Unfortunately, Hendrix's performance was not his best. Hendrix hadn't played any concerts for a month, which was a long time for him back then. Drummer Mitch Mitchell later admitted that it was a mistake not to rehearsed before they took the stage. "We were rusty, and it showed. The audience didn't help, and we had technical problems, with funny voices coming through the PA." And "it was cold and dank."
Pete Townshend, lead guitarist for the Who, later commented, "What made me work so hard was seeing the condition that Jimi Hendrix was in. He was in such tragically bad condition physically. And I remember thanking God as I walked on the stage that I was healthy." Perhaps Townshend had a point, because Hendrix died just two weeks after this concert. It was his last performance in Britain.
However, Murray Lerner, director of "Message to Love," the music documentary of the festival, disagreed: “I didn’t think he was in bad shape, I just thought he was tired. He did great renditions of 'Red House' and 'Machine Gun' – which I think is as good as anything he's ever done. Although admittedly he didn’t give the usual wild, waving around [performance]."
Lerner added, "Before he went on, Jimi asked: 'How does "God Save the Queen" go?' And then he played it. He said: 'Everyone stand up for your country and your beliefs, and if you don’t, fuck you.' 'Machine Gun' is always great, but in this case [Hendrix said]: 'Here’s a song for the skinheads in Birmingham. Oh yeah, and Vietnam. I almost forgot about that.' 'Machine Gun' goes on for about 17 minutes.”
Personally, I think this performance is better than most people give it credit for. It did start poorly. Hendrix apparently had just taken a nap before going on stage, and he was still groggy. After a few numbers, he actually commented between songs that he was starting over. I think from that point on, he got a lot better. I like concerts from the latter part of Hendrix's all-too-short career, where he played many of his great newly written songs, like "Dolly Dagger" and "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)." It's particularly nice that he played "All Along the Watchtower," because he didn't do that one very often.
The recording sounds excellent, because his entire set was officially released in 2002 as the album "Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight." Most of it has also been released on DVD.
This album is an hour and 59 minutes long. I think it's the longest recording from the festival.
065 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
066 God Save the Queen [Instrumental] (Jimi Hendrix)
067 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Jimi Hendrix)
068 Spanish Castle Magic (Jimi Hendrix)
069 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
070 All Along the Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix)
071 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
072 Machine Gun (Jimi Hendrix)
073 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
074 Lover Man (Jimi Hendrix)
075 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
076 Freedom (Jimi Hendrix)
077 Red House (Jimi Hendrix)
078 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
079 Dolly Dagger (Jimi Hendrix)
080 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
081 Midnight Lightning (Jimi Hendrix)
082 Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix)
083 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
084 Message to Love (Jimi Hendrix)
085 Hey Baby [New Rising Sun] (Jimi Hendrix)
086 Ezy Rider (Jimi Hendrix)
087 Hey Joe (Jimi Hendrix)
088 Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)
089 Voodoo Child [Slight Return] (Jimi Hendrix)
090 In from the Storm (Jimi Hendrix)
https://www.imagenetz.de/jxKcS
The cover photo comes from this exact concert.
Thank you for sharing the image on this page.
ReplyDeleteIt was taken by my Father-in-Law Charles Everest, who was there at the event that weekend.
More of his photos from the event can be found at the link below and are all ©cameronlife
www.cameronlife.co.uk