The reason why Jim Morrison preferred performing at small clubs with The Doors
The Doors‘ live performances were something to behold. There was an air of controversy constantly swirling around the psychedelic blues rockers, and Jim Morrison’s erratic and unpredictable behaviour led to the group being considered the must-see act of the 1960s.
In fact, Morrison was arrested a number of times during The Doors performances, such as in 1967 in New Haven, Connecticut. Morrison had incited a riot after he had been accosted by a police officer backstage. During The Doors’ set, Morrison riled up the crowd by referring to the officer as “a little blue man in a little blue hat”.
While The Doors’ big concerts were most likely some of the best of all time, Morrison once stated that he actually preferred playing in smaller clubs. “I always try to get them to stand up, to feel free to move around anywhere they want to,” Morrison said of the crowds at his band’s big concerts. “It’s not to precipitate a chaos situation. It’s how can you stand the anchorage of a chair and be bombarded with all this intense rhythm and not want to express it physically in movement? I like people to be free, not chained. We haven’t played in a long time.”
He added: “I just remember that some of the best musical trips we ever took were in clubs. Concerts are great but it gets into a crowd phenomenon that really hasn’t that much to do with music. In a club there’s a different atmosphere. They can see you sweat and you can see them. And there’s much less bullshit. In a concert situation, you can’t really lose. You get that many people together and it doesn’t matter so much what you do. In a club you have to turn people on musically. If it doesn’t cut it, everyone knows it.”
The Doors cut their teeth playing in clubs, so it is not surprising to hear Morrison talk of them so fondly. In 1966, The Doors played a residency at a run-down club in Los Angeles, the famous Whisky a Go Go. The residency helped Morrison to overcome his early fears of playing to a live audience.
“Also, I just enjoy working,” Morrison said. “There’s nothing more fun than to play music to an audience. You can improvise at rehearsals, but it’s kind of a dead atmosphere. There’s no audience feedback. There’s no tension, really, because in a club with a small audience you’re free to do anything. You still feel an obligation to be good, so you can’t get completely loose; there are people watching”.
He added: “So there is this beautiful tension. There’s freedom and at the same time an obligation to play well. I can put in a full day’s work, go home and take a shower, change clothes, then play two or three sets at the Whisky, man, and I love it. The way an athlete loves to run, to keep in shape.”
