Gimme Shelter is a documentary about the Rolling Stones' 1969 Altamont Free Concert in California (near San Francisco).

The number of people there is staggering.  I can't even imagine the logistics of it all.  There weren't enough porta-potties.  There weren't snack and bottled water vendors.  There weren't, apparently, even enough clothes to go around.

The movie is well filmed.  There were a bazillion camera men (including George Lucas).  The editing of the movie is incredible.  I didn't realize the Stones could be thoughtful, sober dudes.  They seemed really professional.

I'm not sure who's bright idea it was to have the Hell's Angels do the security for in exchange for beer at an all-day concert ... um, it ends as well as you would imagine it would.

SPOILER ALERT - stop reading if you don't know about the tragedy.

I don't think I've seen very many people killed on film.  It's chilling.  The first time you see it, it's fast and you see the glint of a blade in the Hells Angel's hand and you see a guy get stabbed twice before they scuffle out of frame.  I felt sick.  The Hell's Angels killed a guy.  My heart sank.

Then you see Mick Jagger watching the film of it later and they freeze frame on the Hell's Angel with the knife, and I felt even sicker.  It looks like a pretty big knife.  Then they rewind a little bit, and I could see the gun in the other guy's hand and suddenly felt completely different.  That Hell's Angel risked his life to save Mick Jagger.  The other guy had a gun and was pointing it at the stage and, before he could take a shot, the Hell's Angel took him down.

What a fucked up situation.  I don't like anything about it.  It's amazing, with everything that was going on, that they got it on film.  Who would believe that the guy the Hell's Angels stabbed (and then kicked to death) really had a gun if they didn't see it on the film?  Not me.

[first photo taken 10-8-2006 in Philadelphia]
[second photo taken 10-4-2006 in Philadelphia]