Igniting a year-long 60th-anniversary celebration, The Doors will unveil their iconic Bright Midnight Archives live recordings on DSPs for the very first time throughout 2025. These coveted concerts previously only existed physically on limited-edition LPs and CDs. Today marks a momentous occasion with the first live release in the series, Live at the Matrix 1967: The Original Masters, available now for streaming and download. Listen HERE.
Watch The Doors 60th Anniversary sizzle reel HERE.
This series illustrates The Doors’ evolution and transformative impact on both music and culture. Tracing their global journey from tiny clubs to arenas, it scrapbooks the band’s storied three-year run on the road as they closed out the sixties. Upcoming releases in this series include Live in Boston, 1970, on April 4, recorded at the Boston Arena on April 10, 1970, and includes both performances. Live in Philadelphia ’70, Recorded at The Spectrum on May 1, 1970, and Live in Pittsburgh, 1970, recorded at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena on May 2, 1970, on May 2; Live in Detroit 1970, recorded May 8, 1970, at the Cobo Arena, one of the longest Doors shows ever caught on tape on May 8; Live in Vancouver, 1970, recorded at the Pacific Coliseum on June 6, 1970, and features a guest appearance by blues legend Albert King on June 6; Live In Bakersfield, California, August 21, 1970, on August 21. Live at Konserthuset, Stockholm, September 20, 1968, on September 19. The set contains both the early and late shows from The Doors’ appearance at the renowned concert hall in Stockholm, immortalizing the climactic conclusion of their only European tour. The concerts are among the tour’s best, featuring rare live performances of Doors’ originals “Love Street” and “You’re Lost Little Girl” and a cover of “Mack The Knife.” Each release has been remastered by The Doors’ longtime engineer/mixer, Bruce Botnick.
Commencing this trip, Live At The Matrix 1967 bottles the musicians’ primal intensity and psychedelic panache. The Doors were a few months away from stardom in March 1967 when they played five sparsely attended shows at a small club in San Francisco called The Matrix. These uninhibited performances would have been fleeting if not for Peter Abram, who co-owned the pizza parlor-turned-nightclub with Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Balin. An avid recordist, Abram regularly taped concerts at The Matrix and his recordings of The Doors, made between March 7-11, 1967, spawned one of the band’s most storied bootlegs. Complete and original recordings sourced from the first-generation 7” reels.
The dynamic interplay between band members fuels everything from the rip-roaring “Break On Through” to a mesmerizing rendition of “The End.” At the same time, a rare instrumental of “Summertime” proves utterly captivating, while their passion for the blues drives fluid, extended covers of “I’m A King Bee” and “Crawling King Snake.”
The Doors kicked off their 60th Anniversary last year with The Doors 1967-1971 release, a 6-LP box set part of Rhino’s acclaimed High Fidelity audiophile vinyl series, featuring all six of the band’s original studio albums. Limited to 3,000 individually numbered copies, the collection quickly sold out. These sought-after audiophile titles will be available individually on January 31 on thedoors.com and rhino.com.
To commemorate The Doors anniversary, their first-ever complete anthology book, Night Divides the Day, illuminates the band’s archives like never before with rare photography, intimate interviews with Robby Krieger and John Densmore, and meticulously sourced archival text from Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. With unlimited access granted by the band, Night Divides the Day includes a unique collection of historical ephemera – including childhood photos, song lyrics, poster artwork, movie stills, and much more – which adds context to the wealth of rare photography that documents the band’s musical odyssey.
Joining Krieger and Densmore are a host of contributors, with a foreword by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and an afterword by maestro Gustavo Dudamel. The anthology is presented in a limited edition of only 2,000 numbered sets, each hand-signed by Densmore and Krieger. Each set includes the 344-page signed edition, a 7” vinyl record with rare demos of “Hello, I Love You” and “Moonlight Drive,” and other assorted historical memorabilia. Available for pre-order now and shipping early this year.
