New York, Madison Square Garden 24.1 1969 - CDr
master - 1st gen reel - 2nd gen. cass. - DAT - CDR - flac - world

1st set:

-. Touch Me (not on tape)

1. The Soft Parade (beg. cut)

2. Tell All The People

3. Love Me Two Times

4. Who Scared You?

5. Spanish Caravan

6. Wild Child

7. Light My Fire

2nd set:

8. jim intro rap / Back Door Man /

9. Me & The Devil Blues / "nobodys gonna tell us what to do.."

10. Five To One

11. Jim Introduces Band etc.

12. Hitler Poem

13. When the Music's Over

An excpert taken from Stephen Davis' book on Jim Morrison (2004) p. 309-310:
The Doors’ only show in January was a twenty-thousand-seat sellout at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday, January 24, 1969. It was the Doors’ biggest payday ever. Jim arrived a few days early with his UCLA friend Alain Ronay, and moved into the Plaza Hotel.

One evening Elektra invited some rock journalist to Jim’s suite, including Patricia Kennely, the young editor of Jazz & Pop magazine. (Kennely was impressed that Jim stood up to greet her when she walked into the room.) She and the other writers were less impressed when Jim got drunk, lost his cool, and humiliated writer Ellen Sander, who had once called Jim “a Mickey Mouse de Sade” in print. Jim had never forgotten it.

Jim and Ronay spent the evening in the Village, drinking incognito at the Lions Head, the Cedar Tavern, and McSorley’s. On the night before the concert, Jim drunkenly interrupted Tiny Tim's act at Max Kansas City by pretending to give him a head. At four o’clock in the morning, Jim called Robby Krieger’s room and intoned, “This is God calling. I have decided to kick you out of the universe.”

The great rhythm and soul group the Staple Singers opened the show at Madison Square Garden. The Doors (with Harvey Brooks on bass, three horns, and a string section) ran through a set heavy with new songs (“Soft Parade,” “Tell All The People,” “Wild Child”) and golden oldies: “Light My Fire,” “Back Door Man,” “Five To One.” The show was lit by the Doors’ new lighting director, Chip Monck, and untold thousands of cheap camera flashes, bathing the huge are in strange, stroboscopic light. Jim Morrison – bearded, fleshy, alert – made up for the shortcomings of the venue with an intimate, passionate performance that surprised everyone familiar with his burgeoning reputation as a hopeless drunk. At the show’s midpoint he took off his expensive leather jacket and flung it to the kids, who ripped it to shreds like a sacrifical goat.

Between songs he involved the audience in a joke. Pointing to the left half of the arena, Jim solemnly intoned, “You&ldots;are&ldots;Life.” Pointing to the other half, he announced, “And you are&ldots;Death!” After a pregnant pause, Jim delivered the punch line. “I straddle the fence&ldots;and my balls hurt!”

This was Jim Morrison’s idea of humor in early 1969.

The concert finished with “When The Music’s Over” and its scarifying plea for redemption and salvation. Jim, singing in a yellow halo called “Stope The Car” that described jumping out of a moving vehicle. It always ended with an agonized wail – “I can’t live&ldots;through each slow century&ldots;of her moving!” – before the band resumed the song they were performing.

Despite their impeccable L.A. provenance, the Doors had been a quasi-New York band since their Ondine shows three years earlier (November, 1966), and Jim Morrison pulled out the stops that night, cementing the Doors’ media rep as one of the great rock bands in the world. Later that night,Jim shivered pitifully in an uptown Chinese restaurant because he’d thrown his coat away. His teeth chattered as he drank a dozen beers.
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The Doors Interactive Chronological History at www.doorshistory.com has this to say about this show:
The Doors play one performance at 8:30 p.m. to a sell-out crowd of over 20,000! For the occasion, Jim and friend Alan Ronay leave for NYC a few days early to take in the town and do some interviews and The Doors take the stage tonight with an additional bass player, Harvey Brooks and a small orchestra. The Garden is not adjusted well or rigged for musical bands around this time and the sound quality is deficient due to the large size of the arena. Despite the shortcomings of the arena's acoustics, The Doors put on a marvelous show with the help of technician Vince Treanor who has created an incredibly powerful system for tonight's performance.

Jim begins the show without many theatrics but with every little pose he gets into - the crowd erupts. He is in complete control and heaves his leather coat into the audience early on as a show of submission and connection, yet not. New York loves The Doors! One of the most memorable moments tonight is where Jim announces to one side of the arena, "You are life!", and to the other, "You are death!", pauses for a moment, "I straddle the fence - and my balls hurt!".

Jim is larger than life tonight extending himself in the huge arena while putting out his grand persona amidst constant lighting changes that sets the arena on fire and gives the concert a strobe-like effect. He and the band are up to the challenge of the large venue and The Doors succeed to pull off one of their greatest accomplishments as a band, one that has just rocked the most significant indoor arena of it's time!

Jac Holzman is in attendance tonight with his young son Adam and an entourage of Elektra personnel seated right in front of Patricia Kennealy on assignment for Jazz and Pop magazine. Tonights gate takes in over $125,000 and The Doors retain over $50,000 making them one of the highest paid acts in the business.