Four people died during the 1969 Altamont Free Concert in California.
The concert took place on December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway near Livermore. It was organized as a free event featuring major acts including the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The venue was selected only shortly before the concert, creating severe logistical and crowd-management problems.
The four deaths occurred in separate incidents. Meredith Hunter was fatally stabbed near the stage during the Rolling Stones’ performance. Three other people died in traffic-related incidents, including two people killed by a vehicle and one person who drowned in an irrigation canal.
Altamont is frequently remembered as a dark contrast to Woodstock earlier that year. The concert’s violence, rough conditions, and inadequate security became central subjects of the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter. A common mistake is to count only Hunter’s death; the accepted total for the entire event is four.