Never-Before-Seen Colored Footage of Velvet Underground’s Performance At Dallas Peace Day in 1969 Surfaces

Never-Before-Seen Colored Footage of Velvet Underground’s Performance At Dallas Peace Day in 1969 Surfaces | Society Of Rock Videos

via SMU Jones Film/YouTube

A Real Gem!

This rare and unseen colored video of Velvet Underground in 1969 was recently discovered at an archive in Southern Methodist University. Found among other 900 unmarked, mislabeled, or damaged reels in G. Williams Jones Film & Video Collection, this film shows the band giving interviews and even performing at the “Vietnam Moratorium – Dallas Peace Day” on October 15, 1969.

It was digitized but all things considered, the video is seriously of good quality – quite a feat, actually, especially since most of the 1960s videos you see of the group are either in black and white or worse, grainy.

They were playing a series of gigs in a Dallas Club and so since they were in the area, they decided to join a protest against Vietnam War. It was a small gathering held at White Rock Lake’s Winfrey Point building. Aside from VU, other performers include Stone Creek, Bradley & David, Faxx Naz, Lou Mitchel, Velvet Dream, and Lou Rawls. Velvet Underground performed three songs for their set – “I’m Waiting for the Man”, “Beginning to See the Light”, and “I’m Set Free”.

Guitarist Sterling Morrison was also interviewed and he talked about how protests are done in New York. Other members of the band including Lou Reed also talked to the camera. In one of the videos below, you can see a closer footage of the band’s performance. There’s also a silent B-roll included.

What are the odds of discovering this gem especially since it’s been almost fifty years since it happened? It’s been sitting in a room just waiting for someone to unearth it. And lucky for us, it was neither damaged nor in need of serious repair.

Even the archive doesn’t know why there’s a recording and how it ended up with them. Either way, we’re grateful for this little peek in the past.

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