Jim Morrison's Last Performance
with The Doors At A Warehouse
12/12/70

"Sadly, I watched The Doors break up in real time on stage at A Warehouse in New Orleans.
Morrison was so loaded he could barely stand up, and he looked like a homeless person.
He had a big bushy beard and he looked like he hadn't washed his hair in a month.
I didn't recognize him until he started talking. They were terrible.
It still ranks as one of the worst shows I have ever attended.
I can't recall any specific songs they played that night. Morrison told some very bad jokes.
The one I remember is, "You know what really burns my ass? Flames about this high."
(waving his hand about butt high). He thought that was hilarious.
He kept acting like he was going to drop his pants; that was a reference to something
that had happened in Florida, I heard later. He was slurring and staggering,
obviously very intoxicated on something or some combination of things.
Manzarek was set up stage left facing outward, and he seldom if ever looked back at Jim.
He was constantly looking at his watch. Morrison left the stage during an instrumental
break and didn't come back until he was bodily thrown onto the stage by a stage hand
or somebody after the rest of the band had improvised an awkward ending to the song
they were playing. When they started the next song, he staggered up to the mic and
began trying to sing the lyrics of the previous song. Manzarek kept looking at his watch.
Finally Densmore stood up, yelled something I couldn't understand, threw his drumsticks
out onto the stage, left the stage, and that was that. There was no encore.
It was the last time they ever performed with Morrison. He left for France shortly thereafter.

It was awful to watch; I had been so jazzed about going to see them,
and then so let down at the colossal trainwreck that the show turned into.
It was one of a couple of historic events that I witnessed at A Warehouse.
Another was the Fake Fleetwood Mac show a couple of years later.
I went to a lot of other great shows there also. The Allman Bros.
(with Berry and Duane) opening for Pink Floyd on the Ummagumma tour, for one.
The Allmans played until after midnight, and the Floyds played until 2 or so.
Four bucks! Those were the days..."

Gordon Gunn
Austin, TX

Copyright © 2010 Gordon Gunn
(used with permission)

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