Altamont 1969: When a Free Concert Became a Murder Scene

The Swinging Sixties and the Illusion of Peace

The 1960s came with a promise—or at least, that’s what the idealists believed. Across America, young people draped themselves in the language of love and peace, convinced that a little flower power and a lot of questionable decision-making could fix the world. But the thing about peace and love? Not everyone got the memo.

Eighteen-year-old Meredith Hunter, better known as Murdock, wasn’t just another face in the tie-dyed crowd. He had style. While others stuck to fringe vests and bell-bottoms, Murdock went for bold. His signature look? A lime green suit, a dark shirt, and shoes sharp enough to cut glass. And if the occasion called for it, maybe a wide-brimmed hat—something big enough to sit on his head without crushing his perfectly shaped afro.

By December of 1969, Murdock was ready to step out and enjoy himself. He wasn’t going alone. His girlfriend, Patty Bredehoft, his friend Ronnie Brown, and Ronnie’s girlfriend Judy were all tagging along. Their destination? The Altamont Free Concert in Berkeley. What was supposed to be a night of music and freedom would instead become a moment in history—just not the kind anyone would want to remember.

A Concert, a Crowd, and an Unspoken Threat

The hippie movement loved to talk about peace and tolerance, but America in 1969 wasn’t exactly a utopia. For every group singing about love, there was another clinging to old prejudices. The idealism of the era didn’t erase the very real dangers that came with being a young Black man in predominantly white spaces—especially at a chaotic, drug-fueled concert where self-proclaimed peacemakers weren’t always practicing what they preached.

Murdock’s sister, Dixie, knew this all too well. She warned him that heading into a massive, unpredictable crowd might not be the best idea. But Murdock wasn’t the kind to back down. Just in case things got ugly, he tucked a gun under his lime green suit and set off for Altamont.

The Altamont Free Concert wasn’t just any festival—it was a logistical mess. Instead of a proper stage with barriers and security, the event took place on a natural slope, with the bands playing on a low stage at the bottom of the hill. It was an invitation for disaster. If the crowd got too rowdy, there was nothing stopping them from spilling onto the stage.

To handle security, the event organizers made a decision that would go down as one of the worst in rock history: they hired the Hells Angels. Their payment? $500 worth of beer—about $4,000 today. A group known for violent turf wars and outlaw justice was now in charge of keeping the peace, armed with pool cues, chains, and an ever-dwindling supply of alcohol. What could possibly go wrong?

Chaos Unleashed: When Security Becomes the Threat

As the crowd flooded into Altamont, the Hells Angels settled into their version of security work—parking their bikes in front of the stage and cracking open their payment. The beer flowed, and with it, any last shred of restraint.

It didn’t take a detective to figure out what would happen next. A low stage, a massive, restless crowd, and a group of bikers steadily getting drunker by the minute—it was a recipe for violence. The audience, packed shoulder to shoulder, pushed toward the stage, trying to get closer to the music. The Hells Angels responded the only way they knew how: with brute force. Full cans of beer became projectiles. Motorcycle chains and lead-weighted pool cues turned into weapons. People were beaten down for getting too close, for moving too fast, for existing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Keith Richards would later sum it up bluntly: “The violence… just in front of the stage was incredible. Looking back, I don’t think it was a good idea to have Hells Angels there. But we had them at the suggestion of the Grateful Dead. The trouble is, it’s a problem for us either way. If you don’t have them to work for you as stewards, they come anyway and cause trouble… The vast majority did what they were supposed to do… But there were about ten or twenty who were completely out of their minds.”

By the time the Rolling Stones finally made it on stage, Mick Jagger had already been punched in the face by someone in the crowd. And it wasn’t just the performers taking hits—a local musician, six months pregnant, was struck in the head with a beer bottle, fracturing her skull. She had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery.

Jagger, rattled but still determined to keep the show going, pleaded with the audience to settle down. It didn’t work. Minutes into their first song, a fight broke out front and center. The band stopped playing, waiting for things to calm. Eventually, they managed to get through a few songs, but the night was unraveling fast. The peace-and-love crowd was running headfirst into something much darker.

The Breaking Point: Murdock’s Desperate Move

It didn’t take long for Murdock, in his signature lime green suit, to attract unwanted attention. Seeking a better view of the chaos, he climbed up on top of one of the speakers. His reward? A rough yank from a Hells Angel who yanked him back down and punched him in the face for his trouble.

But that was just the beginning. As Murdock stumbled back into the crowd, trying to regain his footing, something inside him snapped. He wasn’t going to back down, not when it felt like the entire gang was out to get him. Four more members of the Hells Angels joined in, stalking Murdock through the crowd, intent on punishing him further.

Terrified, high on drugs, and not thinking clearly, Murdock reached for his gun, pulling it from under his jacket. He pointed it up into the air as a warning. The cameras filming the scene—intended to capture the concert for a documentary—caught the moment. In the grainy footage, you can see Murdock’s arm stretch upward and a burst of orange light.

Some witnesses later claimed Murdock fired a warning shot, but with the crowd pushing, the music blaring, and the chaos of the night, it’s impossible to say for sure. The footage, too, is unclear—was it a reflection, a film defect, or a gunshot? Either way, it didn’t matter to the Hells Angels chasing him down.

Then, from the side, a biker named Alan Passaro attacked. He swatted the gun from Murdock’s hand with one swift motion, then plunged a knife into his side. Murdock wasn’t trying to fight back. By the time Alan struck, Murdock had already turned, attempting to flee. Alan followed him, stabbing Murdock in the back five times.

The Brutal End of Meredith Hunter

Murdock never stood a chance. As he collapsed, the Hells Angels descended on him like a pack of wolves. They kicked him, stomped him, and made sure he wasn’t getting back up. Alan Passaro, not satisfied with just one stab wound, drove his knife into Murdock’s back five more times.

By the time the attack was over, Murdock was dead. His gun was handed over to the police, but no discharged bullet casings were ever found. Whatever he had or hadn’t done, it didn’t change the outcome.

Alan Passaro was arrested and charged with Murdock’s murder. But when the jury saw footage of Murdock holding his gun, they decided it was self-defense. Passaro walked free.

Murdock, meanwhile, was buried in an unmarked grave in Vallejo—forgotten by history until a 2006 documentary by Sam Green shed new light on his story. Donations poured in, and finally, decades after his death, Murdock got a proper headstone.

The Rolling Stones Cut Ties—and Nearly Pay the Price

The Rolling Stones made one thing clear after Altamont: they were done with the Hells Angels. When asked about Murdock’s death, Mick Jagger didn’t dance around it. His response was simple: “Awful. I mean, just awful. You feel a responsibility.”

The Hells Angels, however, weren’t exactly known for handling rejection well. Cutting them out was seen as an insult—one they intended to fix in the most dramatic way possible.

“They decided to kill him,” BBC radio presenter Tom Mangold later revealed. “A group of them took a boat, all tooled up, and planned to attack him from the sea… so that they could enter his property from the garden and avoid security at the front.”

It would have been the most rock-and-roll assassination attempt in history—if it hadn’t failed spectacularly. The boat ran into a storm, and every single one of the would-be assassins was thrown overboard. They survived, but their revenge plot sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Alan Passaro’s Mysterious End

Alan Passaro may have walked free after Murdock’s killing, but his story didn’t end there. Twenty years later, his body was found floating in a lake. Officially, his death was ruled suspicious. Unofficially? No one ever confirmed whether he had been murdered himself.

Justice, if it came, wasn’t through the courts.