Set for release on January 17th is the unauthorized new film Days Of Rage: The Rolling Stones' Road To Altamont. The film, which will be available on DVD along with video-on-demand outlets, chronicles the band's career through its infamous December 6th concert at Livermore, California's Altamont Speedway in front a crowd of over 300,000, in which a Hells Angel murdered a concert-goer brandishing a gun.
The film, which is not endorsed, nor produced by the Stones, features the band's former tour manager Sam Cutler — who played a significant role in trying to keep the peace onstage and off at the Altamont show, the Stones' early photographer Gered Mankowitz, publicist Keith Altham, and Rolling Stone editor Anthony DeCurtis, among others. Days Of Rage sells for about $13.
Mick Jagger recalled that upon hitting the road in 1969 it was breath of fresh air to finally play to a slightly more mature crowd: “When we first started they used to, just sort of, clap. Then we got into the 'scream' period, uh, which was in a way very enjoyable, but it got rather boring, 'cause you couldn't play. So, then, we gave up the stage for two years. And when we came back, it was a different thing, y'know? Where it was slightly easier to play, 'cause it wasn't the screaming, but the audiences are generally very good, appreciative.”
Charlie Watts says that it never crossed his mind that the Rolling Stones would ever make it — let along become rock's longest lasting rock bands: “No, every band I'd ever been in lasted a week. I mean, you only lasted as long as the guy in the club, or whatever, would book you for. So, y'know, if they didn't like you, y'know, it was two gigs and that was it. So I always thought it's gonna last a week, then a fortnight, and suddenly it's 30 years.”