The Rolling Stones ( B14 )

Blackhill Enterprises stage manager Sam Cutler introduced the Rolling Stones on to the stage by announcing: "Let's welcome the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World." Cutler repeated the introduction throughout their 1969 US tour. Jagger read an excerpt from Shelley's poem Adonaïs, an elegy written on the death of his friend John Keats. They released thousands of butterflies in memory of Jones before opening their set with "I'm Yours and I'm Hers", a Johnny Winter number. Also performed, but previously unheard by the audience, were "Midnight Rambler" and "Love in Vain" from their forthcoming album Let It Bleed (released December 1969) and "Give Me A Drink", which eventually appeared on Exile on Main St. (released May 1972) as "Loving Cup". The show also included the concert debut of "Honky Tonk Women", which had been released the previous day.The Stones' last album of the sixties was Let It Bleed which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 3 in the US. It featured "Gimme Shelter" with guest lead female vocals by Merry Clayton (sister of Sam Clayton, of the American rock band Little Feat). Other tracks include "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (with accompaniment by the London Bach Choir, who initially asked that their name be removed from the album's credits after apparently being "horrified" by the content of some of its other material, but later withdrew this request), "Midnight Rambler" as well as a cover of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain". Jones and Taylor are both featured on the album.Just after the US tour ended, the band performed at the Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway, about fifty miles (80 km) east of San Francisco. The Hells Angels biker gang provided security. A fan, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed and beaten to death by the Angels after they realised he was armed.

continuare