Neighboring ranchers are preparing to file suit for what they say is extensive damage to their property. They claim fences were torn down for firewood, water lines were broken, cattle lost, and they and their families threatened. The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards was relatively sanguine about the show, calling it "basically well-handled, but lots of people were tired and a few tempers got frayed" [12] and "on the whole, a good concert." [39] A still from the documentary film 'Gimme Shelter', showing audience members looking on as Hells ... [+] Angels beat a fan with pool cues at the Altamont Free Concert, Altamont Speedway, California, 6th December 1969. The concert was headlined and organized by The Rolling Stones. The film was directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin. (Photo by Bill Owens/20th Century Fox/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Getty Images Booth, Stanley (2000). The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones (2nded.). A Capella Books. ISBN 978-1-55652-400-4. Carlos Santana, lead guitarist for Santana, the afternoon’s first band, watched the fighting breaking out in front of him during Santana’s set.

They were drinking from a gallon of Red Mountain Vin Rose. “It’s got two tabs of mescaline in it,” the blond guy told someone who asked for a drink. “Organic. Good stuff, too. We put it in this morning.”Note that the electronic device/function integrated in your travel product is not covered by this warranty. It may surprise many of the people who suffered Altamont to discover that they were, in effect, unpaid extras in a full production color motion picture. There was the young mother in blue blouse with Peter Pan collar and pleated skirt, looking like she’d just stepped out of a Hayward model home, who pushed ahead of her husband. In one hand she carried a baby only a few months old. She’d nudge the person ahead of her with the baby, smile and look wide-eyed at them as they turned to see who was pushing — and then she’d push right through. Understandably, there was a bad aftertaste in the mouths of medical volunteers along with just about everybody else at the festival. Richard Fine, chairman of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, labeled the concert promoters “morally irresponsible” for the manner in which the festival was staged. Lee, Henry K. (May 26, 2005). "Altamont 'cold case' is being closed: Theory of second stabber debunked by Sheriff's Dept". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008 . Retrieved October 25, 2009.

One thing is most certain: Even the most incomplete medical reports show that this was a festival dominated by violence. The volunteer medics treated more than just the usual bad trips and cut feet. They also treated dozens of lacerations and skull fractures. On top of those, they had an extraordinary number of bad trips — so many that they ran out of thorazine even though they didn’t start using it until late in the day. They came to the four medical tents in waves after each escalation by the Angels, many of them having bad trips on good acid — bad trips seemingly induced by the violence going on around them. People sitting near the stage said they could feel the wave of paranoia spreading through the stoned crowd with each beating. Acid plus muggings equalled terror and revulsion. The goring had ended by now, and Jagger took the mike again to say, “We need a doctor here, now! Look, can you let the doctor get through, please. We’re trying to get to someone who’s hurt.”Both denied doing any damage to cars, though the obvious physical condition of some of the cars showed otherwise. In all, about 200 cars were towed off, and some are still sitting in the yards of garages in Livermore and Tracy. Though they have nothing to say about it publicly, the Alameda County Sheriff’s office is pressing very hard on an investigation of the entire event — one of the prime reasons being that the department has been getting so much heat from county officials for “mishandling” it in the first place. The investigation has not gone especially well so far. Sheriff’s sleuths are “surprised and frustrated” to discover that hardly any witnesses to the violence are willing to talk with them.

The film Gimme Shelter was criticized by Pauline Kael, Vincent Canby and other reviewers for portraying the Stones too sympathetically, and for staging a concert for the sole reason that it could be filmed, despite all the problems leading up to it. Salon's Michael Sragow, writing in 2000, said many of the critics took their cues from the Rolling Stone review, which heavily blamed the filmmakers for being part of a "staged event" so that the Rolling Stones could profit from making a "concert" film. Sragow pointed out numerous errors in the Rolling Stone coverage and added that the Maysles did not make "major motion pictures" in the traditional way; instead, a variety of factors contributed to the tragedy. [40] KSAN: . . . where they treated various incidents of people standing up and so forth, and what do you think about that? I understand that even the members of the Airplane were roughed up a little bit. Some of the bad trips were the result of yellow pills given away in the crowd and said to be organic acid. “It was very crude stuff,” according to Baldwin. Most of the dope being sold at the festival, though, was of about standard street quality. Several bummed out when they drank wine without knowing it had acid in it. Only two drug cases had to be evacuated, though, both because of too many reds. The extraordinary amount of wine consumed posed another problem for Baldwin’s crews. The Angels were together and the people weren’t together — they didn’t have time to get together, you know? If they had wanted to get rid of the Angels, honorably, they could have taken up another collection and laid another five hundred dollars on them to split, which they would have done, man.” It is impossible to speak of the music that went down without placing it in the context of the violence, the fear and the anxiety, which, during the course of the day, peaked to higher and higher points of refinement and climax.She had undergone emergency surgery to have a jagged chunk of skull (about the size of a quarter) removed. This was over her left eye, in her forehead, below her hairline. Because of the position, nothing more than a local anesthetic was possible. The doctors told her she could have died from the injury. After talking with several ranchers, we discovered they’re too skittish to even think about importing San Francisco kids for clean-up. It is authoritatively reported (by an intimate of the higher echelons of the Sherrif’s department) that there were four, possibly five, plainclothesmen from the department near the stage, close to the action, on duty — which means that they were carrying their firearms. Their exact instructions are unknown, but, generally, it is a law enforcement officer’s duty to stop any crime he sees being committed, especially murder. (In fairness, it is not certain they were present during the Hunter murder.)

Barger also had a few words for people who “call themselves flower children. There is some of them lousy people ain’t a bit better than the worst of us, and it’s about time they realized it. They can call us all kinds of lousy dogs, and say that we shouldn’t be there. But you know what, when they started messing with our bikes, they started it.” According to Keith Richards, it did go pretty well. On his arrival in London, he told a United Press reporter that Altamont “was basically well-handled, but lots of people were tired and a few tempers got frayed.” Meredith had never been in any trouble. He had only been involved in one fight in his life, that one to defend his sister. Gwen said he did have a gun. “It was almost always in the house; he had it for his own protection. He only took it with him when he’d go out to big affairs. I know he took it with him to the festival. He pulled it out and showed it to them, but only to make them stop and think when they were beating him. I know he would never have used it. The Angels have the gun now. Patty saw them take it.” I had expected a nice sort of peaceful concert. I didn’t expect anything like that in San Francisco because they are so used to having nice things there. That’s where free concerts started, and I thought a society like San Francisco could have done much better. Martoccio, Angie (January 9, 2022). "Who Knew We Needed This Unseen Altamont Footage So Badly?". Rolling Stone . Retrieved July 11, 2022.a b "Sonoma County girds for Rolling Stones". Lodi News-Sentinel. (California). UPI. December 5, 1969. p.12. Eden Hospital in Castro Valley still had two casualties on Wednesday. One was Candy Sue Johnson, who suffered head injuries as a result of the same accident as McDonald. The other was Steven Vitali, 19, who also suffered head injuries in an accident of still-undetermined origin. By Wednesday, Steve was in satisfactory condition, and Candy in fair condition, but both were still in the intensive care unit and unable to speak. Highland Hospital in Oakland reported treating one person.