What really happened the day the Rolling Stones made the mistake of hiring Hells Angels

The end 1960-х was remembered by the foreign public for a number of reasons, among which were Woodstock и... Altamont Festival. And while the former preached the "Summer of Love", the latter definitively erased any trace of it, going down in history as the most violent and scandalous rock concert ever... It was a turning point for music in general, and for the "Hell's Angels." - of an infamous biker group. The Rolling Stones hired them to provide security, but ended up bitterly regretting it. Instead. Hells Angels brought chaos and doom...

Background

Free rock festival Altamont took place 6 December 1969. at a remote race track in Northern California. Planned to be the West Coast's answer to Woodstock, the organisers recruited the most popular musical groups of the time, which included Jefferson Airplane, Santana и Rolling Stones. Alas, rollers made the wrong decision when they hired Hells Angels bikers as security. Instead of calming the public down, they led chaos.

In fact, Rolling Stones didn't want a riot! They just hired the wrong angels. Shortly before the Altamont Festival, the Rolling Stones went on a camping tour, and hired a band that called themselves the "Hell's Angels."as security for a show in Hyde Park in London. And they genuinely didn't realise that this group didn't have no relation to the Californian bikers, much less share their temperament. But when it came to Altamont, the rock 'n' rollers got in touch with the real Hells Angels, and as a result, the rock festival turned into a riot...

It was only as the bikers' behaviour got worse that the rollers realised what they had done. mistake.

"The Angels were paid in beer

As payment for their security services, Altamont organisers gave the "To the Hells Angels." a supply of beer for $500.. But in doing so, the bikers were not given specific instructions about exactly how they should do their job... If legend is to be believed, when asked "exactly how they should handle the crowd", the Rolling Stones' tour manager Sam Cutler allegedly said: "We don't care. Just keep these people away." It was key to freedom.

Problems with police and medical personnel

The organisers have chosen the race course Altamont Speedway as the venue just 36 hours before the festival itself. The location was remote, barren and completely inappropriate for an event like this. But this was of little concern to anyone. Even basic amenities such as toilets, food or water were out of the question. Soon a stage was erected, but it was ridiculous and ridiculous, only thigh-high! Because of this, many audience members could not see the performers as the crowd grew. And the only thing separating the crowd from the stage was a thin rope, which was later removed. The venue was in 42 miles. from the Bay Area, there were thousands of people travelling by car, terrible traffic jams... And virtually no police presence. The Alameda County sheriffs who were present in Altamont felt so numerically inferior to the Hells Angelsthat they did not dare to interfere. This thickened the colours... From the memoirs of a journalist and critic Greil Marcus:

"The people were unfriendly, selfish - just the complete opposite of Woodstock, where I was just a few months ago!"

The problems were not only with the police, but also with the physicianswho, as it turned out, were needed at the festival more than ever! Many people had wounds and fractures, all thanks to the Hells Angels. But most amazing of all. negligence the organisers: they only provided four medical tentsThey flatly refused to give access to the helicopter for emergencies, did not provide communication systems and refused to switch on the lights backstage so that doctors could see their patients properly....

The tragic outcome of Meredith Hunter.

The 18-year-old an African-American teenager named Meredith Hunter came to the festival with his girlfriend. When they came on stage Rolling Stones, a guy, trying to get a better view, climbed up on one of the speakers near the stage, but was immediately thrown down "Angel.". Hunter was soon surrounded by bikers, and he drew from his pocket a weapon he had brought with him for self-defence. Unfortunately, he was deeply wounded in response... Several onlookers tried to help the young man: they carried him to the medical tent, but reportedly several "Angels" blocked the shortcut and wouldn't let them through. And when Hunter was finally taken to the medics, it was too late: he passed away before the Rolling Stones had finished their performance....

A few months later, the court acquitted "Angel" Alana Passarowho is allegedly responsible for the teenager's death. According to Hunter's family, neither Rolling Stonesnor anyone else involved in the Altamont organisation has expressed condolences and didn't apologise.

