At Fillmore East During this time, the group began struggling with drug addictions. Everyone in the group, with the exception of the brothers, was also struggling to make a living (vocalist Gregg Allman received more money from royalty payments and Duane more from session work). In one incident, tour manager Twiggs Lyndon stabbed and killed a promoter for not paying the band; he later claimed temporary insanity. Their fortunes began to change over the course of 1971, where the band's average earnings doubled. The Allman Brothers Band had first played Fillmore East in December 1969, opening for Blood, Sweat & Tears for three
At Fillmore East doing the [studio] records, and I think, consequently, our next album will be ... a live recording, to get some of that natural fire on it." "We were not intentionally trying to buck the system, but keeping each song down to 3:14 just didn't work for us," remembered Gregg Allman. "And we realized that the audience was a big part of what we did, which couldn't be duplicated in a studio. A lightbulb finally went off; we needed to make a live album." "At Fillmore East" was recorded over two nights — March 12 and 13, 1971 — for which