Felt Forum (2nd Set),
New York City, New York - January 17, 1970.

1.Everything is Fucked Up as Usual 0:19
2.Roadhouse Blues 6:20
3.Break on Through 4:54
4.Ship of Fools 6:48
5.Alabama Song 1:51
6.Backdoor Man 3:50
7.Five to One 6:19
8.Crawlin' King Snake 5:21
9.Build Me a Woman 4:53
10.Bring Out your Dead 1:35
11.The End - Away in India 17:19

Comments:

The Doors kicked of their 1970 Tour by playing at the Felt Forum, a smaller crescent shaped auditorium within Madison Square Garden. The group had chosen the Felt Forum instead of the large arena in Madison Square Garden, since the acoustics within the large arena were pretty poor in comparison, as The Doors had experienced this when they played in the previous year on January 24. The Felt Forum concerts were presented by "Madison Square Gardens Productions" and "Andar Five". The Doors played four shows at the Felt Forum, two on Saturday and two on Sunday in front of an audience of 4,000 people at each show. The first and second shows for January 17 were scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m & 11:00 p.m respectively and the first and second shows for January 18 were scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m & 10:00 p.m. respectively.

By December 28, 1969 both shows for January 17 had already been sold out. The Doors Equipment Manager, Vince Treanor, had recorded all four sets for the inclusion on the album, "Absolutely Live.

Most collectors have had some difficulty determining which recordings to select in order to have the complete set. Most of us don't want to trade a tape only to find that we already have the same performance elsewhere. Of the Felt Forum shows, only the second show on the Saturday (January 17) and the first and second shows on Sunday (January 18) have circulated amongst tape traders. A common and re-occurring mistake which tape traders claim, is that they have the first show performed on the Saturday, where in actual fact this recording is the second part of the second set performed on the Sunday. No recording of the first show on the Saturday has made it’s way amongst tape traders and may have not been taped at all. Of the three Felt Forum shows, the seconds sets on both nights were a much better standard than the first set on Sunday.

The concert started off with Densmore warming up on his drum kit, while the crowd was waiting in anticipation for Jim to start singing.

"Everything is fucked up as usual !"

Morrison told his audience of 4,000 New Yorkers who ripped out in laughter and applauded him. The group then dived straight into "Roadhouse Blues" with Jim giving out a roaring "Wooooaaaah, All right !" The crowd clapped along with this song and seemed to be really enjoying themselves. "Break On Through", "Ship Of Fools", "Alabama Song/Back Door Man/Five To One" were also well received by the audience . At the start of their next song, "Crawling King Snake" Jim had begun this number by singing:

"Softer Baby, soft
Softer honey, get it way on down the line
You gotta slow it down
Feel it grow
Feel it soft, my babe
Feel it down we go, yea"

After The Doors had finished their John Lee Hooker cover song, the group played a gutsy blues number "Build Me A Woman" which Jim had sung;

"I’m a Sunday trucker, Christian mother fucker", as he had also had done on PBS’ National Educational Television show, Critique, during May of the previous year.

On the last song of this show, the group had played "The End", with Jim repeatingly saying to his audience ten times in a row;

"Bring Out Your Dead";

In a desperate "Armageddon" sounding voice, as if he is warning his audience of some kind of apocalyptic vision he had seen of the world. Robbie’s haunting guitar playing during the introduction of "The End" gives the listener an eerie feeling. Jim had used "The End" as being a platform to launch his poetry from, as he had successfully blended "Across The Sea" and "Ensenada" in this show as well doing the same in other performances. On this particular occasion, Morrison had omitted the word "father" and "mother" and replaced it with "hey you old fool" and "woman", respectively. Morrison was in fine form that night and he put on a good show for his audience.

Unfortunately the audience recording is not of the entire concert, according to Shaw (1997) he has noted in his works, "The Doors On The Road", an additional five songs which were recorded for the "Absolutely Live" but did not make their way onto the audience recording which is in circulation. These included "Who Do you Love", "Wild Child", "When The Music’s Over", "Light My Fire" and "Soul Kitchen".

Furthermore, "Alabama Song/Back Door Man/Five To One" medley precedes "Crawling King Snake" on the audience recording, yet on the "Absolutely Live" recordings the sequence is the opposite - listening closely to this recording, and in particular the applaud from the audience, it seems apparent that the sequence of these songs were purposefully altered!

The recording of this show is of a very high standard even though it was recorded by an audience member.