On the Road to Altamont: The Rolling Stones on Tour, 1969

Upon embarking on their U.S. tour in November 1969, the Rolling Stones were effectively touring in support of two landmark albums, the earlier Banquet and the just-issued Let It Bleed. That tour in late 1969 has become one of the most fabled in rock history, largely due to the pivotal performance at the Altamont Speedway in California on December 6, 1969. Beyond the impact of Altamont, though, the Stones’ 1969 tour also arguably ushered in the era of arena rock, recasting the rock concert as an exercise in mass spectacle and the accumulation of profit that was still, paradoxically, expected to produce moments of genuine spontaneous creativity. Drawing on the published memoir of Stones tour manager Sam Cutler and contemporary press accounts of the tour, this chapter will make a case for the transformative importance of the 1969 tour that goes beyond the singular event of Altamont, attending to technical details of production, changing assumptions about the relationship between rock and its audience, and the challenges of translating the roots-oriented sound of the Stones’ new music to the demands of the arena concert format.