Daily News article by Donald Flynn
A West Coast rock group called the Doors slammed into Madison Square Garden last night and 20,000 screaming teenyboppers tried to rip them off their hinges.
The Doors, for the benefit of any squares who read this, are the new Beatles led by and Elvis Presley type named Jim Morrison, who cranks up kids as effectively as a shot of LSD. The music isn’t called acid-rock for nothing.
Like the Crack of Doom
They came out onto the stage at the Garden at 9:30 p.m.—Morrison; drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger and organist-pianist Ray Manzarek—to a roll of thunder from the teenyboppers that sounded like the crack of doom.
The kids swarmed all over the place like lemmings, filling up every empty spot in the aisles, squirming as close as possible to adore their idols as they blasted out their biggest hit, “Light My Fire.”
This song drives the kids right up the wall, and virtually blows their minds. If nothing else, it should deafen them because the Doors believe in using loudspeakers—like about one to a person.
“They got more amplification on that stage tonight than they usually have in the whole Garden,” an electrician sighed jealously.
The kids, dressed every which way from Brooks Brothers modern to East Village raggedy, lighted up the Garden with a steady flare of their camera flashbulbs, turning the joint into a rocking, ear-splitting psychedelic trip.
Densmore flung a series of drumsticks into the throng, sending the kids elbow over ponytail after those souvenirs from on high.
And then Morrison majestically let fly with an eloquent belch and flung his jacket into the audience. The jacket went like a cow in a river swarming with piranhas, as the kids shredded it in seconds.
“I though his belch was very original,” cooed Holly Chiger, 21, a City College student.
Among the scattering of non-teenyboppers there was City Council President Francis X. Smith. Asked if he dug the sound, Smith said, “No, but my five kids do.”
The affair was a sellout as of Monday, officially, but rock nuts say it was locked up a month ago.
Gross Is $105,000
Their agent confided that the Doors will pick up “a big per cent” of the $105,000 gross.
Last year, the Doors swung into New Haven, and turned on their young audiences so much that the police had to break it up. Morrison was doing his thing so vigorously that a high-ranking cop stalked up onto the stage to end it.
Morrison blandly handed the cop the microphone and invited him: “Say your thing.” The next stop was the pokey, Morrison was charged with “giving an indecent and immoral exhibition.” But the charges were later dropped.