THE SAN BERNARDINO CONCERT BOOTLEG: THE DOORS - 4/7/1967

The Doors performed twice in San Bernardino, California, in 1967: once three months before and once three months after the release of their second LP, "Strange Days".

The two concerts took place on 4 July and 16 December, while Strange Days was released on 25 September.

One of the performances was an amateur recording and has survived in the form of a bootleg, unfortunately with suboptimal audio quality. It is unclear which date was recorded, although some clues suggest the July performance.

If so, the concert would have taken place while the band was working on the "Strange Days" album.

Five songs from this show have survived (link here), but it is possible that the band performed other pieces. At the beginning of the last available track, "Light My Fire", Morrison announces a short break due to a sound system malfunction.

Unfortunately, it is not known whether The Doors returned to the stage or if the technical problem caused the concert to end earlier than expected.

Whatever the case, this inconvenience negatively impacted on the musicians and the technical aspects of the performance. However, it did not affect the overall quality of the music played that evening.

In addition to the final track on the tape, 'Light My Fire', the other tunes are listed in chronological order as follows: "When the Music's Over", "Horse Latitudes", "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" and "Alabama Song".

Even though the sound system was problematic, the thirteen minutes of "When the Music's Over" still allow us to clearly hear a long solo by Robby Krieger (from min. 4:20 to min. 5:42).

The guitarist uses the fuzz pedal, the abrasive distortion that he also uses on the official album version. Here, he indulges in rough and dissonant electric explorations that are even freer in form than those on the vinyl.

The electric waves follow one another harshly and distortedly, then stabilize and end on a dark note sustained for several seconds.

Immediately after "When the Music's Over", Jim Morrison recites the verses of "Horse Latitudes" (at min. 13:47), thus adding a second track from "Strange Days", which, as previously mentioned, was released in the US a few months later.

Although the audio quality is poor, the singer performs the dramatic poem in a more relaxed manner than in other live performances or on the LP track.

"Break On Through" and "Alabama Song" are performed with the forceful intensity that the Californian band was capable of in their early years.

"Alabama Song" is embellished brilliantly by a creative and lively guitar solo, which is absent from the official version of the song on The Doors' debut album ("The Doors", 1967).

"Light My Fire" concludes the bootleg with a rushed yet captivating performance. This was due to the urgent need to resolve audio issues in the concert hall.

Overall, this bootleg is an interesting audio document, primarily because it compensates, at least in part, for the painful absence of live material from this wonderful period in The Doors' career.

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”