The Debacle at Altamont: Whose Fault Was It?
Former Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead manager Sam Cutler, who died on July 11 at 80, appears to be getting a hard pass in obits about his part in the fiasco at Altamont in 1969 where an attendee was killed by Hells Angels near the stage. It’s routinely referred to as “the Altamont debacle” in articles about Cutler’s passing and the end-of-the-’60s fest.
It all began in England after the Stones’ successful free concert in London’s Hyde Park on July 5, 1969. Following the show, Mick Jagger decided he wanted to do one in the U.S. to end their upcoming tour. They picked San Francisco as the location, but Golden Gate Park wasn’t available, so they moved the event to the Altamont Raceway 65 miles east of San Francisco in Tracy.
Years later in his Life autobiography, Keith Richards pointed a crooked finger at the “boneheaded, hard-nosed San Francisco council” for not allowing the show to precede in Golden Gate Park.
The Dead’s guitarist Jerry Garcia recalled the Human Be-In that took place in the park’s Polo Grounds in 1967 had no such problems despite Hells Angels’ involvement.
“When we did the Be-In the park in ’66 or ’67 the…
