Dinner Key Auditorium

On March 1, 1969, Jim Morrison took the stage at Dinner Key Auditorium in Coconut Grove, Miami, and delivered one of the most notorious performances in rock history. The Doors were booked to play to a crowd of around 12,000 — the venue's capacity was closer to 7,000, but promoters had removed the seats and oversold the show. It was hot, packed, and chaotic before a single note was played.

Morrison arrived drunk. He had been drinking on the flight from New Orleans and continued backstage. When The Doors finally went on — late — Morrison was in a confrontational mood. He spent much of the set berating the audience, challenging them, asking them if they had come to see a rock concert or something more. "You're all a bunch of slaves," he told them. "What are you going to do about it?"

What happened next depends on who you ask. According to the Dade County authorities, Morrison exposed himself on stage. Morrison denied it. Witnesses gave conflicting accounts. No photograph has ever surfaced proving the alleged exposure. What is clear is that the show descended into pandemonium — Morrison invited the crowd on stage, fights broke out, and the concert collapsed into disorder.

Four days later, a warrant was issued for Morrison's arrest. He was charged with lewd and lascivious behaviour, indecent exposure, open profanity, and public drunkenness — a felony and three misdemeanours. The trial in 1970 found him guilty of indecent exposure and profanity. He was sentenced to six months in jail and a $500 fine, though he remained free on appeal. He died in Paris before the appeal was heard.

The Miami incident effectively ended The Doors as a touring band. Dozens of concerts were cancelled in the aftermath as venues across America refused to book them. The band continued to record — Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman both came after Miami — but the live career was essentially over.

Dinner Key Auditorium was originally a seaplane base built by Pan American Airways in the 1930s. The building still stands, now serving as Miami City Hall. In 2010, Florida Governor Charlie Crist posthumously pardoned Morrison for the indecent exposure conviction, 39 years after his death. The pardon acknowledged that the evidence had always been questionable.