Bikers are furious

"Angels." began to show their strength from the very beginning of the show. They culled money and substances from anyone who made the mistake of carrying them openly. And since Altamont had no authority above Hells AngelsAt one point, the Angels decided to park their bikers in a parking lot. motorbikes... right next to the stage! And it ended up that people who wanted to be closer to their idols started kicking them - some accidentally and some not. This sent the already wild Angels into a frenzy. rage... Mass scuffles broke out.

As a result, it got to the point where the Angels thought they were the Angels. kings shows and started walking around the stage during sets. They were snatching microphones people who tried to make announcements had their motorbike engines turned on while the bands were playing, drowning out the music... One photographer took a picture of the bikers and ended up having his film confiscated and his face swollen. Somewhere between 100 and 200 "Angels" stood on stage throughout the show, leaving a very little space for the actual band performances.

Attacks on musicians

Although the loss of life Meredith Hunter was the most memorable incident at Altamont, it was far from the only time someone was hurt. Three more people died at the event, two of whom were victims of the hit-and-run in the car park. The musicians themselves also got it from the "Angels". From memory Mick Taylor:

"Right after we got out of the helicopter - I was with Mick, and we had a couple of security guards with us - some guy burst through and punched Jagger in the face!"

One of the members of Hells Angels poked a few times Stephen Stills in the leg with a bicycle spoke. Pregnant Denise Jukes from Ace of Cups suffered a skull fracture due to a thrown beer bottle... During the performance. Jefferson Airplane vocalist Marty Balin noticed the bikers attacking a man near the stage. The musician rushed to help, but immediately received a deafening blow and was knocked out. The rest of the performance went on without his participation. All this led to a riot - only now on the part of the artists.

The musicians refused to perform

They did help organise the event though, Grateful Dead didn't show up at the Altamont Festival. Planning to take the stage after the Rolling Stones, they saw the eruption of the disturbances and decided not to play. The band returned to their helicopter and left the distraught place. Many later blamed the rockers for abandoning their fans without doing anything to remedy the situation. But could they have stopped the madness? Hardly... In the meantime, the musicians revolted. From the memoirs of Carlos Santana:

"We had to stop the show every now and then, because the audience was more than inadequate! There were terrible disturbances near the stage - people were fighting and waving weapons! At some point I lost the meaning of the song I was playing and just stared at the guy waving his blade - his face was stretched in a wild smile and his eyes were looking for someone who was ready to fight with him... Nobody cared about the music anymore. Everyone wanted to let out their adrenaline..."

In turn, the above-mentioned Mick Taylor he told me:

"It was a disaster. We had to stop every song. "Hey, if you don't cool down, you won't hear the music!" - shouted Richards during another pause. We wanted to leave the stage as soon as possible... It was absolutely barbaric! It was impossible to enjoy the music or anything else because most of the atrocities were happening in front of the stage, right in front of our eyes!"

The attempted assassination of Mick Jagger

Stories of the riots that took place on the site reached the Rolling Stones at their hotel a few hours before they went on stage. The band even considered refuse from performing, but their commitment to the organisers and fans persuaded them to follow through with the ends. After that. Mick Jagger tried to distance himself from the incident and vowed that he would never hire Hells Angels again in his life. But his statement made him very angry "Angels.". They believed that their cheated!

"They shouldn't have hired a band bent on barbarism if they didn't want to. Mick Jagger used us as cheats! We were just dumbasses for agreeing to it. But the bigger dumbass turned out to be him! He's just an idiot!", "Angel" Sonny Barger expressed his frustrations.

As a result Hells Angels The bikers planned to ambush Jagger at his country house on the Long Islandand even got a boat, plotting to trespass on private property from the sea. But nature itself stood up for the singer. Rolling Stones: an unexpected assault foiled their plan when rough waves capsized the boat and forced the group of butchers back to land. FBI kept the failed attempt a secret for years and never told Jagger how close his end was....