Altamont Music Festival
The Altamont Music Festival, held on December 6, 1969, was an infamous concert organized by The Rolling Stones as part of their U.S. tour, initially intended to be a free event in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Due to venue issues, Altamont Speedway was selected at the last minute, leading to significant logistical challenges. The festival attracted an audience estimated at around 300,000, far exceeding expectations, but inadequate preparations resulted in a lack of basic facilities and a sound system that struggled to reach the crowd.
Security for the event was controversially managed by the Hell's Angels motorcycle club, who were paid in beer, and their aggressive tactics quickly escalated tensions. Violence broke out during performances, culminating in a tragic incident where an audience member, Meredith Hunter, was fatally stabbed during a confrontation. In total, four people died at the festival, which starkly contrasted with the peaceful vibes of the earlier Woodstock festival. The Altamont Music Festival is often viewed as a turning point in the 1960s counterculture movement, highlighting the darker aspects of that era's music scene and youth culture. The event was later documented in the film "Gimme Shelter," produced by The Rolling Stones.
Altamont Music Festival
Date: December 6, 1969
A rock concert, marred by violence, featuring the Rolling Stones and several other bands. Members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, which provided security for the stage, fatally stabbed and beat an eighteen-year-old spectator.
Origins and History
The Rolling Stones planned to end their 1969 United States tour with a free concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The facility at the park was not large enough to hold the one hundred thousand people expected, so Sears Point Raceway was chosen. However, negotiations with Sears Point broke down over distribution rights to a film documenting the tour that the Rolling Stones planned to make. A contract with Altamont Speedway was signed only twenty-four hours before the event was scheduled to begin.
The Festival
On Friday, December 5, supplies and equipment were brought from Sears Point Raceway to Altamont Speedway, and workers rushed to prepare the stage. By nightfall, five thousand spectators had already arrived at the concert site, and by 7:30 a.m. Saturday, December 6, it was clear that the estimate of one hundred thousand attendees was too low (actual attendance was estimated at three hundred thousand). Unfortunately, twenty-four hours was not long enough for event planners to make adequate arrangements. Only one-sixtieth of required toilet facilities was provided, and although medical personnel were on site, no arrangements were made for emergency vehicles to get in or out of the grounds. The sound system was not powerful enough, which meant that the music was barely audible to those any distance from the stage, and the stage itself was only four feet high, with no space between it and the audience. Rolling Stones manager Sam Cutler hired the Hell’s Angels to provide stage security for five hundred dollars worth of beer.
The Hell’s Angels took their job seriously. As a band began to play, the crowd would move toward the stage, and the Hell’s Angels, some wielding sawed-off and weighted pool cues, would beat them back. When the Jefferson Airplane began its set, the violence began to spill onto the stage. Guitarist Marty Balin tried to intervene between a Hell’s Angels member and a spectator and was punched by the motorcycle gang member. Balin lay unconscious on the stage for a brief period of time.
The Rolling Stones’ set was interrupted by violence several times, and both singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richard threatened to leave the stage if the violence did not stop. One of these interruptions was a scuffle between a Hell’s Angels biker and an audience member, Meredith Hunter, in front of the stage. During this incident, Hunter pulled a revolver and was attacked by an unknown number of Hell’s Angels. He was stabbed in the back, neck, and head.
Impact
Hunter died as a result of his stab wounds, but no one was ever convicted of the crime. Three other audience members also died at Altamont. Mark Feiger and Richard Savloy, both twenty-two years old, were killed when a car drove through their campsite at the side of the road. The fourth casualty was an unidentified man who slid into an irrigation canal and drowned. The violence at the Altamont Music Festival, which took place only a few months after the peaceful Woodstock Music and Art Fair, proved to many Americans that the peace and love movement, because it was part of youth culture and rebellion, would ultimately fail.
Additional Information
The Rolling Stones produced a film documenting their U.S. tour and the Altamont Music Festival entitled Gimme Shelter (1970).