News

Top 2 Jimi Hendrix concerts that captured him at his spellbinding best!

One of the odd contradictory aspects about Jimi Hendrix’s shows is that regardless of being so amazing when performing live, he never liked touring. Defending his stance he would explain that ‘The Road’ of the 1960s proved to be a very punishing an unforgiving experience, despite the fact it was very well planned in advance by Michael Jeffrey, his manager. One night they’d be playing in a Santa Barbara, California venue, and the next night you’d find them performing in front of an audience in Seattle, Washington.

Although Hendrix was around on the music scene for around 4 years or so, he made the most of it and left a lasting impression on every music lover of his and later generations. His music has inspired many different artists and products world over. For instance, there’s a slot game based on Hendrix! Talking about slots, you must definitely play Gladiator, the online slot title from Playtech if you love such games of chance! Here’s a detailed slots for you.

Getting back to Hendrix, let’s tell you about his two special concerts when he was at his peak.

The Winterland Ballroom performance on October 11, 1968

Apart from the fact that it featured rockets red-glaring and burning guitars, this gig came around the time when Jimi Hendrix was at his spellbinding best. This was the second show from a run of three consecutive San Francisco performances.

All through its history, this venue has been recognized for bringing out the best of the people who perform there, whether it was Sex Pistols in the year 1978, Bruce Springsteen in 1976 or Led Zeppelin in 1969. Hendrix, already recognized as one of the best live artists of his time, and having had a fairly large and dedicated fan following in and around the Bay Area, brought his best to the table and gave a life-changing performance at the Concert Hall. In fact, San Francisco celebrates this day even today, in the form Jimi Hendrix Day!

The Monterey Pop Festival on June 18, 1967

There was hardly anyone in the United States who knew about Jimi Hendrix when he left the New York City for United Kingdom in the year 1966. Upon his return to the US on June 18, 1967, for a scheduled performance at Monterey Pop Festival, California, there was not one person who could take his/her eyes and ears off the guitar-magician!

As against the Woodstock Festival where Hendrix’s one song transcended the remaining part of his set, his gig at Monterey Pop Festival brought out the violent and sexually charged side of him, which came out loudly through ‘Wild Thing’ as a culmination. Doing his best to outdo the explosive ‘My Generation’ performance by ‘The Who’s’, that preceded Hendrix’s set, when it came to bringing his own show to culmination, Hendrix took the crowd to an altogether new high! Even if you watch it today, Jimi grinding his custom-painted Strat against the Marshall amps, before eventually riding it like his lover, is viewed in shock by many music followers! At Monterey, he really threw out a challenge to the other artists of his generation – they could either become daring like him, or stay irrelevant!

Sandy Jakobs

Pete Francis

Pete Francis is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Blues Rock Review. Pete founded Blues Rock Review in 2010 because he felt there was a major void in how the blues rock genre was covered. Pete is the host of Blues Rock Weekly and a co-host on the Blues Rock Show.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bulk Email Sender