Guild Hall Red Carpet Film Series: Gimme Shelter

Talkback to follow with filmmaker Albert Maysles and moderator Ali Wentworth. Gimme Shelter tells the story of the tragically ill-fated Rolling Stones’ free concert for an estimated crowd of 300,000 people at Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969. Only four months earlier, Woodstock defined the Love Generation; now it lay in ruins on a desolate racetrack six miles outside of San Francisco. The Stones headlined a free concert featuring Tina Turner, Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers and others. Concerned about security, members of outlaw biker gang The Hell’s Angels were asked to help maintain order. Instead, an atmosphere of fear and dread arose, leading ultimately to the stabbing death of a fan. What began as a flower-power love-in had degenerated into a near riot; frightened, confused faces wondering how the Love Generation could, in one swift, cold-blooded slash, became a generation of disillusionment and disappointment. December 6, 1969: the day the Sixties died.