It was Doors-mania on the Sunset Strip last night as a line of hundreds wrapped around the famed Whiskey-A-Go Go for a special 40th anniversary show. Time warp? Sure. This was the very same spot where Jim Morrison first performed the epic and controversial “The End” back in 1966. Miraculously, the fans haven’t aged. But that’s the thing about the Doors — no matter what year it is, there’s always a new generation there to rediscover that unmistakable sound. And there to help the assembled crowd honor the Doors’ legacy were Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, Perry Farrell and Slash. The three rockers joined original Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger for an abridged “best of” set, appropriately timed to the release of Perception, a new six-CD/DVD box set and book celebrating the band’s anniversary. Before taking the stage, the guys — along with a dozen friends and family (including Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, Audioslave’s Tom Morello and Puddle of Mudd’s Wes Scantlin) — staged a last-minute rehearsal/jam session in an upstairs dressing room. With Bennington taking the lead on “Light My Fire,” Farrell guiding the sing-along through “L.A. Woman” and Slash ripping straight into the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” (on acoustic guitar no less), passersby — and even the city fire marshals who came to break up the hallway cluster-fuck — stood with mouths agape in awe.
“I can’t describe how I feel,” Bennington, who penned Perceptions‘ foreword, told us just before hitting the stage. “By no means am I trying to step into Jim’s shoes. It’s just a great honor to be here,” he told Rolling Stone. “The Doors were the first music I learned to play and fell in love with.” That sentiment was echoed by Farrell. “I remember when my brother bought the forty-five of ‘Light My Fire’ and we listened to it non-stop on the porch of our house in Queens,” he said. “Even as a little kid, I knew it was for real.”
In what certainly must have been a surreal experience for all, the six-song tribute kicked off with a steady, boozy riff of “Roadhouse Blues,” during which Bennington and Farrell traded off verses with surprisingly natural ease. The combo worked even better on “Light My Fire” and “L.A. Woman” with the band warmed up. And once you added Slash to the mix on “Break On Through,” you had the makings of a memorable rock show which, for Manzarek, may well have induced a flashback. “It was the most bitchin’ time I’ve had on the Sunset Strip since Jim did the Oedipal section of ‘The End’ back in 1966,” he said back in that packed hallway after the show. “Perry and Chester sang the shit out of those songs and Slash played amazing. It was a great night at the Whiskey a Go Go, very much like back in 1966-67, the Summer of Love.”
One guy who wasn’t feeling the love? Val Kilmer, who had sound-checked “Break on Through” with the band that afternoon (a reprise of his role as Jim Morrison in the Oliver Stone film). Upon learning that he had to share the stage AND microphone with Bennington and Farrell, the actor stormed out and never came back for the show. Not that anyone was sweating it. “Fuck that guy,” proclaimed one crew member before downing another shot of vodka.
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
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