Notes

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Chalk Farm

The Doors kicked off their European Tour on September 5 on an English TV show, Top Of The Pops, with a live performance of "Hello I Love You". Top Of The Pops was played back on the B.B.C 1 (Ch1) at 7:30 p.m that same night.

Following The Doors’ national TV exposure on "Top Of The Pops", they then played at The Roundhouse in London. The Roundhouse was a railway station that had been recently vacated by British Rail. The Doors played two sets each night for two consecutive nights in front of an audience of 2,500 for each set - all four sets were a sell out. The Roundhouse was packed to it’s maximum capacity and there were still another 2,000 people who were queuing up outside and were just dying to get in.

According to rhythm guitarist for Jefferson Airplane, Paul Kantner:

"They were ready for us in England by 1968. I still think it was an underground level, it was a very big underground level, so it was very well organised, not organised, but it was large."
Indeed the English audience were ready for them by 1968 - in fact Paul McCartney attended the first show that night and had witnessed probably one of best shows that The Doors had played. Other rock celebrities that attended The Roundhouse concerts included Arthur Brown, Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. The English audience seemed to really listen to what The Doors had to say since this was the first time they played in Europe, unlike the American public who started to go to Doors concerts to see Morrison do something "spectacular". Robbie Krieger probably best summarised the differences between the American & European audiences, as he once said to Richard Goldstein of the Village Voice, during a 1969 interview on a PBS educational TV show, Critique.

"It’s actually funny, in Europe the kids were much more politically oriented, you know if we said anything politically they’d go into a furore you know. I mean they love it, especially anything against America you know, but if we just played, then they’d dig that too but, then they really dug the political side of it to you know. But in America, it’s just the opposite really. A lot of people....at our concerts at least, they’re sort of, it seems like they don’t come to hear us speak politics."

"What do they come to hear ?" - asked Richard Goldstein.

"I think they come for the religious experiences", Robbie replied.

Both first and second sets for the September 6 concert were filmed by Granada Television, later fused with footage of political demonstrations, as seen on the video "The Doors Are Open" (originally to be titled as "When the Music Changes, the Walls of the City Will Shake"). The concert was broadcasted on BBC/Granada TV on October 4 that same year but only included footage from the second set.

Tobler & Doe (1987), felt that although the first concert was excellent by any standards, it wasn’t as good as the other concerts that were to follow. One reason for the first concert not being as good as the second concert could be due to the cameras and television crew present, it introduced an extra third element, a "voyeuristic" element which acted as a barrier between the group and the audience, not allowing Jim to express freely what he wanted to say or do.

Another possible reason for the standard of the concert as being below par may’ve been the venue and the psychological climate of the audience. Pop journalist, Geoffrey Cannon of The Guardian (Manchester), described in the following year that London was a dreadful place for rock concerts:
"There is something ineffably disconsolate about the Round House", which he went on to say:

"And this is why visiting bands find concerts so miserable mentally, the audience might as well not be there. Jim Morrison, Joe McDonald, and Frank Zappa have all described the same experience to me; that in concert, they are overwhelmed by the sense that nothing is happening. They feel ill, tired, doubtful and want to get out to another town."

Contrary to what Jim had told Geoffrey Cannon, a review by Mike Grant of Rave magazine revealed quite the opposite:

"They were one of the best audiences we’ve ever had. Everyone seemed to take it easy. It was like going back to the roots again and it stimulated us to give a good performance. They were fantastic. That’s all I can say. ’Cept that we enjoyed playing at the Roundhouse more than any other date for years."

Similarly, John Tobler, writer for English magazine Zig Zag, had caught The Doors on their fourth set and was extremely impressed with their performance. Almost two years later, John had interviewed Jim at the Isle of Wight Music Festival on August 30, 1970:

"That was, I think that was one of the best concerts I’ve ever done."

Robin Denselow of the Guardian (Manchester) was rather disappointed and dissatisfied with the group’s performance;

" - but their experiments are based on some well-established traditions. Their stage act consists of a series of disjointed theatrical sketches; there is a jolting improvisation on guitar, organ and, drums, against which Morrison speaks, snags and acts out his songs. .... American audiences rise to their feet and join in, but the audience who had paid 35s to be squashed in the heat of the Roundhouse floor watched impassively."

Interestingly enough, Robin Denselow’s review seemed to convey the same message regarding the format of a Doors concert, with that of Ludvig Rasmusson, journalist for Sweden’s main newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Ludvig Rasmusson had seen The Doors perform two sets at Stockholm in the following month.

"Everything was calculated and rehearsed in the fast show. But there were also a few improvisations but they were also a part of the planned routine."

Other opinions varied amongst reviewers of the time, ranging from Chris Welch of Melody Maker who was quoted as saying, "the worst group ever" to Tony Wilson’s review in Melody Maker as being, "one of the most professional groups on the scene everywhere".

Despite the range of conflicting opinions, the concert lasted for almost 80 minutes and had a brilliant cross section of music from the group’s first three albums. Interestingly enough is that the group had blended "Crawling King Snake" as part of their medley - this song was to appear almost more than two and a half years later on "L.A. Woman". Unfortunately, this recording tends to be muffled and distorted during some parts of the concert.