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BOSTON ARENA - 04/10/1970

BOSTON, MA - U.S.A.

Venue Address: 238 St. Botolph St. - Boston, MA
Promotion: Fred Samango
Event: In Concert

Also Performing:
Gordon Lowe
Axis

Setlist:

Early Show Roadhouse Blues Ship Of Fools Alabama Song > Back Door Man > Five To One -You Gotta Love Your Man When The Music's Over Rock Me Mystery Train -People Get Ready -Mystery Train -Crossroads Wake Up! -Awake Light My Fire -Let's Roll	Late Show House Announcer (Unknown) Break On Through -Don't Fight It When The Music's Over Roadhouse Blues The Spy -You've Been Bad Alabama Song > Back Door Man > Five To One Build Me A Woman -Sunday Trucker You Make Me Real Mystery Train -People Get Ready -Away In India -Crossroads Adolf Hitler (Poem) Light My Fire -Fever -Summertime -St. James Infirmary -Graveyard Poem Been Down So Long* Maggie M'Gill (Power Cut)*

	* Featuring Ray On Guitar / Robby On Bass

Recordings / Film:
Multi-track Recording (Absolutely Live) (See Below)
Amateur Audience Recording (Early Show)
Amateur Audience Recording (Late Show)
Amateur Audience Film (Late Show) #1 (See Below)
Amateur Audience Film (Late Show) #2

Photographers:
Peter Tarnoff
Unidentified (See Below)

Reviews / Info:
-7:00pm & 10:00pm scheduled start times.
-These performances are recorded for Absolutely Live! on a remote truck provided by Fedco Audio Labs.
-Jim Morrison is exceptionally drunk during these performances.
-The late show starts at 12:18am on April 11th.
-The Doors give a rare performance of The Spy during the late show.
-This performance includes a rare rendition of 'Graveyard Poem' during Light My Fire.
-Jim Morrison yells "cocksuckers!" and smashes a microphone stand into the floor when the power is cut during the late show.
-Salt Palace manager Earl Duryea attends these performances and cancels the following night's shows in Salt Lake City.
-An audience member captures portions of this show on 8mm film. (See Below)
-16mm color footage from this night is known to exist (See Below)
-This is The Doors 3rd and final appearance in Boston with Jim Morrison.

"My first concert ever was The Doors at the Boston Arena. I was 15 years old at the time and a huge fan. The album "Morrison Hotel" has just been released and I thought it was their best one yet. A friend of mine from grade school played guitar in an amateur band with several older high school kids. One of the guys had just gotten his driver's license and offered to drive us into town if anyone could manage to get tickets. We mailed in our request and luckily four tickets arrived about a week later.

I remember it was a Friday evening in the early spring. I can recall it still being light out as we drove into the city. We found parking close to the venue and made our way on foot over to the location. The Arena was a place that I had heard had formerly featured stock car racing and now mainly held sporting events such as boxing and wrestling, a good as place as any I imagined to experience a live Doors show.

We made our way in past the ticket takers and found our seats on the ground floor which had been set up with rickety brown wooden folding chairs. The Doors came on as scheduled a little after 7pm, unlike the second show which didn't start until almost midnight. Apparently, Jim stepped out to hoist a few at a local bar between sets and had a little trouble making it back on time for the second set. When he did eventually appear, it seems he was a little worse for the wear and tear.

With the lights still low, the band members made their way to the stage and took up positions with their instruments. Morrison wasted no time, quickly grabbing the microphone and let out a blood curdling scream as the band jumped right into the opener, "Roadhouse Blues." Everyone around me immediately stood up on their chairs. From the first notes, crowd enthusiasm went into overdrive and stayed that way until the conclusion of the show. I thought people might settle down after the first number but I was wrong. I wondered how long the rickety old wooden chairs could support the weight and half expected to start seeing those around me tumbling to the ground as chairs began collapsing. The smell of burning joints filled the hall covering up the industrial odor that predominated beforehand. All we had though was a red soft pack of Pall Mall non-filter cigarettes that my buddy had managed to "borrow" from his dad ( without telling him, of course ) before leaving home. So happily we commenced to light up and puff along as best we could.

After "Roadhouse Blues" came "Alabama Song" followed in quick succession by "Ship of Fools," "Backdoor Man," "Five to One" and then one of the highlights, "When The Music's Over." It was amazing to be hearing all these songs played live for the first time. I knew them all by heart and sang along at the top of my lungs, I'm sure to the annoyance of the people around me. During the first song That I was unfamiliar with, "Away In India," I sat back down to take a break, lighting up another Pall Mall and coughing a bit from all the singing and smoking.

