Otis Redding – live at the Monterey Festival 1967

Posted by: urbanology on: May 19, 2008

• In: beat | Music
• 8 Comments

Dear sunbathinglizard, this one is for you.

One of the greatest soul voices, Otis Redding, was famous for his sudorific live shows, it were those live shows that cemented his reputation amongst the kids. Redding also was one of the first soul artists that gained attention across a white audience, especially the young Hippie movement. The whole Southern Soul movement was like a living materialization of Martin Luther King´s dream, a fusion of so-called “white” and “black” culture. With Booker T & the MG backing him Otis had also a thunderous impact on the European crowds, where soul still almost wasn´t recognized.

1967 the Monterey Pop Festival in California was the starting shot for a worldwide Hippie subculture. Organized by John Phillips (The Mamas and the Papas) and others, it was the first international pop festival, two years before Woodstock. Besides classic Blues and Folk acts, also Rock and Soul groups were invited and the line-up of the three day festival today reads like a who is who of the flower power movement and the 60s at all: The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas and The Papas, The Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, Simon & Garfunkel, Buffalo Springfield, Lou Rawls, The Who, Eric Burdon and The Animals (and a dozen more acts). The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan were invited too, but couldn´t appear on stage. And there were two acts for whom the Monterey festival was a breakthrough: Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding.

After a short set of Booker T. & the MG – Otis conquered the stage and within minutes the hearts of the 70.000 people in front of the stage. His energetic show is legendary until today and the start of Reddings international career. His performance to mainly white rock fans was enthusiastically received by them. The opening song “Shake” blasted like a storm over them, the pumping beat – played tight by Booker T. & the MG – is forcing you to dance. “Respect” followed up this fantastic performance, a song from Otis which was played with greater commercial success by Aretha Franklin, one of her super hits. Here the drums are more kickin, almost like a rock´n´roll band and fits so well with the relaxing bass, which later speeds up too. After this 6 minutes of a fat kick in the ass, Reddings slows down with “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” – but not for too long. The Rolling Stones cover “Satisfaction”, interpreted in his very own way, eye witnesses reported that it let the audience go crazy, really ecstatic. He dropped the tempo once again for his last song “Try A Little Tenderness”, but his caws stimulated the masses more and more.

“I got to go now, but I don´t wanna go!” he yells at the end of his last song, but a new legend already was born.

Only 6 months later, on December 10, 1967, a plane crashed into a Wisconsin lake, killing Redding and four members of his backup band, the Bar-Kays, who were on board. On December 6, 1967, Redding recorded at the end of a long session ““(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay”. The song was inspired by his performance at Monterey and a gesture of thanks to the enthusiastic crowd. It would become his biggest hit, yet Redding never lived to see its release.

I took the five songs of Otis Redding´s live show from the 4 CD Box “Monterey International Pop Festival“, the live recordings I can commend to everybody. I also added the three songs played by Booker T. & the MG direct before the Otis set, which were also played by the MG.

“It´s been a real groovy day and a great evening…”

Tags: Aretha Franklin, Booker T. & the MG, Monterey Pop Festival, Otis Redding, Rolling Stones, soul, Southern Soul, Stax