The Altamont Free Concert in December 1969 was supposed to be a glorious finale for The Rolling Stones’ U.S. tour. It became legendary for all the wrong reasons, mainly thanks to a tragically flawed plan involving the Hell’s Angels as security.
Thousands of fans arrived at the Altamont Speedway anticipating a relaxed, Woodstock-style day. Instead, the place turned into “rampant anarchy,” with the Angels patrolling like biker cops buoyed up on free beer. Things got scary fast. Fights broke out constantly in front of the stage, and even Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin was knocked out trying to stop someone from getting a good hiding.
In theory, the Angels had guarded smaller shows before, so organizers figured, “Why not?” But no one was ready for 300,000 people filling the dusty racetrack. A frazzled Mick Jagger tried to soothe the crowd, pleading, “Everybody be cool now – come on, alright?”. It did nothing to calm the chaos. During “Under My Thumb,” an 18-year-old named Meredith Hunter was fatally stabbed by a Hell’s Angel just yards away from The Stones after he produced a gun.
Afterwards, everyone blamed everyone else. Jagger and Keith Richards shook their heads over the violence, stunned by how such a well-intentioned idea turned deadly. People meant for security were attacking fans with pool cues. It was the ultimate bad scene, and it overshadowed practically every note The Stones played that day.
The trouble didn’t end there. According to some sources, the Hell’s Angels tried to blame Mick Jagger for pinning everything on them. Furious that he and others had badmouthed their role in the concert, members of the Angels supposedly put a contract out on Jagger’s life, even plotting to sail to his vacation home by boat to surprise him. “The Hells Angels were so angered by Jagger’s treatment of them that they decided to kill him,” explained TV presenter Tom Mangold. Luckily, a sudden storm upset their plan, saving Jagger from their wrath.
In time, the Altamont Free Concert became a symbol for the death of the 1960s spirit. Footage of the day can still make you flinch, especially when you see Jagger helplessly calling for peace. “The very idea that a concert of this kind could be staged safely was just one of these illusions,” reflected one witness with grim honesty.
Decades later, the story keeps shocking people who think Woodstock was the only giant festival worth remembering. “We couldn’t wait to get out of there,” recalled an eyewitness who saw folks getting chased across the stage. After all these years, Altamont is remembered not for epic music or free-spirited fun, but for how quickly things can turn ugly when planning goes out the window.
It’s a hard lesson The Rolling Stones learned firsthand: be careful who you rely on for “security.” If you hire the toughest biker gang in town, you’d better know exactly what you’re getting into. As one horrified fan said, “It was just an awful experience”. And in one of the wildest twists in rock history, Mick Jagger nearly paid the ultimate price for their disastrous decision.
You can watch the main incident here:
