THE DOORS PLAY AT COLORADO SPRINGS: THE BOOTLEG

 

The day after their controversial performance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 21 October 1967, The Doors stopped in Colorado Springs on their way to California. Here, they played another gig.

This concert took place about a month after the release of the band's second LP, "Strange Days". The venue was a ballroom, and a medium-sized crowd attended the evening event.

As can be seen in a photo of the evening, the setting was elegant, providing a strange and unlikely backdrop for the band's brief performance.

The live recording from that night is only twenty-one minutes long and features the following songs, played in this order: 'Break On Through (To The Other Side)', 'People Are Strange', 'Back Door Man', and finally the 'Wake Up' - 'Light My Fire' sequence.

Luckily a bootleg of the show exists (link here). Despite its poor audio quality, this recording is still very important as it covers a period in which The Doors did not record official live performances.

The music that we can hear here, amidst the audience and tape noise, seems to have been performed with passion, resulting in a very good performance.

It was a live show that erased the memory of the crazy events of the previous night in Ann Arbor (link here).

Of particular note is Ray Manzarek's electric organ solo at the beginning of "Break On Through". This elusive musical passage hints at Indian music, an element which, although fashionable at the time, was quite unusual for this composition.

What really stood out at the Colorado Springs show, though, was the group's version of "Light My Fire".

The solos that make up the middle section of the song were excellent, with significant experimentation and improvisation adding to their artistic value.

The piece ends with the audience joining Morrison in singing the famous final verses of the song. This cannot be heard so clearly in any other live performance by the band and was captured on tape due to the close proximity between the audience and the musicians.

In addition, "Light My Fire" featured Morrison's harsh incantations and wild screams, making the overall mood even more exciting, authentic and intriguing.

The missing instrumental coda at the end of this great composition is a rarity and a strange feature that is very difficult to find.

Of the tracks from the band's recent album, "Strange Days", only “People Are Strange” found its way onto this bootleg.

This is not too surprising, as tracks from the band's debut album, "The Doors" (released in January 1967), were usually favored at their concerts.

If you want to immerse yourself in the musical climate The Doors created in the weeks immediately following the release of "Strange Days", this bootleg is worth listening to.

Those weeks were as artistically unforgettable as they were unfortunately stingy with live recordings of good audio quality.

P.S.: My book "The Doors Through Strange Days"- The most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is available on Amazon.com, .uk, .mx, .it, etc.

Here’s a link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”