The Doors - Live In Bakersfield, August 21, 1970 (2023)

Live in Bakersfield is one of the more unique shows from The Doors during a tumultuous 1970 when Jim Morrison was on trial on trumped-up charges in Miami. The band had been playing together live for five years, and were tight enough to be able to veer into the unknown. That’s what they opted for in this California agriculture town on a hot summer night. Featuring improvisations and medleys of The Doors many beloved hits from across their albums, Live in Bakersfield is a shamanic adventure for all who listen. Recorded August 21, 1970.
The doors of perception were misleading for you if you imagined that there couldn’t possibly be any more unreleased Doors concert material in the can. But the music is never really over for this group that’s been gone for more than 50 years, especially when there’s a tape whose existence has been talked up among the faithful as this one. Fairer-weather fans should be aware that the sound quality on this is not such that probably anyone is going to play it over and over again as the sole Doors live set in their collection; it was recorded up in Buck Country in 1970 with two ambient stage mics feeding into to a reel-to-reel, which got transferred to a cassette, not by a sound truck. But with that low-fi caveat established, it’s a perfectly listenable show that’s often fascinating for the flights of fancy that emerge as seemingly spontaneous medleys in the set list.