Venue Address: 214 College St. - Toronto, ON 
Promotion: Brower-Walker Presents
Event: Toronto Rock n' Roll Revival

Also Performing:

John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band Doug Kershaw Little Richard Gene Vincent Jerry Lee Lewis Cat Mother & The All Night Newsboys Chuck Berry Alice Cooper

Tony Joe White Jr. Walker & The Allstars Screaming Lord Sutch Chicago Transit Authority Bo Diddley Whiskey Howl (Local) Flapping (Local) Milkwood (Local)

Setlist:
House Announcer (Kim Fowley)
When The Music's Over
Break On Through
Back Door Man
      -Maggie M'Gill
      -Roadhouse Blues
The Crystal Ship
Wake Up!
Light My Fire
The End
      -Illustrious Musical Geniuses (Dialogue)

Recordings / Film:
Amateur/Audience Recording
8mm/35mm Professional Film - Sweet Toronto (See Below)
8mm Amateur Film (See Below)

Photographers:
Steve Bulion
Roy Carr
Brian Clarkson (Backstage)
Godfrey Jordan
Richard Maxwell (Amateur)
Doug McClement (Amateur)
Unidentified (Harbinger)

Reviews / Info:
-Ed Glinert of the Fredric Lewis Bureau is the booking agent for the Toronto Rock n' Roll Revival.
-The Doors stay at the Four Seasons hotel.
-Jim Morrison is interviewed for the Toronto Star by Jack Batten in L.A. prior to this performance.
-Promotional films by The Doors are shown on September 6th at the Varsity Arena by Kim Fowley.
-Tickets for this festival are printed by the Canadian Bank Note Co. in Ottawa to prevent counterfeiting.
-Fifty $10.00 bills are taped under seats at the stadium.
-Despite sharing a bill with John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band at the last minute, The Doors remain the headliner of this festival.
-1:00pm festival start time.
-The Doors are escorted from the airport to the festival by The Vagabonds motorcycle gang.
-The Doors are briefly captured on film as they are escorted to the festival (See Below).
-Approx. 10,000 in attendance.
-Two round trip plane tickets to see The Doors recording Morrison Hotel in L.A. are to be given away by Kim Fowley.
-Prior to his performance Jim Morrison appears sidestage to observe the happenings of the festival.
-The Doors take the stage one hour after John Lennon.
-Kim Fowley introduces The Doors to the stage.
-The Doors do not allow the filming of their performance by the Leacock-Pennebaker crew due to the Miami incident.
-Jim Morrison recites early lyrics from Roadhouse Blues and Maggie M'Gill during Back Door Man.
-Jim Morrison gives a spoken tribute to festival performers for the introduction of The End.
-The Doors performance concludes at approx. 1:45am.
-An audience member captures this performance on tape.
-An audience member captures portions of this performance on 8mm film (See Below).
-The Harbinger puts on a free music festival the following day in Queen's Park to coincide with the festival.
-Newspapers across Canada and the U.S. report on the festival.

SWEET TORONTO

A FILM BY D.A. PENNEBAKER

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Info:

The first cut of Sweet Toronto premieres in Dallas on February 28th, 1971 to benefit the USA Film Festival and runs at approximately two hours and ten minutes. Performance footage of The Doors shot by D.A. Pennebaker during this festival does not exist, however brief clips of their arrival can be seen in his film Sweet Toronto. Pennebaker is hired to film performances by all artists at the Toronto Rock n' Roll Revival, however The Doors film rights were withheld, and all sources indicate The Doors were never captured on film or sound reels. Recent inquiries with the Pennebaker's reveal that no film or audio has ever turned up in their archives.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:

REVIVAL69

A RON CHAPMAN FILM

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Info:

In 2022 a new documentary film titled REVIVAL69: The Concert That Rocked The World is developed and shown in select cinemas across Canada. Directed by Ron Chapman, the film makes use of the original filmwork shot by D.A. Pennebaker during the Toronto Rock n' Roll Revival in September 1969, with new interviews and commentary from Robby Krieger, Alice Cooper, and other rock n' roll icons. While The Doors performance was never captured on film or recorded, a trailer for the documentary features previously unseen footage of The Doors arriving at the festival. The complete contents of the finished documentary are currently unknown, however a commercial release is likely set to take place.

