New York City NY:: Madison Square Garden, January 24th 1969

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Madison Square Garden, New York City January 24th 1969




4-2-1969
Asbury Park Press NJ



25-1-1969
New York Daily News


Jim & a rare bass player. Harvey Brooks.


25-1-1969

1-1969
New York Times


14-12-1969
Herald News

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

………Technically the end wasn’t that difficult for me except at the finish, but the emotional concentration required to give it justice was exhausting. Remember how many times the audience was right with us, surrendering to Robby’s hypnotic guitar and taking the trip? I was always surprised how tolerant the crowd was of the ten minutes of surrealistic poetry you read. I don’t think the recorded version ever equalled what happened some nights.

Remember that night at Madison Square Garden on Light My Fire when you threw in some new verse about “Stop the Car! The dead seal, the dull crucifix, I’m getting outta here”? Sounded like drug imagery to me. I loved that next line, “I can’t live through each slow century of her moving.” When we sensed you were done, we slammed back into the rhythm. God that was fun.

Onto the finale The End. You always gave me a chill when you pounded your boots down on the stage while shouting “the killer awoke before dawn. He put his boots on.” Method acting, huh, Oedipus! I liked the way you covered your eyes on the “Yes Son” section of “Father-yes son-I want to kill you.” It implied characters in Greek drama with masks.

I used to love to draw out the double time after the killer section as long as possible, milking every increase in tempo. The climax was orgasmic as ever at Madison Square Garden, you sang the last chorus as tenderly as ever.

It seemed the ultimate in appreciation when the audience quietly filed out. Drained. They had taken the trip and there was no more to give or receive. Mutual satisfaction. Everyone in attendance was cleansed…security guards included. What a show. A truly religious experience. Much better thank church. Almost as good as sex. Better! A communion with twenty thousand people.

Jim, you were great that night. When you were on, boy, were you on……I wish it had stayed like that forever. But it all started to slip…..
John Densmore Riders On The Storm

[wplj]

Too bad no discernable photos of Harvey or the orchestra! Or no decent recordings. Was a soundboard tape made? The recordings on Boot Yer Butt, while historic, sound like total arse!

[darkstar3]

Jul 13, 2011 16:50:53 GMT wplj said:

Too bad no discernable photos of Harvey or the orchestra! Or no decent recordings. Was a soundboard tape made? The recordings on Boot Yer Butt, while historic, sound like total arse!

I have this show. It's not soundboard. I've had it for almost 20 years. Too bad it has never been cleaned up and re-released.

[wplj]

Is your copy better or worse-sounding than the tracks from it on Boot Yer Butt? Or from the same source?

[darkstar3]

Jul 13, 2011 19:44:27 GMT wplj said:

Is your copy better or worse-sounding than the tracks from it on Boot Yer Butt? Or from the same source?

My copy sounds just like the one in this u-tube video. Madison Square Garden in a cement structure where the sound bounces around the walls.

The Doors Live At Madison Square Garden: Love Me Two Times
www.youtube.com/watchv=iLh4LtmNPG8

Daily News
By Donald Flynn
January 25 1969
Ooo, They Lit The Garden’s Fire!

A West Coast rock group called The Doors slammed into Madison Square Garden last night and 20,000 screaming teenyboppers tried to rip them off their hinges.

The Doors, for the benefit of any squares who read this, are the new Beatles led by an Elvis Presley type named Jim Morrison, who cranks up kids as effectively as a shot of LSD. The music isn’t called acid rock for nothing.

They came out onto the stage at the Garden at 9:30pm – Morrison, drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger, and organist Ray Manzarek – to a roll of thunder from the teenyboppers that sounded like the crack of doom.

The kids swarmed all over the place like lemmings, filling up every empty spot in the aisles, squirming as close as possible to adore their idols as they blasted their hit, “Light My Fire.”

This song drives the kids right up the wall, and virtually blows their minds. If nothing else, it should deafen then because The Doors believe in using loud speakers – like about one to a person.

“They got more amplification on that stage tonight than they usually have in the whole Garden,” an electrician sighed jealously.

The kids, dressed every way from Brooks Brothers modern to the East Village raggedy, lighted up the Garden with a steady flare of their camera flashbulbs, turning the joint into a rocking, ear splitting psychedelic trip.

Densmore, flung a series of drum sticks into the throng, sending the kids elbow over ponytail after those souvenirs from on high.

And then Morrison majestically let fly with an eloquent belch and flung his jacket into the audience. The jacket went like a cow in a river swarming with piranhas, as the kids shredded it in seconds.

“I thought his belch was original,” cooed Holly Chiger, twenty one, a City College student.

Among the scattering of non teenyboppers there was City Council President Francis X Smith. Asked if he dug the sound, Smith said, “No, but my five kids do.”

Their agent confided that The Doors will pick up “a big percent” of the $105,000 gross.

END.

[wplj]

That clip sounds slightly better than the tracks on Boot Yer Butt ... Are you adverse to CD-R trading (he he!) ?

I have a couple of Zeppelin Shows (1969 and 1970), but they are pretty common ... (Dallas Pop Festival 69, LA Forum 70).

Let me know!

Cheers,
Jason

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Friday January 24th, 1969 Madison Square Garden, New York

The Doors give one performance at 8:30 p.m. to a sell-out crowd. The esteemed bass player Harvey Brooks and
a small orchestra appear with the band.
The colossal Madison Square Garden, with a seating capacity of twenty thousand, was at that time an exceptionally difficult venue to perform in.
It featured a revolving stage, which aggravated the Garden's already horrendous acoustics. The Doors performance suffers despite Vince Treanor and the equipment crew's efforts to dampen the hall's massive reverberations.
Regardless of these problems, this show is a resounding success.
The Doors put on a fabulous performance, and Morrison's presence is electric.
The stage is awash in a constant deluge of instamatic flashes that give the whole show a bizarre strobelike effect.
The Doors exit the stage in a deafening roar of appreciation from their hard-core New York following.





Describing the event, Cash Box elaborates:
"As matters turned out, none were disappointed at the show.
It may well have been the rapport which uplifted the quality of this show, or the electricity that is created
between a worshiping, yet contained, audience and its object of affection.
In any case, the crowd was Morrison's - to an extreme that called for special police
protection; and, in return, he was theirs."

New York Times critic Mike Jahn comments:
"It was hard to hear the lyrics, and a large measure of the Doors' value is based on those lyrics. To many in the audience, the performers were a speck in the distance, and this was unfortunate since much of the group's popularity is based on the onstage theatrics of Jim Morrison.
Few groups match their ability to make rock music sound eerie and magical. Few lyricists can match Morrison's ability to create effective, often terrifying,
images. As it turned out, the Doors were good despite the shortcomings of the arena."

According to Variety: "The Doors made a triumphant return to New York Friday night after many months in absentia. The Doors, performing with an orchestra and led by Jim Morrison, one of the major personalities in rockdom, remain one of the more bizarre and theatrical turns in the idiom. Some of the material was familiar, but crisply executed."


Set-list
:Touch Me
:The Soft Parade
:Tell All the People
:Love Me Two Times
:Who Scared You
:Spanish Caravan
:Wild Child
:Light My Fire
:Back Door Man
:The Devil Is a Woman
:Five to One
:When the Music's Over