This Day In History: The Doors At Danbury High School

Forty Years ago today, The Doors played a concert at Danbury High School. Why is this significant? Well, for one, Danbury is my hometown, and the high school became part of the college I attended. But, more important it was the site of a memorable live recording of the group.
The Doors had just released their second album Strange Days four days earlier, and had run afoul of TV censors in an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show less than a month before. (The censors objected to the "Girl we couldn't get much higher" line from "Light My Fire," and when Jim Morrison sang it anyway, Sullivan banned the group from ever appearing on the show again.) Then it was back on the road for a concert swing through the northeast, including the Danbury stop.
The concert was put on not by Danbury High School, but by Western Connecticut State College as part of its Fall weekend.
The scene is set by this description from www.doorshistory.com:
This show is primarily attended by nearby college students from Western Connecticut State College and locals of Danbury. Prior to the show, Jim and his drinking buddy Tom Baker were partying all day. Tom even gets to introduce the band tonight preceded by a female announcer who tells the crowd not to leave their seats during the performance, or they will be escorted out of the venue! There was also a beauty pageant prior to this evening's performance.
Early into the show a group of students who are mad about The Four Seasons being cancelled are ragging on the band about how wasted they look and how ragged they appear. The band plays great tonight with a lot of energy, probably a carry over from their fabulous shows at The Scene. Jim however is pretty mellow, and it isn't until late in the concert that he jumps off the stage into the startled audience during "The End," leaps back on stage, and begins to smash the microphone stand into the stage repeatedly in a violent scene. The marks are still there!
The recording was made by a faculty member who taped it off the PA system. It's an amateur job to be sure, but still a decent recording (and the photo above was taken at this show).
The 10-song set list is made up of selections from The Doors and Strange Days, as well as a cover of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)." According to a note on guitarist Robby Krieger's website, there were very few live recordings of "People Are Strange," so its inclusion here is important. Despite the poor audio quality, this is an interesting picture of a young band on the rise. Less than two months later Morrison made headlines again after he was arrested on stage in New Haven, Connecticut, for criticizing the police to the audience. Morrison said he had been maced by a police officer after he was caught backstage with a girl.
Listen to some cuts the Doors at Danbury High School:
Light My Fire
People Are Strange
Break On Through