelter": The true story In the articles one of the producers of the "Gimme Shelter" movie, Charlotte Zwerin claims to have been sent a complete video of the Stones concert uncut. so we know that film may still exist in the Maysles archives. They did shoot footage of some of the opening acts as seen in the "Gimme Shelter" movie but how much footage we don't know. "The performance of 'Gimme Shelter' was one of the most powerful things I'd ever heard. At one point the Maysles sent me tapes of the entire Stones performance uncut; it's out of a horror movie. The attempt to get a song started, the waves of terror going through the crowd, the way you feel the beat, and everybody's expectations, whether of the band or of the audience, broken into pieces -- the sense that anything can happen, and that nobody knows what is happening, is stomach-turning." There are are some good audience recorded bootlegs of the opening acts and Stones complete concert and rumours that Grateful Dead soundman Bob Matthews recorded the Stones that day and still has the tapes. He may even have tapes of the warmup bands? In any case individual pro recorded songs of the Stones set have been leaking out in dribs and drabs for years now and been so someone has the tapes I think. Altamont 40 years later: Organizers recall perfect storm of bad decisions and worse breaks – East Bay Times
I agree I don't think the Stones would ever officially back anything. Plus the aftermath with the Hells Angels wanting them to pay the lawyer fees to get their guy acquitted. I think it was $40,000? They wouldn't pay so supposedly they were warned not to come back to California or else. Then there is the story about the Stones partying on a boat off of NY, and the Angel's tried to put a bomb on the side of it while out to sea. The stories I've read says after that they paid. I'm sure someone can find those articles if they look.
There’s a new Washington Post article about this find: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/01/08/rolling-stones-altamont-concert-footage/
There was a book that came out a few years ago on Altamont with some photographs I hadn't seen before and a thread on this forum about it that was really interesting.
In his book on Altamont, Joel Selvin says he listened to Matthews’ tapes as part of his research, and that they sound very good.
