Guitar Greats kick off Experience Hendrix 2025 in Cincinnati
On March 11, 2025, a euphoric spiritual event happened at the Taft Theater in Cincinnati, Ohio: the 2025 Experience Hendrix Tour kicked off its first show. The tour organizer Janie Hendrix opened the show with the announcement, “We’re gonna have electric church tonight,” and the show fully delivered. The artists and crew were able to quickly and cheerily solve a few initial technical hiccups to deliver an incredible experience for the audience. The whole show went almost exactly two and a half hours, with 23 songs total, along with introductions and some brief banter between songs.
The setlist included some of Hendrix’s biggest hits and some lesser known deep cuts, including many covers he was known for. Among the hits, the only glaring omission was “All Along the Watchtower,” which in past tours has been included or excluded on various dates depending on the lineup. No matter, the mix of face-melting rock and slower traditional blues created a roller coaster music experience that had something for diehard fans of Hendrix and newcomers alike.
The lineup for the opening show of the tribute tour could not have been more stacked: Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Eric Johnson, Devon Allman, Dweezil Zappa, Noah Hunt (from Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band), Mato Nanji (from Indigenous), Henri Brown, Ally Venable, Kevin McCormick (from Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band), Dylan Triplett, Mathias Lattin, Tony Beard, Sam Bryant, and Orlando Wright. All were at the absolute top of their game, with compelling stage presence, excellent technical skills, and authentic engagement with the audience.
The show began with a brief intro from Janie Hendrix, Jimi’s step-sister and the President of Experience Hendrix, before jumping straight into the music. The show was structured as a mix-and-match of all the talent in the lineup, with all the musicians on the bill jumping in and out for various songs throughout the show. Most of the first half of the show featured the younger/up and coming acts like Ally Venable, Dylan Triplett, and Kingfish. Henri Brown, a terrific showman, acted as a sort of de facto emcee for the show, and was on stage for more songs than the rest of the lineup, killing it every time he sang.
This was my introduction to Ally Venable, who made a great impression with her guitar chops and singing, and Triplett, who blew the audience away with his strong vocals. Each could not have given a better performance, and I hope to hear and see more from them.
Kingfish was, as expected, transcendent. The only reason I can’t say he stole the show is because he was followed by Eric Johnson and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, but even on stage with such legends, he more than held his own. Like many blues fans, I was introduced to Kingfish when a video of him playing “Hey Joe” went viral, and it was a great privilege to hear him perform the song on the tour, with his signature smoothness in the vocals. For my money, it was the performance of the night.
The night was rounded out with sets from Devon Allman and Eric Johnson with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Noah Hunt closing. Hunt, who is a Cincinnati native, received the warmest welcome of the night from the audience. Johnson mesmerized the audience with his playing, while Shepherd and Hunt blew the doors off the place, closing with a roughly 20 minute jam fest consisting of a combo of “Voodoo Chile” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).”
A show with this many artists cycling on and off stage, with an elaborate video and light show, is a complex and fickle beast to wrangle for sure. And being the first show of the tour, the artists and crew had to weather a few rough patches like artists taking a while to come back on stage, guitars not cooperating, and amps/microphones humming. Small hiccups like this are to be expected, and it’s to the crew’s credit that they resolved each issue quickly with professionalism and good humor, never creating a moment of awkwardness or embarrassment. To the contrary, a highlight of the night came when Dweezil Zappa’s guitar gave him some trouble, resulting in a need to switch instruments on the fly, which Henri Brown smoothed over with a beautiful improvised one liner: “We’re burning this m-f-er tonight.” If there was an audience member perturbed by the issue, he won them back with laughter in an instant.
Every artist got a chance to shine on at least a couple songs apiece. I would have loved to see some bigger parts highlighting Mathaias Lattin and Mato Nanji, who primarily played at the back or side of the stage and never seemed to get a moment to stand out. However, I fully understand that’s hard to do for every single member of a lineup this large.
The Experience Hendrix Tour kicked off with a killer show highlighting the excellence of multiple blues rock artists, young and old, while paying tribute to one of the giants of the genre. If the opening concert is any indication of the quality concertgoers can expect from the rest of the tour (especially with the bugs ironed out), the blues rock fans will be far from disappointed
SET LIST
Foxy Lady
Stone Free
Freedo
Fire
Purple Haz
Little Wing
Manic Depression
Killing Floo
Hey Joe
Catfish Blues
With the Power
Burning of the Midnight Lamp
One Rainy Wish
Love or Confusion
Spanish Castle Magic
Red Hous
Who Know
Them Changes
Gypsy Eye
I Don’t Live Toda
Let the Good Times Roll
Voodoo Chil
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
