How the Altamont Free Concert Ended the Summer of Love

Lambasted by Rolling Stone magazine as “rock and roll’s all-time worst day — a day when everything went perfectly wrong,“ the 1969 music festival at Altamont Speedway in Northern California was a concert unlike any other. Immortalized in the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter, Altamont was scheduled during one of the most rebellious and heady times in American history, filled with gritty guitar riffs, lots of recreational drugs, and young people looking to rebel. The free concert gave fans a chance to jam out with some of the most epic bands of the counterculture, including the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. But when the Hells Angels showed up to work security, things took a turn for the worse. Fans expecting free love and peace were treated to brutality and general mayhem. Forever remembered for its shocking violence, destruction, and chaos, the tragic events at Altamont ended the era of free love and marked the death of the swinging ’60s. Be sure to subscribe