Very Low Quality - Doors Singer Bowl.wmv

This is one of two very short very low quality Youtube films, one of the Doors and one of The Who that I filmed at the Singer Bowl in 1968. I went with a friend of mine and we had already seen the Doors at the Fillmore East and the Who at the Village Theater and a Murray the K Show, so we were primed for a great show. The Singer Bowl was in Flushing Meadows in Queens and had been built for the 1964 NY World's Fair.

Kangaroo opened to an impatient audience. There were several delays due to the revolving stage not working right.The Who were great and encored with an extended version of a new tune Magic Bus. This was before Tommy so they relied on short pop songs except for the classic "A quick one while he's away". The stage was set to rotate but it stopped working totally for the Doors so they played right in front of us. Morrison as usual started out slowly just holding the microphone but soon was leaping into the songs, attacking the songs and taunting the audience, later he was writhing on the floor and crawling snake like under the stage. There was a lot of police presence which was common then in rock concerts but especially with the doors. After The End ended we were leaving to catch a series of subways and buses but others were throwing chairs at the stage, the police, and each other. It was on the news but It was never clear why except because they could. And yes the Doors were fantastic. I never saw Morrison again but saw Robby and Ray in Atlanta in 05 and plan to see them in Norfolk 2010. The Who were great fun as usual but there's no one like the Doors.

I used an old Super 8mm Kodax camera that used cartridges that resulted 3 in reels holding about 3-4 minutes of action and no audio. I only had one cartridge. I only took a few clips of each band due to the shortage of tape. The lights were on for the Who so they are clearer. The Doors had the lights turned down low as usual. The original films are choppy as I held the camera above the crowd and tried to manage the limited recording time, the swarming crowds, and because of my general inexperience with filming. They laid in a drawer for 40 years but I had them digitized a few years ago. I put the best (meaning anything remotely viewable) into a video file. After the Doors Documentary When You're Strange on PBS which included some nice Singer Bowl segments I got around to posting them online to share with a friend. For those of you who asked, it's all on Youtube but yes the original quality is a little better. I don't think the vendor that I had convert them cleaned the film first perhaps I'll try that sometime and see if it comes out any better.

Thanks to those who posted the audio on youtube. There was good audio of The Who set that has disappeared and one with the Doors's Light My Fire

ticket stub : http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobistraveling/4669265450/in/photostream/
Brochure Cover: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobistraveling/4669270706/in/photostream/
Doors Booklet: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobistraveling/4668643681/in/photostream/

bobistraveling back through time

FRI. AUG. 02, 1968 SINGER BOWL
FLUSHING MEADOWS, QUEENS, NY
The New York Rock Festival at The Singer Bowl

Category:

Music

Tags:

• doors
• music

[ligger2]

I was hanging out back stage with the Who while the Doors were performing, so I didn't get a chance to see this as it happened.

By the way, I don't believe that the Who ever played the Anderson Theater, perhaps he meant the Village Theater, which later morphed into the Fillmore East.

[bobistraveling]

@ligger2

Correct it was the Village Theater I was confusing it with a Procul Harum Moby Grape show at the Anderson. What did people do for memory before the interenet?

thanks

[ludwiggrayson]

Thanks, that clip is a memory buster. The revolving stage (which got stuck), Kangaroo (Jon Hall, later of Orleans) opened and were so-so, The Who were terrific and pulled some kid up on stage to play wooden blocks during Magic Bus and then exploded their amps while smashing the drums and Townshend's guitar as a finale. The three Doors played the intro to Back Door Man for what seemed like a half hour. Morrison was seriously impaired (surprise !). A full scale riot ensued. It was good 60's fun.

[LZProjects]

@ligger2 Well why were The Who backstage while The Doors were performing then?

[ligger2]

You can see Kangaroo, with John Hall and Norm Smart, backstage for just a moment in When You're Strange. Jim signals the film maker to capture them.

[ligger2]

@LZProjects yes they did.



[LZProjects]

@ligger2 Didn't The Who perform first?

[Bopalena]

I was there! It was my first concert and it was amazing.

[topofthepopsguy]

The Doors Audio for Light My Fire from this show can be found in the clip suggestions here on the right pannel.Or a general search on YouTube for this clip using Singer Bowl 68' should return the appropriate clip.Hope this has been of some assistance here.Thanks for these great clips bobistraveling!

[ovelonse]

Esto tiene mucho mas valor sentimental q increible valor economico gracias por compartirlo

Greetings from Ecuador 18's years old Doors and who fan