Monterey Pop Festival - Recording and Filming The Festival

Recording and Filming The Festival

The festival was the subject of an acclaimed documentary movie entitled Monterey Pop by noted documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker. Pennebaker's team used recently developed portable 16mm crystal-sync motion picture cameras, that stayed synchronized with double-system sound recording systems. The filmstock was Eastman Kodak's recently released "high-speed" 16mm Ektachrome 100 ASA color reversal motion picture stock; without which, the nighttime shows would have been virtually impossible to shoot in color. Sound was captured by Wally Heider's mobile studio on state-of-the art eight-track tape, with one-track used for the crystal-sync tone, to synchronize it with the film cameras. The Grateful Dead believed that this was too commercial and refused permission to be shown in the film. The screening of the film in theaters nationwide helped raise the festival to mythic status, rapidly swelled the ranks of would-be festival-goers looking for the next festival, and inspired new entrepreneurs to stage more and more of them around the country.

An expanded version of the documentary has been released on DVD by the Criterion Collection.

The audio recordings of the festival eventually became the basis for many albums. Most notable are the 1970 release Historic Performances Recorded at the Monterey International Pop Festival featuring partial sets by Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix. Other releases recorded at the festival included The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Ravi Shankar. In 1992, a four-CD box set was released featuring performances by most of the artists; various other compilations have been released over the years. According to the radio promotional feature that accompanied the '92 box set release: on modified stages, including flatbed {Kaleidscope (LA)} trucks, set up in the surrounding environs, there were several spontaneous jam sessions for the overflow crowds, and erstwhile campers which included at the Monterey Peninsula Community College sports stadium (right across the Hwy. 1 interchange) where Jimi Hendrix flanked by (re: the Axis: Bold as Love cover) Jorma Kaukonen and John Cippolina played for the adoring throng. It was also reported locally that Eric Burdon had checked out the provisions and health care facilities.