Monterey Pop

There was a time in 1969 when a friend and I went to see Monterey Pop every Friday night at the Kips Bay Cinema in NYC just to hear Janis sing Ball and Chain and Otis sing I've been Lovin You Too Long. Then we'd go to dinner and maybe another movie, but it set up our entire weekend.

Now, I think about how many of the performers were gone too soon, too young -- Janis, Jimi, Otis, Mama Cass... How amazing to have them all there in this one glorious celebration of music and the innocence (yes) of the 60's.

Maybe it's not the best "film-making" but it's a treasure to be appreciated as the years go by. Would love to see a DVD release with any additional available footage. Enjoy and remember, (or discover)

I'm over 2020 and want to escape - so Monterey Pop was my choice tonight. No regrets. It acted as the perfect form of escapism and time machine back to the 1960s. You almost start to feel a bit high just watching. It captures the concert experience perfectly and this pivotal moment in time.

I would've happily enjoyed a longer film, with full sets. As it was, it seemed like a mini taster of the event, that just meandered around. Featured a bit too much sitar at the end.

My highlights were Mamas and Papas, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel.

And damn, 60s women were something else. So beautiful. In fact, all the people here seemed beautiful, happy and free-spirited. Just what my soul needed after a long day.

It was a great experience. I was 18 and hitch hiked to Monterey with a girl and her Doberman. One ride all the way. As soon as we got dropped at the fairgrounds, some people asked if we had a place to stay, took us to their pad, let us shower, and made breakfast. That was a good sign. I had no desire to go to Livestock; nothing could ever compare to those three days in Monterey. You see all the people with coats and blankets because it was cold at night and early morning. For weeks before we had been hearing the ads on the radio (KRLA)about all the performers and they kept saying the Jimi Hendrix Experience. We had no idea who this guy was; we were going to see and hear everyone we could. But that night, after The Who had tried to demolish the stage and Lou Adler and John Philips were scrambling to regain order, the stage went dark and a lone figure walked to the mike at center stage. When the spotlight came on we could see it was Brian Jones. He introduced Jimi Hendrix and when I saw, and heard, the most amazing things ever done or played on a Stratocaster (on any guitar for that matter)life wasn't the same. Hendrix took music to an alien world and came back with sounds and style that were beyond my imagination. This film is not the greatest quality and certainly--in a technical sense--pales in comparison to contemporary concert movies and videos; however, it was the first true rock festival, and if you were there you know what I mean. But if you let go of the need for cinematic purity and enormous production values, what you'll enjoy is an island of (not corny) peace, love, and incredible music.

A most excellent time capsule of a period. No questions. If you want to see what the sixties were like...Then watch. This really does put in a time capsule more of the generation than anything I've seen. You can feel the shift happening via the music. I vote this is infinitely more important than Woodstock because the movement was already in full swing at that point. Witness the birth of so much of what we still are listening to today. This is the real unadulterated thing. Kudos to the "Criterion Collection"! If only Otis Redding would have lived longer?There is no telling the musical legacy he was going to leave? Based on the incendiary performance here it would have been formidable. This is a must see for anyone interested in the procession of rock through all the permutations of soul and blues. Not to be missed.

I found this documentary on DVD at my local library.

I know all about the 1960s, I graduated from high school, I graduated from college, I completed my graduate studies, I got married, I started my career, I had my first child. She will be 49 later this year, 2018.

But I never went to any music festivals. So finding this film on DVD was a joy. It has a good mix of on-stage performances and views of the mostly young crowd away from the stage. While I didn't know any of them I recognize all of them. That is how we looked and behaved in the late 1960s.

Funny, when I was younger I avoided Janis Joplin, I just hated her singing style. But I saw a documentary on her, I became a fan of sorts. And here at roughly 25 minutes into the documentary she performs "Ball and Chain" which was a real show-stopper., showing her extremely wide range of talent. There is a memorable shot of Mama Cass Elliot in the crowd mouthing "WOW" when Janis' performance was over.

Anyway, good film that brings back good memories.