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MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - 01/24/1969

NEW YORK, NY - U.S.A.

Venue Address: 4 Pennsylvania Plaza - New York, NY
Promotion: Elektra
Event: In Concert

Also Performing:
The Staple Singers

Setlist:

Rehearsal (Jan. 23 - Steinway Hall)
Touch Me
Wild Child
(Incomplete)

Soundcheck
(Unknown)

Performance
Touch Me
The Soft Parade
Tell All The People
Love Me Two Times
Who Scared You
Spanish Caravan
Wild Child
Light My Fire
      "Anybody Got A Cigarette?"
Back Door Man
      -Woman Is A Devil
Five To One
      (Band Introductions)
Forget This Is The Square Garden (Dialogue)
Adolf Hitler (Poem)
When The Music's Over
      "This whole performance is being telecast live for national TV..."

Recordings / Film:
Amateur/Audience Recording
Lost Amateur/Audience Recording (See Below)
16mm Film (See Below)
8mm Amateur/Audience Film (See Below)

Photographers:
Dan Berliner (Amateur)
Cal Deal
Jim Garrett
Thomas Monaster
Norina Morale (Amateur)
Audie Moran (Amateur)
Ron Rizzi (Amateur)
Joe Sia
Thomas Wargacki (Backstage)
Unidentified (Amateur & Professional)

Reviews / Info:
-The Doors stay at the Plaza Hotel.
-The Doors rehearse with full orchestra at Steinway Hall on the day prior to this performance.
-During rehearsal, Jim Morrison sits on a stool with his back to a large mirror.
-Scheduled start times vary between 8:00pm and 8:30pm in known advertisements.
-Promotional posters or handbills do not exist for this show.
-Approx. 20,000 in attendance.
-The Doors takes the stage at 10:15pm.
-This performance features Curtis Amy and George Bohanon in their on-stage orchestra.
-Harvey Brooks plays bass guitar at this show.
-Setlist includes a rare live performance of The Soft Parade and Who Scared You.
-Jim Morrison gives the first known recitation of 'Adolf Hitler' during this performance.
-At least one color 8mm film is shot by an audience member at this show.
-Jim Morrison tosses his leather jacket into the crowd and it is torn to bits.
-Jim Morrison tells the audience that this performance is being telecast live on TV.

NORINA MORALE'S MSG '69 PHOTOS:

On January 24th 1969, Norina Morale attends The Doors sold-out performance at New York's Madison Square Garden and snaps a couple of photos on her Instamatic camera. We'd like to give a special thanks to Norina for providing her photos to MildEquator.com!

FIRST-HAND REVIEWS:

"I had no way to get to the box office in New York City for these tickets; a NYC customer of my employer bought them for me, and treated my friends and I to the show. This ticket was pale green and had a $5.00 price on it (See Below). Pat, the same friend who shared that first, "life-altering" concert with me, plus two other friends and I took a train from Princeton, New Jersey into Penn Station in NYC.

Our seats were TERRIBLE... 2nd Promenade is nosebleed level, for sure. This place held 20,000 people. The Doors were on a stage so far away, way down there... Jim was a tiny figure in a white shirt. The horn section was onstage for part of the time, as this was the 'Soft Parade' era.

I have often heard the guys mention that this was their favorite show, I guess because of the venue prestige and audience size. It remains my LEAST favorite of all five shows, because I was so far away and felt disconnected, unable to really 'experience' the show."

Ida Miller
Los Angeles, CA
Copyright © 2011 Ida Miller

A Special Thanks to Ida Miller for providing her ticket stub & memories of the concert to MildEquator.com!

TICKET:

16MM FOOTAGE:

Info:

Near-stage footage shot on January 24th, 1969 during a sold out concert by The Doors at Madison Square Garden. Approx. 30 minutes of the show were captured on film by a two man crew using a Bolex Pro with 12-120 Arriflex lens. The footage covers the performance spanning from The Doors arrival on stage to the end of the show. During this performance, Jim Morrison announces to the audience "Hey listen, listen - you know this whole performance is being telecast live for national TV, y'know that? So if you have anything to say, you better say it now."

The whereabouts of the master footage reels are known, and this camera is later sold to road manager Vince Treanor and re-used to film The Doors in the streets of Mexico City. This Bolex Pro camera was the very first to be bought and operated in the United States.

8MM COLOR FOOTAGE:

Info:

Color 8mm shot from a distance. No audio present. The original filmer recently located this film in his closet after his re-discovery of a Led Zeppelin concert film at the Fillmore East dated one week after The Doors performance at Madison Square Garden on January 24th.

LOST RECORDING:

Info:

An audience member is photographed with a reel-to-reel tape recorder in her lap during The Doors performance at Madison Square Garden in 1969. There is a possibility that the recording is already the recording known to fans from this show, however there is a possibility that this is an alternate source. The identity of this audience member and the whereabouts of the tape are currently unknown.

PUBLISHED INTERVIEW - SYLVIE REICE

Publication: Various
Issue: Various - February 1969
Interview Date: January 23rd - 1969
Publish Date: Early February - 1969
Interview Location: Unknown Location - New York, NY

Info:
On January 23rd, 1969 at Steinway Hall in New York City, youth editor for McCall's magazine Sylvie Reice is given an opportunity to talk to Jim Morrison briefly while The Doors are rehearsing for their performance the following night at Madison Square Garden. A short Q&A takes place, and Jim Morrison is shown an article about himself in which he states "I'm tired of being misquoted". Feast Of Friends is mentioned, and Jim discusses his upcoming private poetry publications. During rehearsal The Doors perform Touch Me and Wild Child. There is currently no indication of its publication in McCall's, however various edits of an article titled 'Swinging Set' are syndicated in newspapers across the U.S. in early February of 1969.

PUBLISHED INTERVIEW - ELLEN SANDER

Publication: Hit Parader
Issue: November 1969
Interview Date: Mixed Dates - 1968/1969
Publish Date: November - 1969
Interview Location: Singer Bowl, Madison Square Garden - New York, N.Y.

Info:
This lengthy article by Ellen Sander, who would later become Jac Holzman's wife, is a mixed report of quotes and thoughts on The Doors conducted during her exclusive backstage access to the band during their performances in New York in August 1968 at the Singer Bowl, memoirs of the Madison Square Garden performance in 1969, and Jim Morrison at the Plaza Hotel in New York. The article also features a rare publication of quotes from Feast Of Friends filmmaker Paul Ferrara, and sound engineer Babe Hill.

ARCHIVE/MEMORABILIA:

REVIEW #1:

Newspaper: The New York Daily News
Author: Donald Flynn
Publish Date: January 25th - 1969
Copyright © The New York Daily News
Madison Square Garden - Review

Contributed By: jim4371

REVIEW #2:

Newspaper: The New York Times
Author: Mike Jahn
Publish Date: January 25th - 1969
Copyright © The New York Times
Madison Square Garden - Review

REVIEW #3:

Newspaper: Asbury Park Evening Press
Author: Joan Pikula
Publish Date: February 4th - 1969
Copyright © Asbury Park Evening Press
The Doors - Madison Square Garden 1969 - Review

The Doors - Madison Square Garden 1969 - Review

Contributed By: jim4371

ARTICLE:

Newspaper: The Herald-News
Author: Unknown
Publish Date: December 14th - 1969
Copyright © The Herald-News
The Doors - Madison Square Garden 1969 - Article