This day in New Orleans: Jim Morrison's last show with The Doors, in 1970

Did anyone know The Doors' last show with Jim Morrison would be Dec. 12, 1970 at The Warehouse on Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans? Maybe not, but it wouldn't have been a stretch to guess it would be.

The previous year, 1969, Morrison was arrested after exposing himself onstage in Miami. The one-time sex symbol had become bloated and increasingly erratic in the Doors' concerts.

Molly Chancey wrote in The States-Item on Dec. 12, 1970 that it was the first show The Doors had ever played in New Orleans.

She quoted Morrison as saying the band's "demonic sound'' was an expression of a man's "dark side.''

"Everyone, when he sees it, recognizes it in himself," she quoted him as saying. "It's a recognition of forces that rarely see the light of day.''

Morrison's dark side was on full display that night in New Orleans.

As UltimateClassicRock.com puts it: "The disastrous performance would bring the group to a screeching halt and prove sadly prophetic for the doomed singer, who had only months to live."

Midway through the set at The Warehouse, "Morrison began to forget the words to songs, and then tried to compensate by launching into a long, rambling joke that fell flat. The singer was reportedly hanging on to the mic stand for support as the group launched into 'Light My Fire,' and during the solos he went and sat down on the drum riser, failing to get up to sing the last verse. Drummer John Densmore finally nudged the recalcitrant singer with his foot,'' the website reports.

Entertainment Weekly quoted keyboardist Ray Manzarek as saying that night, "he felt Morrison 'leave the stage' -- but Morrison's body was standing stock-still in front of the microphone. When the singer's 'spirit' returned, it was with a vengeance: He smashed a hole through the stage with a mike stand, ending the concert early and providing a suitably dramatic finish to what turned out to be the Doors' final performance with Morrison."

In March 1971, with his common-law wife, Pamela Courson, he moved to Paris, "ostensibly to distance himself from the physical and spiritual rigors of rock & roll and to regenerate his vocation as a modern poet,'' Rolling Stone says.

"Morrison simply continued to drink in a desolating way, and according to some witnesses, he sometimes lapsed into depression over his inability to reinvoke his poetic muse, taking instead to writing suicide notes,'' Rolling Stone says. "Finally, at five in the morning on July 4th, 1971, Pamela Courson found Morrison slumped in the bathtub of their Paris flat, a sweet, still grin on his face.''

He was 27 years old.

You can visit Morrison's grave in Paris at Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

The Warehouse has since been torn down. A lot of greats played there: Fleetwood Mac, The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, The Who, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Foghat, Jethro Tull, The Clash, The Talking Heads, Rush and Dr. John.

The remaining members of The Doors carried on without Morrison for "Other Voices,'' deciding not to replace him but handling all vocals themselves for that album.