At around 2:20 of this video, Mick says:

"We always have ... something funny happens when we start that number."

[www.youtube.com]

I've always wondered: what does he mean? Is anyone aware of any previous incidents on the 1969 tour of 'something funny' happening during "Sympathy for the Devil"?

BTW, the band's performance on this halcyon day never ceases to amaze me; in the midst of a career-defining clusterfuck, they played some of the nastiest music of their lives, almost as if they were playing for their lives.

They had to re-start it. Maybe it wasn't the first time?

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DandelionPowderman
They had to re-start it. Maybe it wasn't the first time?

It's as good a guess as any, DP. He could have just meant that something about the beginning was tricky from a technical pt of view and they had flubbed it before and had to start over. In the context of Altamonte, I always assumed that by 'something funny' he meant some sort of disturbance.

I haven't heard every show on the 69 tour but have heard most of them and don't recall any similar false-starts. But anything's possible.

Perhaps some of our 1969 or Altamont experts might have different recollections. Or I could just email Stanley Booth.

Could also be that the remark really meant nothing. Just something he said to try to defuse things in a moment of incredible tension ...

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LongBeachArena72

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DandelionPowderman
They had to re-start it. Maybe it wasn't the first time?

It's as good a guess as any, DP. He could have just meant that something about the beginning was tricky from a technical pt of view and they had flubbed it before and had to start over. In the context of Altamonte, I always assumed that by 'something funny' he meant some sort of disturbance.

I haven't heard every show on the 69 tour but have heard most of them and don't recall any similar false-starts. But anything's possible.

Perhaps some of our 1969 or Altamont experts might have different recollections. Or I could just email Stanley Booth.

Could also be that the remark really meant nothing. Just something he said to try to defuse things in a moment of incredible tension ...

Or he felt something similar in other performance we didn't noticed.........or he hoped something would happen........(but the question is interesting)........more input would be nice.......

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I think it was Mick trying to defuse the tension of the moment.

The whole band, but particularly Mick- had to be filled with such stress/fear.. damn. They handled it about as well as they could, particularly (again) Mick as he had a better view of it all (and the added stress of a couple different dudes on the side- looking like they may take him out at any second. Again, damn.

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MisterDDDD
I think it was Mick trying to defuse the tension of the moment.

The whole band, but particularly Mick- had to be filled with such stress/fear.. damn. They handled it about as well as they could, particularly (again) Mick as he had a better view of it all (and the added stress of a couple different dudes on the side- looking like they may take him out at any second. Again, damn.

If I had to put money on any theory, this would be the one I went with, too. The 69 tour was well documented enough that if they'd had problems 'every time' with "Sympathy" someone would have reported on it.

Yes, that must have been a soul-shaking experience. I think the audience footage during that Altamont performance of "Sympathy" is so chilling. All those faces beseeching Mick to do something. He's flustered; tries to defuse; stops; then does the only thing he can think of doing, which is his thing, his little hip shaking ass twitching dance while all hell breaks loose on that awful frozen December hillside.

I wouldn't rely on the Gimme Shelter editing of what happened, but listen to the audience tape.

Jagger comes across as frightened during Gimme Shelter, whereas on the audience tape he sounds much more in charge, swearing at the Hells Angels. He was much more in charge and on the ball that how he appears in the film.

Mathijs

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Mathijs
I wouldn't rely on the Gimme Shelter editing of what happened, but listen to the audience tape.

Jagger comes across as frightened during Gimme Shelter, whereas on the audience tape he sounds much more in charge, swearing at the Hells Angels. He was much more in charge and on the ball that how he appears in the film.

Mathijs

Agreed. The movie tries to escalate tensions for cinematic value.

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Munichhilton

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Mathijs
I wouldn't rely on the Gimme Shelter editing of what happened, but listen to the audience tape.

Jagger comes across as frightened during Gimme Shelter, whereas on the audience tape he sounds much more in charge, swearing at the Hells Angels. He was much more in charge and on the ball that how he appears in the film.

Mathijs

Agreed. The movie tries to escalate tensions for cinematic value.

Understood. I shall listen to the audience recording again with new focus forthwith. Thanks.

Wasn't there a moment during the recording of the song when some lights fell or something and a fire started in the studio? Perhaps that was what Mick was referring to?

The studio indeed caught on fire while Godard was filming there.
The lighting was more than the ceiling had bargained for.

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Boognish
Wasn't there a moment during the recording of the song when some lights fell or something and a fire started in the studio? Perhaps that was what Mick was referring to?

It's possible, but that had happened in June of 68 ... 18 months before Altamont.

Seems odd that he'd use the phrasing "something funny happens" to refer to a year-and-a-half-old event when they'd been performing the song every night for a month in 69.