The Doors riot at the Singer Bowl

Flushing Meadows, NY, August 2nd 1968. The security guards and uniformed police officers brought The Doors to the stage of the Singer Bowl through the gauntlet of the crowd. As they made their way to the stage, fans grabbed and pulled at the band members.

Prior to the band going on stage, Jim Morrison wandered around backstage and on the grounds of the concert followed by the “Feast of Friends” film crew which captured some now iconic scenes of Morrison that were used in the film and would later be used in “When You’re Strange.”

When The Doors took the stage, a phalanx of fans rushed the stage and the policemen in charge of security repulsed the fans onslaught, which created a barrier and a challenge for the audience to breach. In the Rolling Stone interview with Jerry Hopkins, Morrison said of rock ‘n’ riots in general, “the only incentive to charge the stage is because there’s a barrier. If there was no barrier there’d be no incentive (to rush the stage).” The stage at the Singer Bowl was supposed to rotate during the show, but during The Doors performance the stage jammed, it wouldn’t revolve, leaving a portion of the audience unable to see the show.