8MM FILM & PHOTOGRAPHS

BY DOUG MCCLEMENT

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"Not too many people brought cameras to concerts back then, and The Doors part of the show was not filmed for Sweet Toronto. When the cameraman at the centre stage shooting position cleared off his gear after John Lennon's set, I climbed onto it. I have about twenty seconds of video of The Doors taken with an 8mm camera, and about 8 minutes of film over the course of the day. I was 16 years old at the time. I remember marvelling at the custom built amplifiers The Doors used, and how close together they set up, even though it was a large stage. My main impression of their set was how underrated the guitarist was. Robby played brilliantly. I also have about a dozen photos I took of various bands, and some newspaper clippings from various Toronto papers. It's a shame there's so little footage of The Doors, but I only had one five-minute reel to record 15 bands, and nobody knew John Lennon was going to be there, so I used up a minute on him."

Doug McClement
Toronto, CANADA
Copyright © 2016 Doug McClement

CLICK TO WATCH A SEGMENT OF THE FILM! >

The Doors - Toronto 1969 8mm from jim4371 on Vimeo.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:

PHOTOGRAPHS:

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GODFREY JORDAN PHOTOGRAPHY

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Local photographer Godfrey Jordan captured Jim Morrison and The Doors on film at the Toronto Rock n' Roll Revival. To purchase prints, please visit http://www.GodfreyJordan.com



"The only film cameras I saw that day were the Leacock-Pennebaker crew who shot the Sweet Toronto movie. I was riding on the back of one of the Harleys in the opening sequence, with the motorcycle club escort from the airport. In the photo I took my reflection on the Harley is visible on the limo door as Jim turns to look at me. One of his press people in the limo, Leon, gave me his card when we arrived at the venue and asked me to send along some of those shots. I did, but heard nothing further.

That evening I was shooting a few stills on stage left (nothing really usable, soft focus) and during a long organ instrumental Jim wandered over by me, for a break, leaning on an amp. I held out my press card and asked if he would autograph it. "Later, man, later," he mumbled. Never followed up on it. Instead I had to hurry down to the Toronto Star office to get my concert photos processed for deadline. (None made it to publication.)

The Doors concluded that day's 12 hour concert known as The Toronto Rock n' Roll Revival. However, just preceding The Doors was The Plastic Ono Band, featuring the first performance by John Lennon - without the Beatles - which really was THE story of the time."

Godfrey Jordan
Toronto, CA
Copyright © 2014 Godfrey Jordan

A Special Thanks to Godfrey Jordan for sharing his memories of the festival with MildEquator.com!

How I Spent My Summer of '69 - CBC's LIVING IT UP

Godfrey Jordan's rock & roll photography was profiled on CBC's 'Living It Up' in 2012. Godfrey is also featured in the program, discussing the history and background of his career, and the famous photographs taken of iconic rock artists Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, and more. Click on the image below to watch the program on YouTube!

JACK BATTEN INTERVIEWS JIM MORRISON

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Publication: Toronto Star
Interview Date: Early September 1969
Publish Date: September 13th - 1969
Interview Location: The Doors Office

In early September 1969, Jack Batten travels from Toronto to The Doors office for a lengthy interview with Jim Morrison on the upcoming Toronto Rock n' Roll Revival music festival. Jim is exhausted after an all-night mixing session for the soundtrack of HWY. The article is published on the day of The Doors performance in Toronto, September 13th.

< Click To Read The Article!

"I was a freelance writer when I did the Jim Morrison piece for the Star, and I still am today. The Star asked me to go to Los Angeles to interview Morrison in advance of the festival, and since they were paying the expenses and not a bad fee, I agreed. I flew in late one afternoon, did the interview the following afternoon and flew home that night. I didn't use a tape recorder in those days (hardly any journalist did) and I didn't save the notes I made during the interview.

Leon wasn't a constant presence during the interview. I had a coffee with him before the interview at a cafe across the street, then he introduced me to JM, and after that, he was in and out of the office. I can't remember how long I had with Jim, but I recall he was in no rush about anything. He took one phone call while I was in the office. It was with a writer whose last name was McClure, if I remember correctly. Morrison was obliging, polite, good company and I left thinking he was very good guy. He said the band would likely be having a party after the concert in Toronto and he'd invite me to it. It would probably take place at the hotel where they were staying, which, I'm almost certain, was the Four Seasons. It was only a couple of blocks from the festival site at Varsity Stadium.

Then came the day of the festival. I believe it started at noon, scheduled to go until The Doors finished it around midnight. I'm quite sure I was there to write a review for The Star (I wouldn't have attended if I wasn't going to earn some money). So there was Little Richard, Yoko and John, Alice Cooper and so on. It went through the afternoon in the hot sun, then into the night. The press sat in a fenced-in section on the field right in front of the bandstand. Alice Cooper threw a live chicken into the audience. But the chicken didn't travel far, landing in the press section to general pandemonium.

