First though, I want to explain why I developed an interest in this particular Hendrix concert. I was trying to look up some information about Santana relating to the closing of the Fillmore West concerts I recently posted, and I came across the helpful www.santanamigos.com website. I happened to come across some quotes in it from Carlos Santana where he extensively praised this very Hendrix concert. Here are the quotes. This first one is from a 1994 interview:
"The first time I saw Jimi was at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds in San Jose. It was probably the most incredible concert I ever heard in my life. I have never heard him play better after that. The show was absolutely incredible. Jimi was at the peak of his art. At one moment he would get caught inside a proton or a neutron, and the next minute he would throw you to the Milky Way. I've never been exposed to that drastic form of expression. Somebody actually recorded it that day. I listen to it and I'm still blown away. You can hear all these waves of spirits crying through his guitar. We were like - 'Oh my God! How can he do this?' It was scary, I had never heard anybody express electric music the way he did that day. It was incredible to be assaulted with all these screaming winds. He would really control that instrument like a jazz player or a blues player would. It was like controlling a demon and making it sing."
He discussed this concert some more in a 1995 interview:
"I saw him at Santa Clara Fairgrounds in San Jose in '69 but I didn't get to talk to him then - I still didn't know him. I think that was the best concert that I ever heard him play. He had supreme confidence that day. There was nothing in his mind about business of chicks or anything that I could tell because he just came out like Michael Tyson, when Michael Tyson would knock guys [out] in three seconds. There's a certain 'stance'. That's what Miles Davis said: 'I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands, you know.' He had a certain stance, man. He was all over that Strat and had supreme confidence, that's all I can say."
After reading those quotes, I thought, "Wow, I really need to listen to a recording of this concert." After all, if there's someone who knows a thing or two about playing great lead guitar, it's Carlos Santana. So I found the bootleg recording he mentioned.
However, I quickly realized there was a big problem with it. It's an audience bootleg, and it recorded Hendrix's lead guitar very nicely. But everything else was buried way back in the mix. The drums, bass, and especially the lead vocals were very hard to hear. In a way, this isn't so bad, since it allows one to hear Hendrix's amazing guitar work very clearly. Still, I tried to fix it. It turns out I couldn't do much to improve the drums or bass. The MVSEP program I used didn't detect enough for me to be able to adjust the volume. I did boost the drums some, but only in some sections of songs. Still, I figured that was an improvement.
However, it turns out I was able to make a massive change to Hendrix's vocals. They went from being almost inaudible to the expected volume level in most cases. In my opinion, this really improves the recording. It's still an audience boot, and it still has issues, but it's quite listenable now.
Now, here's a little background about this concert, as I understand it. Hendrix played with the Experience. It was one of their last concerts, as they would break up a month later. These were the other acts that were supposed to perform at the festival: Jefferson Airplane, the Chambers Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon, Spirit, Canned Heat, Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Youngbloods, the Steve Miller Band, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Taj Mahal, Noel Redding, Lee Michaels, Blues Image, Santana, Elvin Bishop, Poco, People!, Lynn County, the Loading Zone, Sweet Linda Divine, Cat Mother, Doc Watson & New Lost City Ramblers.
However, it seems not all of those acts actually appeared. There had been a "Northern California Folk-Rock Festival" in 1968, and that had gone pretty well, with a handful of big name musical acts performing. However, it turns out both Hendrix and Led Zeppelin were advertised to appear at this 1969 version despite not actually being contacted by the promoter, Bob Blodgett, to do so. Probably, that was a tactic to boost sales. This resulted in Led Zeppelin suing Blodgett, and they didn't perform. To safe face, at the last minute, Blodgett paid Hendrix $30,000 to perform. So luckily we got this recording. I haven't found any other recordings from the 1969 festival though. I did find an article from the time saying that Eric Burdon was a major cancellation, but he may have been the only other big name not to show. I've included that article in the download zip, since most of it talks about Hendrix's performance.
Also, another rock festival took place nearby over the same weekend, as kind of a hippie protest against Blodgett, called the Aquarian Festival. About 20,000 people attended that one, while about 60,000 people attended this one. Here's a link to another article that talks about that conflict:
It's not mentioned in that article, but I read elsewhere that the debacle over this festival basically ended Blodgett's career as a music promoter. Even though he ultimately did get Hendrix to perform, it wasn't enough to save his reputation due to the original false advertising he did.
Anyway, I'd love to hear from die-hard Hendrix fans, if they think Hendrix's performance here was really as exceptional as Carlos Santana says it was. I found another quote where Santana said he saw about eight or nine Hendrix concerts in total. Perhaps he was just the most impacted by seeing him for the first time?
By the way, I find it interesting that most of the last twenty minutes long was a medley that was mostly instrumental. And that included very early versions of two songs, "Message to Love" and "Room Full of Mirrors," that he would play a lot more in 1970.
This album is an hour and nine minutes long.
01 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
02 Hear My Train A-Comin' (Jimi Hendrix)
03 Fire (Jimi Hendrix)
04 Drum Solo [Instrumental] (Jimi Hendrix)
05 Spanish Castle Magic (Jimi Hendrix)
06 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
07 Red House (Jimi Hendrix)
08 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
09 I Don't Live Today (Jimi Hendrix)
10 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
11 Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix)
12 Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)
13 talk (Jimi Hendrix)
14 Voodoo Child [Slight Return] (Jimi Hendrix)
15 Message to Love [Instrumental] (Jimi Hendrix)
16 Room Full of Mirrors (Jimi Hendrix)
17 Sunshine of Your Love [Instrumental] (Jimi Hendrix)
18 Voodoo Child [Slight Return] [Reprise] [Instrumental] (Jimi Hendrix)
https://bestfile.io/en/mx8Ys4AuS35kU8A/file
The text at the top, plus the yellow framing, is from a concert poster for this concert. In the middle, I put a photo of Hendrix that also is from this exact concert.
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