Interview

If Woodstock was the cathartic high of 60s rock concerts, then Altamont was the bum trip. Criterion's Blu-Ray release of Gimme Shelter, the 1970 documentary about the Rolling Stones show that brought the Summer of Love to a violent end, is a reminder of how delicate and unlikely that hippie miracle dramatized earlier this year in Ang Lee's rosy-cheeked Taking Woodstock really was.

Altamont–which descended into chaos, leaving four spectators dead–represents the dark side of rock the Stones had tapped in to with hits like "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Paint it Black." But it's fair to say Mick & Co. didn't see this one coming. It was a free concert at a desert speedway in Marin County, and the Stones hired the Hell's Angels to handle their security. At first, it seemed like a good move: the 300,000-plus fans, many of them high, were doing all sorts of unpredictable things.

On his way to his trailer, Jagger got hit in the face. Later, the Angels started beating concertgoers  with weighted pool cues. A motorcycle was torched and, when an audience member drew a gun, things turned murderous. During a follow-up broadcast on a local radio station–portions of which are included on the Blu-Ray extra–dismayed callers offer all sorts of explanations: the Angels were thugs, the stage was too low. One person suggests that fans upset they'd missed out on Woodstock had decided they were going to have the experience of a lifetime–and to hell to anyone who got in their way. It's a little sad to think that directors David and Albert Maysles nearly named their landmark concert film after a different Stones song "Love in Vain."