We're lucky to have former Doors road manager Vince Treanor here to answer fan questions and share some of his memories. Ask Vince about anything related to the equipment The Doors used, stage set-ups, specific concerts, the band after Jim's death, and working on the Oliver Stone movie.
Vince,
following the Singer Bowl performance on friday August 2nd 1968 was a performance at the Cleveland Public Auditorium (saturday Aug.3rd), a performance which is said to have been nearly as wild and out of control as Miami 1969...
Jim is said to have been as drunk, or drunker, than in Miami, a riotous crowd completely out of control....this must have been a memorable evening, may it be good or bad...do you have any remembrances from this night you`d like to share?
Cleveland was not such a crazy show. It is not easy to say just how drunk Jim was. How could anyone say that he was more or less intoxicated in one show compared to another without some measure or standard to make such a comparison.
Jim got wild. That was an indicator of less rather than more alcohol and possibly more, rather than less of other substances.
Out of control would be a full on riot. Believe me, Singer Bowl takes the cake for BAD. No other outburst, crown unrest, or what was referred to as a riot came near the temper and vicious behavior of the crowd at Singer Bowl. It was the most costly in terms of equipment loss as well.
A crowd that presses forward to the stage, yet does not try to invade, is not out of control. Kids standing up and moving about in aisles and across the front of the stage was something that made us nervous and watchful, not to mention deploy in the defensive mode. My outlook was - as long as they stay off my stage, anything goes. If they get on stage but stay out of range, we'ss take care of them when we can get to them, after the more aggressive numbers that managed to get up there.
The reports of riots were often exaggersted in the interest of sensationalism. Restive, unruly, milling around - there are many ways I would describe Cleveland - Full on riot - No problem.
By the way, there were a few who made it up on stage. The funerals were the following Thursday. I sent flowers.
I think what caused the reports we Jim jumping of stage into the audience. People rushed, as you can see in the photo, to touch. When he hit the floor no one knew what had happened - you can see the open area around him. Some thought he had fallen and was injured. They made space around him.
No Cleveland was just good fun and a lot of excited Kids - That is what we were there for. A good time and if a few got carried away - so that is all part of the fun.
You know, on reflection, if there were no riots I did not get to kick someone in the face or lash them with mike cords. That was a really boring show. We wanted riots to hone our skills at disabling them in the shortest possible time in the greatest numbers. That takes constant practice.
vince wrote:Cleveland was not such a crazy show. It is not easy to say just how drunk Jim was. How could anyone say that he was more or less intoxicated in one show compared to another without some measure or standard to make such a comparison.
Jim got wild. That was an indicator of less rather than more alcohol and possibly more, rather than less of other substances.
Out of control would be a full on riot. Believe me, Singer Bowl takes the cake for BAD. No other outburst, crown unrest, or what was referred to as a riot came near the temper and vicious behavior of the crowd at Singer Bowl. It was the most costly in terms of equipment loss as well.
A crowd that presses forward to the stage, yet does not try to invade, is not out of control. Kids standing up and moving about in aisles and across the front of the stage was something that made us nervous and watchful, not to mention deploy in the defensive mode. My outlook was - as long as they stay off my stage, anything goes. If they get on stage but stay out of range, we'ss take care of them when we can get to them, after the more aggressive numbers that managed to get up there.
The reports of riots were often exaggersted in the interest of sensationalism. Restive, unruly, milling around - there are many ways I would describe Cleveland - Full on riot - No problem.
By the way, there were a few who made it up on stage. The funerals were the following Thursday. I sent flowers.
I think what caused the reports we Jim jumping of stage into the audience. People rushed, as you can see in the photo, to touch. When he hit the floor no one knew what had happened - you can see the open area around him. Some thought he had fallen and was injured. They made space around him.
No Cleveland was just good fun and a lot of excited Kids - That is what we were there for. A good time and if a few got carried away - so that is all part of the fun.
You know, on reflection, if there were no riots I did not get to kick someone in the face or lash them with mike cords. That was a really boring show. We wanted riots to hone our skills at disabling them in the shortest possible time in the greatest numbers. That takes constant practice.
Thanks for posting your response, Vince. So many Doors fan seemed hell bent on describing the Cleveland '68 show as "poor" because Jim was "drunk." I've listened to the audience tape and I find Jim to be in a good mood and having fun with the audience. This isn't a bad show at all and those Doors fan who want to maintain otherwise are simply deluded.
I can see why people don't like it, the recording is pretty distant and distorted, and you don't get much more drunk as circulating audience recordings go.
The footage from Cleveland, though, is some of the best they shot for FOF.
vince wrote:Cleveland was not such a crazy show. It is not easy to say just how drunk Jim was. How could anyone say that he was more or less intoxicated in one show compared to another without some measure or standard to make such a comparison.
Jim got wild. That was an indicator of less rather than more alcohol and possibly more, rather than less of other substances.
Out of control would be a full on riot. Believe me, Singer Bowl takes the cake for BAD. No other outburst, crown unrest, or what was referred to as a riot came near the temper and vicious behavior of the crowd at Singer Bowl. It was the most costly in terms of equipment loss as well.
A crowd that presses forward to the stage, yet does not try to invade, is not out of control. Kids standing up and moving about in aisles and across the front of the stage was something that made us nervous and watchful, not to mention deploy in the defensive mode. My outlook was - as long as they stay off my stage, anything goes. If they get on stage but stay out of range, we'ss take care of them when we can get to them, after the more aggressive numbers that managed to get up there.
The reports of riots were often exaggersted in the interest of sensationalism. Restive, unruly, milling around - there are many ways I would describe Cleveland - Full on riot - No problem.
By the way, there were a few who made it up on stage. The funerals were the following Thursday. I sent flowers.
I think what caused the reports we Jim jumping of stage into the audience. People rushed, as you can see in the photo, to touch. When he hit the floor no one knew what had happened - you can see the open area around him. Some thought he had fallen and was injured. They made space around him.
No Cleveland was just good fun and a lot of excited Kids - That is what we were there for. A good time and if a few got carried away - so that is all part of the fun.
You know, on reflection, if there were no riots I did not get to kick someone in the face or lash them with mike cords. That was a really boring show. We wanted riots to hone our skills at disabling them in the shortest possible time in the greatest numbers. That takes constant practice.
Vince,
I must say that from the audience recording of this very show Jim sounds like he`s reeeeaaaaaal drunk, almost to the point of exhaustion...garbling the lyrics, missing cues and showing little to no interest in performing songs.
Rather more intent on trying to get people to "get together, just one more time..."than anything else 8)
The funerals were the following Thursday. I sent flowers.
I can gather from your reply that this was a wild show nonetheless
Remember that poor audio does not mean that Jim was in an inebriated state or that the show was in disarray. There was a riot. I had a wonderful time knocking people off stage. 1968 had to be the best year of their carreers. I can't explain how or why but nearly every show went well. Then too, jim did not drink so much.
Let me again give a marker to judge. When Jim was drunk he got very verbose, darl, doing and saying so outrageous things. But his physical activity was much diminished. He did not move around a lot, no flop on the floor, as was one of his trade-mark moves. He was more pensive, tended to get poetic or talkative.
New Haven is a good example. Of ocurse he was in a lot of pain and very angry about the macing so one can hardly blame him for wanting to expose what had happened.
In any case, I enjoyed that concert and so did the guys. It was rowdy, but no harm done. I can say that because when we left the building was still standing That was a good sign of an orderly performance.
You can't really tell the quality of a performance form a quicky tape recording. You have to have some realy good sound and, of course, film footage.