That night Jimbo wore black jeans and a blue sweater on stage. All the other Doors seem to be wearing their street clothes as well, no fancy stage outfits for these guys. They were here to play rock & roll, not put on a fashion show. Between songs a girl near the stage yelled something at Morrison, what sounded to me like "show us your blah blah." I couldn't quite make out what she was saying but Jim didn't miss a beat, responded in a slow croon, "what would you do with it, baby?" Someone near the front of the stage managed to grab hold of the sleeve of Morrison's sweater and as Jim retreated from the edge of the stage, it stretched like silly putty, maybe ten feet or more.

The concert continued with a medley that included "Mystery Train" and "Crossroads" and ended up appropriately enough with their big hit, "Light My Fire." At the conclusion the band bid us all goodnights and took their leave of the stage, knowing they still had another show to do that night. I wished there was some way we could have hidden out somewhere and waited for the next show. But I knew my parents would freak out and anyway by now the ushers were already methodically herding everyone toward the exits.

Outside, long lines were already forming for the sold out second show. Someone shouted at us, "Did you just see the Doors? How were they?" No need to answer though, as the grins on our faces told the whole story. People were desperately calling out for "any extra tickets? pleeaase!" and even the scalpers seemed to be in short supply on this particular night.

The Doors music filled my head during the hour long ride home, indeed for the rest of the evening, and the post-concert euphoria continued for at least several days afterward. The album "Absolutely Live" came out about a year later. I bought it of course and wondered if parts of it had been recorded during the concert in Boston. The liner notes stated it had been recorded at multiple venues during the tour so it seemed likely that parts may actually have been. I had no idea at the time that decades later the entire show would be released and available for purchase through the Door's Bright Midnight label.

Later the next summer I received a phone call from my concert friend. Did I hear the news? Jim Morrison had died the night before in Paris. Thus ended the Doors brief reign as America's greatest rock and roll band. My friend picked me up after work and we drove out to Cape Cod in his new blue 1968 Mustang convertible, listening to Doors albums on the 8-track car stereo.

Around midnight we found ourselves down on the beach. As we finished off the six-pack of Schaeffer we'd brought along, we decided to climb the steep cliffs up toward the estates where the rich folks lived. As we got closer, a watch dog began barking wildly, furious at our approach. Deciding at that point it would be wise to turn back but before doing so pausing a moment to take in the view from the heights. Gazing down below at the beach and the sea in the midnight moonlight, the songs continuously played in my head like an endless tape loop, "let's swim to the sea, uh huh, lets climb to the tide. Penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Sometimes, even today, if I listen closely I can still hear them playing in the near distance, never really too far away."

Ken Rose
New York City, NY
Copyright © 2020 Ken Rose

A Special Thanks to Ken Rose for providing his review of the concert to MildEquator.com!

MULTI-TRACK RECORDING

On July 21st, 1969 The Doors set out to record what was originally intended to become their live album at the Aquarius Theater. The following day before the equipment is torn down, a rehearsal by the band with no audience present is also taped. The band gives two impressive live performances at the venue, however producer Paul Rothchild decides upon playback of the tapes that more work is needed to be done in order to present The Doors to the public as they should be heard. Further plans to record the band live are made, and in 1970 they record their performances in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. The resulting tapes make up what is known today as the Absolutely Live! album released in July of 1970.

The Doors - Boston 1970 Tape Box - Multi-track Recording

8MM COLOR FOOTAGE #1

Info:

Silent Color 8mm. Hard to watch. The footage is broken into clips rather than filmed as a continuous take. This footage was commonly labeled as Chicago 1970, but new photographs have proven this footage was shot during the Boston performances in April, 1970. Jim appears to be overly intoxicated, and the assumption is made that this footage was shot during the late show.

8MM COLOR FOOTAGE #2

Info:

A second, color film shot at the Boston show. The footage is rumored to be over 30 minutes in length, and appears to be very good quality. No further details are known.

ARCHIVE/MEMORABILIA:

REVIEW:

Newspaper: The Boston Globe
Author: Barry Gilbert
Publish Date: April 13th - 1970
Copyright © Barry Gilbert
The Doors - Boston 1970 - Review