THE DOORS LIVE IN DALLAS JULY 9, 1968: BOOTLEG ANALYSIS

 

On July 9, 1968, a week after the release of the LP “Waiting For The Sun,” The Doors performed live for about an hour at the Memorial Auditorium in Dallas.

Before an audience of thousands stood a band that was rapidly reaching the peak of its fame.

Some segments of the concert, primarily featuring lead singer Jim Morrison, were filmed and later included in the documentary about the Californian quartet’s life on the road (“A Feast of Friends”).

Although we’re lucky to be able to listen to the bootleg of the Dallas show, the amateur recording resulted in low-to-medium audio quality.

Robby Krieger’s electric guitar suffers the most, being almost inaudible. So, we won’t discuss it in this article. Nevertheless, it’s possible guess a substantial number of solos and guitar parts of remarkable quality and interest (for example, during the “Back Door Man” / “Five To One” medley, in “Moonlight Drive,” and in “When The Music’s Over”).

Despite the less-than-ideal audio quality, listening to this captivating gig is absolutely satisfying and thrilling.

Thanks to a raw and compelling performance, the Doors’ music overcomes the recording’s flaws with an overwhelming wave of expressive power.

In this context, Morrison’s vocals and John Densmore’s drumming stand out for their sonic clarity and intensity of execution.

In the first case, we can recognize the marvelous blend of searing aggression and dark seduction that makes the Doors’ lead singer a landmark figure in rock history.

The drummer’s performance in Dallas is characterized by an alternation of dynamic incisiveness and creative sensitivity, a combination rarely matched by other percussionists.

The band approaches this concert with the same cohesive determination typical of their studio recordings, proving extremely effective although less unpredictable than on other occasions.

The gig opens with “Soul Kitchen”, taken from the group’s debut album (“The Doors”, January 1967), which immediately demonstrates the quartet’s excellent form.

Doubled in length compared to the original, it features additional improvised verses by Morrison that expand upon the song’s standard lyrics.

Furthermore, Manzarek’s electric organ solo, pleasantly infused with Jazz-Soul inflections, is absent from the album version.

Next comes a moment that had already become a staple in the band’s live shows.

It’s the medley consisting of “Back Door Man” (a cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s 1960 blues tune) and “Five To One” (written by The Doors themselves). The two songs come, respectively, from the aforementioned LP “The Doors” and the recently released “Waiting For The Sun”.

Morrison dominates the stage through verbal provocations and lyrics once again enriched by improvised passages.

His voice, driven by a wild and suggestive instinct, is at once deep and abrasive, embodying the restless and impetuous spirit of rock music.

The third song of the evening is “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”, a masterpiece from the band’s debut album, which is extended here to a total of five stormy minutes.

At least three distinctive features are worth noting. The first is Manzarek’s voice, which reinforces Morrison’s during the choruses and at the end of some verses.

The second noteworthy factor is the electric organ solo, which departs significantly from the vinyl version to achieve a level freedom close to the Hard Bop Jazz style. Morrison’s vocals provide the third important element, as he presents the audience with some lyrics taken from Wilson Pickett’s 1965 song “Don’t Fight It”.

Continuing to explore the album “The Doors”, the quartet then moves on to the charming and mysterious soundscape of “The Crystal Ship”.

Manzarek’s electric organ solo stands out once again in this track. In its central section, a fluid and poetic stream of high-pitched notes takes on elegant, ornamental cadences inspired by Baroque classical music.

The poem “Texas Radio And The Big Beat” (which, two and a half years later, would provide the inspiration for a composition on the album “L.A. Woman”) flows seamlessly into “Hello I Love You” (a recently released single already on its way to the top of the U.S. charts).

Following the four thrilling minutes of this evocative pairing comes “Moonlight Drive”, an enchanting composition and the sixth track on The Doors’ second LP, “Strange Days” (released in September 1967).

While the cover of “Money” (Barrett Strong, 1959) transforms the original Rhythm And Blues into a raw and driving rock-blues, “When the Music’s Over” essentially stays true to the splendid studio version found on “Strange Days”.

The end of the performance is entrusted, as was often the case, to the “Wake Up” / “Light My Fire” sequence.

A high-pitched, piercing scream from Morrison introduces the first part, whose verses unfold blending poetry and theater into a harsh and unsettling explosion of avant-garde sounds.

Also worth noting is the great mastery and responsiveness with which the other three band members support this innovative poetic-musical section.

The latter is interrupted by a sharp snare drum blow that paves the way, with a remarkable and sudden shift in atmosphere, for “Light My Fire”.

This famous Doors composition gives shape and direction to the experimental cacophony that preceded it, definitively confirming the thrilling expressiveness so abundantly on display during the Dallas live performance.

Manzarek’s solo is unfortunately mostly cut. Despite this, its final segment reveals one of the highlights of the entire concert: the fiery exchange between the electric organ and the drums that ends the solo itself.

As “Light My Fire” unfolds, Morrison hurls two lines from “When The Music’s Over” toward the audience: “Persian night, babe” and “See the light, babe.”

What’s more, the frontman leaps off the stage to hand the microphone to enthusiastic members of the audience. However, this final fragment is missing as it is contained within the portion of Manzarek’s solo that is not available on the bootleg.

The July 9, 1968 show stands as a solid and tumultuous testament to The Doors’ extraordinary communicative power, masterfully showcasing their musical genius on stage in a provocative, fascinating, and revolutionary way.

Here is the link to bootleg.

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