Dallas, TX - July 9th 1968 & December 11th 1970

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Memorial Auditorium Dallas, Texas - July 9th, 1968.


7-7-1968

9-7-1968
Fort Worth Star Telegram TX


7-7-1968

14-7-1968

13-7-1968


14-7-1968
Dallas Notes, Underground Newspaper TX



7-7-1968
Dallas Morning News TX


9-8-1968
The Denton Record Chronicle TX

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Dallas Memorial Auditorium 4th April 1969
Cancelled


Dallas Morning News 2-3-1969

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

State Fair Music Hall Dallas, Texas December 11th, 1970.




11-12-1970

14-12-1970
Dallas Morning News TX


23-12-1970
Dallas Notes TX

Interesting as a 1971 LAW UK tour (and some Euro dates) had also been put forward with dates such as Rock Mecca Newcastle City Hall.
Support was due to be Black Sabbath.
Sadly New Orleans put an end to that.




15-12-1970
Fort Worth Star Telegram TX

##Below was written in 2011 before the 30 minutes of the 2nd set appeared and we got to finally hear ROTS live.
Another bonus was a new song Palace In The Canyon. Both sets seemed to show Jim up for live gigs and the recording quality was a lot better than we could have hoped for.
Obviously it was a false dawn and by New Orleans The Doors were finished as a live band. Still the two sets gave us a glimpse of what LA Woman live could have been.##

The Doors were kind of wary about playing live, particularly after the concert at The Isle Of Wight Music Festival. However, the group did agree to go on the road for a small tour and play some of their newer material from the "L.A. Woman" sessions. Initially, it was only scheduled for The Doors to play one show in Dallas, however this show had sold out in advance and an additional 2,000 or 3,000 people had shown up. Promoter Rich Linnell had to schedule a second show on the same night to accommodate for the additional 2,000 - 3,000 that had turned up. The second show wasn’t a sell out, but did fill out about half to two thirds of the hall. Courtship were the opening act for the night.
"OOOwww you’re are funny"; someone in the audience had replied, which got some good laughs amongst other audience members. The crowd was sitting there, waiting for The Doors to take the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, The Doors !"; said the house announcer.

The Dallas audience cheered and applauded strongly. It had been over two years since The Doors played in Dallas, the last time they were in town was on July 9, 1968 were they played at the Memorial Auditorium. They were also scheduled for April 4, 1969 in Dallas, but this was cancelled due to the "Miami Incident" and the paranoia that followed amongst other concert promoters.
The Doors opened up their first set that night with "Love Her Madly". It was interesting to see how the lyrics of this song, when compared to the studio version of the same song were slightly different - instead of Jim singing the line: "Don’t you love her madly", as he does on the studio version, he actually sang "Do you love her madly" on the live version. Similarly, he replaced the word "Don’t" with "Do" in the live version. Overall, the verses and chorus fall in line with the studio version, however there is a long organ solo by Ray which is followed by Robbie’s guitar lead break towards the end of the song. As well as musical improvisations, Jim lyrically improvised on "Love Her Madly":

Maybe if, not for sure, no no
Maybe if, not for sure, no no
Maybe if, not for sure, no no

maybe, no, not for sure
maybe no, not for sure, no
maybe no, not for sure, maybe

oooooaaaah yeah
oooooaaaah yeah
oooooaaaah
yeah, oooooaaaah

Keep the faith....
Keep faith in, what you see aooh,
Keep faith in, what you see now,
Keep faith in, what you see aooh,

"Back Door Man", one of the group’s earlier songs which was a standard number for most part of their sets. Jim had changed one of the lines in the song and added:

... may not something I can’t for see

"Ship Of Fools" was one song that The Doors would consistently play as part of their 1970 Tour - however on this occasion, Ray’s organ solo sounded as if it had a strong hint of a "Jazzy" feel to it, sounding more like the jazzy-organ sound one would find on the album "L.A. Woman", rather than the "swanky-bluesy" piano sound that appeared on "Morrison Hotel". Jim had also borrowed a few lines from "Land Ho !" and chose to use these lines as the final closing verse during "Ship Of Fools":

"Well if I get my hands on a dollar bill,
drink my bottle and drink my fill, yeah
Well if I get my hands on a number two,
come back home and marry you, alright"

"Changeling" started off with Ray’s slow but strong driving bass line, Robbie sprinkled some "James Brown" guitar riffs on top, and later made use of the "wah-wah" pedal for most part of the song, something which The Doors had purposefully avoided (under Paul Rothchild’s instructions) during the hey day of the "wah-wah" pedal when it first came out.

"L.A Woman" was another highlight of this concert. Like the other two songs from the "L.A. Woman" sessions, this was the first time the audience would hear this song and the only live recording that is available of this song. The new songs from the "L.A. Woman" recording sessions that The Doors had played on this night, are very interesting to compare listen to those off the album, "L.A. Woman".

Musically, the group had to work a little harder live than in the recording sessions, Ray placed more emphasis on his bass lines (as they were normally played by Jerry Scheff, Elvis Presley’s bass guitarist) and Robbie had to cover more area with his guitar work, taking up the rhythm sections (which were normally covered by Marc Benno) as well as playing lead guitar.
The group finished off with "When The Music’s Over" and once again, Jim had lyrically improvised the opening lines in a similar manner to the first set which the group played at The Roundhouse on September 6, 1968.

All my life a bright delusion,
all my world’s a torn circus,
all my mind comes tumbling down, yeah
Something wrong, something not quite right,
Something wrong, something not quite right,
Something wrong, something not quite right,
touch me baby, all through the night
all through the night

Generally the music and mood of the concert sounds fairly relaxed and listening to this audience recording, one would get the impression that the crowd really appreciated the group’s new material as well as their older material. The Doors received good reviews for their two sets in Dallas that night, once again proving that they still had what it takes. Only the first set was recorded and this included three songs from the soon to be released album, "L.A. Woman". Pat Pope of the Dallas News reported:

"Morrison has a vocal style similar to John Kay’s. Subtly aggressive, insinuating, it drones on, weaving itself around the band’s rock/blues. They can be soft or hard; they can mold the texture of a song smooth as glass only to smash it with one tremendous drumbeat -- "We Want the world and we want it...NOW !" Final chords crash upon the keyboard, across guitar strings, overstressing the instruments into electronic freakout. And it’s satisfying, an outgrowth of what’s gone before, rather than jarring, out of context.

Their performance was casual, informal. Morrison asked the audience what they wanted to hear and they told him. "Not all at once," and they took turns calling out numbers: "Land Ho !" "Turn Off the Light" ... No "Light My Fire and no encore was played, but the set was satisfying one that rounded out their music, giving it an electronic blues dimension that doesn’t come through as strongly on record."

Unfortunately, no tape of the second show has surfaced among collectors and we may never hear the only live performance of "Riders on the Storm".