Library Of Congress unearths previously unseen footage of Rolling Stones’ Altamont Free Concert
The US Library Of Congress has published newly discovered footage of the Rolling Stones’ famous – and somewhat infamous – Altamont Free Concert in 1969.Although silent, the 26 minute film shows various performances from the day, including Carlos Santana, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, The Flying Burrito Brothers and the Stones themselves, along with audience footage.Attended by around 300,000 people, the event is best known for what went wrong, with tensions and violence growing throughout the day. The show culminated in the death of audience member Meredith Hunter, who was stabbed by a member of the Hell’s Angels, who had been hired to provide security for the event.Footage from the show has previously only been seen in 1970 documentary ‘Gimme Shelter’, and this newly discovered film presents images not previously available anywhere.The Library Of Congress’s Neely Tucker explains in a blog post that the film had been sitting undeveloped in its archives for nearly 20 years – after the Library acquired 200,000 reels of film from the the archives of Rick Prelinger in 2002.