The Doors’ final filmed performance is a bittersweet look at the beginning of the end for one of history’s greatest rock bands.
It was 52 years ago to the day that legendary psychedelic rock band The Doors played their final ever live show.
That performance (at storied New Orleans venue The Warehouse) wasn’t filmed — and that’s probably for the best. By all accounts it was a disaster, with the band’s equal-parts mythologised and embattled helmsman Jim Morrison in the final stages of his losing battle with substance abuse and declining mental health.
Morrison was drunk, regularly forgetting his own lyrics and even collapsing on stage on more than one occasion. As bandmate Ray Manzarek later recounted in his biography, “I could see Jim’s spirit leave his body, even though he was still standing right there.”
The show ended early when the frustrated Morrison smashed his mic stand into the stage until it splintered the floorboards before storming off. It was a disappointing and unceremonious end to one of the greatest bands of the 20th century, and an unbefitting representation of the great performer that Morrison truly was.
Thankfully, the final performance of The Doors that was captured on film is a much greater representation of the revered Morrison and his equally talented bandmates.
Recorded just a few months earlier in August of 1970 at the Isle Of White Festival, the newly remastered footage is a must-watch for any Doors fan. It’s the perfect balance of rawness and refinement, with Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore in perfect step as Morisson provides some of the greatest vocal performances of his tragically short career.
Watch below via YouTube and experience the magic of The Doors.