My wife was with me for the latter part of the concert, and about an hour before The Doors came on, Morrison appeared with another guy at the side of the stage to watch whatever act was performing. I got the impression he was just sizing up things before he went on. He was dressed in jeans and a shirt, and nobody seemed to recognize him. I pointed him out to my wife who urged me to speak to him about the party. I was so tired by then that the last thing I wanted to do was go to a party, even if it was with Jim Morrison. I never spoke to Morrison nor attended a party (if it even took place), two failures that my wife--we're still married--mentions whenever the Morrison name comes up."

Jack Batten
Toronto, CA
Copyright © 2012 Jack Batten

A Special Thanks to Jack Batten for sharing his memories of the interview with MildEquator.com!

BANKNOTE TICKETS:

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ARTICLE:

Newspaper: Toronto Star
Author: Unknown
Publish Date: September 3rd - 1969
Copyright © The Toronto Star

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ROY CARR'S JIM MORRISON AUTOGRAPH:

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On September 13th 1969, music journalist Roy Carr met Jim Morrison in Toronto for the 'Toronto Rock n' Roll Revival' music festival in 1969. Carr was evidently writing a piece for the After Four section of the Toronto Telegram, where he had one of his cards signed by Jim. A special thanks to the current owner, Juha Kakkuri for providing these scans to MildEquator.




Contributed By: Juha Kakkuri


Photograph by Roy Carr

ARCHIVE/MEMORABILIA:

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NEWSPAPER PHOTO:

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REVIEW #1:

Newspaper: Toronto Star
Author: Jack Batten
Publish Date: September 15th - 1969
Copyright © Toronto Star

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REVIEW #2:

Newspaper: Kitchener Waterloo Record
Author: Jim Clements
Publish Date: September 15th - 1969
Copyright © Kitchener Waterloo Record

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REVIEW #3:

Newspaper: Montreal Star
Author: Dick Macdonald
Publish Date: September 15th - 1969
Copyright © Montreal Star

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REVIEW #4:

Newspaper: Montreal Gazette
Author: Herbert Aronoff
Publish Date: September 15th - 1969
Copyright © Montreal Gazette

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REVIEW #5:

Newspaper: The Windsor Star
Author: John Laycock
Publish Date: September 15th - 1969
Copyright © The Windsor Star

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REVIEW #6:

Newspaper: The Windsor Star
Author: Andre Ouimet
Publish Date: September 15th - 1969
Copyright © The Windsor Star

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REVIEW #7:

Newspaper: The Montreal Star
Author: Dick MacDonald
Publish Date: September 15th - 1969
Copyright © The Montreal Star

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REVIEW #8:

Newspaper: The Albertan
Author: Andre Ouimet
Publish Date: September 15th - 1969
Copyright © The Albertan

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REVIEW #9:

Newspaper: The Edmonton Journal
Author: Andre Ouimet
Publish Date: September 16th - 1969
Copyright © The Edmonton Journal

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REVIEW #10:

Newspaper: The Chicago Tribune
Author: Robb Baker
Publish Date: September 17th - 1969
Copyright © The Chicago Tribune

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REVIEW #11:

Newspaper: The Chicago Tribune
Author: Robb Baker
Publish Date: September 21st - 1969
Copyright © The Chicago Tribune

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REVIEW #12:

Newspaper: Toronto Star
Author: Jack Batten
Publish Date: September 20th - 1969
Copyright © Toronto Star

Contributed By: MildEquator.com

REVIEW #13:

Newspaper: The Harbinger
Author: Unknown
Publish Date: September xx - 1969
Copyright © The Harbinger

Contributed By: jim4371

REVIEW #14:

Newspaper: The Detroit Free Press
Author: Ritchie Yorke
Publish Date: October 3rd - 1969
Copyright © The Detroit Free Press

Contributed By: MildEquator.com

REVIEW #15:

Newspaper: The Calgary Herald
Author: David Cobb
Publish Date: December 6th - 1969
Copyright © The Calgary Herald

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ARTICLE #1:

Newspaper: Toronto Star
Author: Unknown
Publish Date: August 22nd - 1969
Copyright © Toronto Star

Contributed By: MildEquator.com

ARTICLE #2:

Newspaper: Toronto Star
Author: Jack Batten
Publish Date: September 11th - 1969
Copyright © Toronto Star

Contributed By: MildEquator.com

ARTICLE #3:

Newspaper: The Spectator
Author: Unknown
Publish Date: September 12th - 1969
Copyright © The Spectator

Contributed By: MildEquator.com

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RALLY HANDBILL:

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POSTER:

Design By: Unknown
Dimensions: 18.5" x 25"

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