FIFTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER THE ILL-FATED FESTIVAL, THIS SELDOM-SEEN RELIC CROSSES THE BLOCK AT HERITAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME
By Christina Rees
In his 1971 book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson writes about California and the end of the 1960s: “…look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark – that place where the wave finally broke, and rolled back.”
The year 1969 brought us culturally seismic events that not only ended one of the nation’s most hopeful and tumultuous decades, but also, to this day, represent the polemical split within the American psyche. The four national events people most associate with 1969, in chronological order: the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Manson murders, Woodstock – and Altamont.
Look at this poster that’s in Heritage’s April 11-13 Music Memorabilia & Concert Posters Signature® Auction: The words “Altamont Speedway” jump out, especially alongside two others: “Rolling Stones.” The word “Altamont” is so historically loaded that at its mention people are struck dumb by its symbolic weight. It is the most notorious music festival, if not concert, in rock history. December 6, 1969, was the day Age of Aquarius crashed and burned.
What started out as a plan to bring Woodstock’s epic good vibe to the West Coast ended in confusion, chaos, injury and death. The Rolling Stones, at the very top of their game, were asked to headline the Altamont Speedway Free Festival in Livermore, a town not far from San Francisco; the event was so hastily and disastrously organized that the band suggested using the Hells Angels as security. Around 300,000 people attended, and during the Stones’ set, the killing of festival attendee Meredith Hunter, a young Black man, at the hands of the Angels was caught on film and is the bleak spiritual centerpiece of the iconic Maysles Brothers documentary Gimme Shelter. Three other deaths occurred, accidental and tragic, and scores were injured.
April 11-13, 2024
Online: HA.com/7363
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The lineup included the Grateful Dead; Jefferson Airplane; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Santana. But by far the act most associated with Altamont is the Rolling Stones, and the rarest piece of memorabilia tied to that moment is this elusive and much-discussed event poster, almost certainly made on the cheap and sly. In hindsight, the design is so much more powerful due to its simplicity – a ripped-off, recent publicity photo of the band sloppily printed and accompanied by only a few words: “Rolling Stones, Free Concert, Dick Carter’s Altamont Speedway, Livermore, December 6, 1969.”
As legend has it, this particular run was printed too late to advertise the event, so the poster was sold for a buck at the festival. The weird anonymity and evident slapdash process of its making is of a piece with the hectic momentum of Altamont’s planning. Seeing it now, the poster harbors a near-mythic quality; it has absorbed something dark and reflects back at its viewer one of the most infamous moments in the 20th century.
A poster this rare tends to find me. The only rival that comes to mind in emblematic power is Woodstock. … The most valuable version of that poster pales in comparison to the scarcity and value of an Altamont.”
– Collector David Swartz
The poster comes from the sweeping collection of music memorabilia collector David Swartz, whose trove has unspooled for a new generation of collectors via Heritage over the past two years. “A poster this rare tends to find me,” Swartz says. “The only rival that comes to mind in emblematic power is Woodstock, which epitomized a movement and features its now-iconic dove-on-the-guitar poster. The most valuable version of that poster pales in comparison to the scarcity and value of an Altamont.” Of its origin, Swartz says, “I see a poster that was rushed and done on the cheap as the lack of time allowed for. It was from a full-color photo by Ron Raffaelli for a novelty poster shot in a London alley in ’69, not long after Mick Taylor replaced Brian Jones.”
The Stones were back in the States for the first time since 1966, and just as they tried to recapture some of the counter-culture magic of their ’66 U.S. tour, they instead found themselves in a crossfire hurricane partly of their own making. “I believe that what makes this poster so valuable and desirable is that it has all the ingredients,” Swartz says. “It commemorates a tragic event; it features a major band headlining, with photo; controversial characters (Hells Angels as security); and scarcity. Not many of this poster survived. And not to mention: condition. This poster is as near-mint as it possibly can be.”
Pete Howard, Heritage’s Director of Concert Posters, notes that this is the first time Heritage has offered this rarity, calling it the highlight of a packed auction that also includes standouts such as a Beatles 1966 Shea Stadium poster from an assistant to famed concert promoter Sid Bernstein, as well as a Grateful Dead 1966 “Skeleton & Roses” Avalon Ballroom concert poster graded 9.8 by CGC.
“The Altamont Free Festival is one of the most consequential festivals in music history,” Howard says. “This was the Let It Bleed Stones whose latest hit ‘Honky Tonk Women’ had been No. 1 for a month – the biggest hit of their career. And according to Joel Whitburn’s Billboard chart books, Let It Bleed first entered the magazine’s Top LPs chart in the issue dated December 6, 1969 – the exact date on this poster.”
CHRISTINA REES is a staff writer at Intelligent Collector.