Jandy Hardesty’s review published on Letterboxd:
I actually didn't know much about the Altamont Free Concert, other than it got kinda nuts (but no specifics), so I came to this documentary with probably a lot less prior knowledge than most people. I enjoy the Rolling Stones, but I wouldn't consider myself a fan or in any way knowledgable about them - I could probably only name one hand's worth of their songs. So I came to this and chose it as a Blind Spot option almost purely by its reputation as one of the greatest music/concert documentaries ever.
And boy does it live up to that. The way the Maysles move back and forth in time, intercutting the concert footage leading up to Altamont to the lawyer trying to set up the free concert to the Stones watching the concert footage back in the studio and giving off-the-cuff comments about what went down, is utterly brilliant, building tension all along the way - especially for someone like me who didn't know exactly what went down. It's interesting to compare to Woodstock, which is a similar film in many ways, but has such a more optimistic tone.