August 30, 1970
East Afton Farm, Isle Of Wight
Jimi's band 'Cry Of Love' are supported by Joan Baez, Donovan & Open Road, Leonard Cohen & The Army, Richie Havens, Moody Blues, Pentangle, Good News, Jethro Tull and Ralph McTell, with MC Jeff Dexter.
On the day of his appearance at The Isle of Wight Festival, Jimi travels from London to Stapelton Aerodrome, then flies to Bembridge Airport on the Isle Of Wight at 20:30 and books into the Seagrove Hotel. Friends of Jimi, Kirsten Nefer and Karen Davis drive down from London to meet him.
Before the concert Jimi is interviewed by Steve Clackson and filmed giving an interview to a lady from French radio as Jimi is walking to the stage. [extract from Hendrix: The Visual Documentary by Tony Brown. Omnibus Press, 1992. p116]
Jimi finally starts making his way to the stage with the other members of the band and various guests in the early hours of Monday 3lst. While Jimi walks up the steps to the stage he looks back and announces: "l got a gig, waiting for me in the Laundromat."
Jeff Dexter introduces the band, opening with an aside to a technician: 'A bit more volume on this one, Charlie, it's gonna need it. Let's have a welcome for Billy Cox on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and the man with the guitar, Jimi Hendrix."
East Afton Farm, Isle Of Wight
Jimi's band 'Cry Of Love' are supported by Joan Baez, Donovan & Open Road, Leonard Cohen & The Army, Richie Havens, Moody Blues, Pentangle, Good News, Jethro Tull and Ralph McTell, with MC Jeff Dexter.
On the day of his appearance at The Isle of Wight Festival, Jimi travels from London to Stapelton Aerodrome, then flies to Bembridge Airport on the Isle Of Wight at 20:30 and books into the Seagrove Hotel. Friends of Jimi, Kirsten Nefer and Karen Davis drive down from London to meet him.
Before the concert Jimi is interviewed by Steve Clackson and filmed giving an interview to a lady from French radio as Jimi is walking to the stage. [extract from Hendrix: The Visual Documentary by Tony Brown. Omnibus Press, 1992. p116]
Jeff Dexter introduces the band, opening with an aside to a technician: 'A bit more volume on this one, Charlie, it's gonna need it. Let's have a welcome for Billy Cox on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and the man with the guitar, Jimi Hendrix."
Jimi walks to the microphone and announces: "Yeah, thank you very much for showing up man, you all look really beautiful and outta site and thanks for waiting. It has been a long time, hasn't it?" Jimi then flashes a peace sign. "That does mean peace, not this," reversing it to a V sign, reversing it again to the peace sign. "Peace. Okay, give us about a minute to tune up all right... It's so good to be back in England. We'd like to... start off with a thing that everybody knows out there. You can join in and start singing. Matter of fact, it'll sound better if you'd stand up for your country and your beliefs and start singing. And if you don't, fuck yer!"
He then calls out, "Nice and loud, nice and loud" to the band, before starting the set off with a short feedback rendition of 'God Save The Queen'. Mitch Mitchell then plays the introduction to 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', but the squeals coming from Jimi's guitar indicate that he already seems to be experiencing some equipment trouble.
Jimi only sings the first verse of the song before bringing it to an end. This was a song that Jimi had used extensively as a show opener back in 1968, but which he rarely played now.
Without any introduction the band then launch into 'Spanish Castle Magic', which Jimi ends in howls of feedback. His amp is now being plagued by a foreign voice and xylophone music comes from his speakers. "As I said before, thanks a lot for coming. We'd like to get into another song that we did about, er, in the year of 1883. And, er, I think it's pretty [true]... today, if you can dig it." Meanwhile the crews are trying desperately to eliminate the radio signals, a problem that annoyed Jimi more than anything. Trying not to let it bother him too much, he proceeds to count up the guitar neck with his fingers, looking for the chord that would start his next song - a little joke that he often did to amuse his audience. He then proceeds with 'All Along The Watchtower', but is still experiencing equipment trouble. "Er, we're having a tiny bit [of] trouble with the equipment, hold on a moment, one more second, buy your hot dogs or whatever."
The crowd start shouting for 'Voodoo Child', Jimi replies: "Yeah, we'll do that towards the... next time." Adjusting the uni-vibe for the next number, 'Machine Gun', he comments:
"Yeah, there's a whole lot of head games go along sometimes, and sometimes they leak out, as a word they use their powers and so forth, and put it on header games on other people, which we call WAR. And so I'd like to dedicate this one to, er, all the soldiers that are fighting in Birmingham, all the skinheads" which evokes a reaction from the audience.
"... All the, yeah, well, you know what I mean, you know, yeah right, Amen. All the soldiers fighting in Bournemouth, London. Oh yeah, all the soldiers fighting in Vietnam, like I almost forgot, man. So many wars going on."
Three minutes into the 'Machine Gun', the radio interference re-emerges - this time because of the security walkie-talkies: "Security personnel, security personnel, are you receiving over?" However, Jimi seems unconcerned at the interruption this time. and continues to play. Indeed, in a strange way, the voice seemed to fit in with the song. After about nine minutes, Jimi stops playing and Mitch fills in with a four-minute drum solo. Jimi comes back in, and for the following ten minutes there is a jam which features some incredible guitar work. However, this version of the song remains inferior to the one played during Jimi's Band Of Gypsys concert, back on New Years Day at the Fillmore, when 'Machine Gun' received its live debut. As the song comes to a close and the decibel level lowers, it becomes clear that the radio interference problem has still not been solved. This time, Jimi has to contend with a male opera singer coming through the bank of speakers! Looking back at his amplifiers in disgust, he brings the song to a sharp stop.
Gerry Stickells and Gene McFadden race around the stage trying to locate the problem. Jimi apologises to the audience: "Listen, it's gonna take a time er, to, like, get into it, because we're having little difficulties here and there. But, like, if you can hold on a little bit, I think we can all get it together, all right? 'Cause I'm gonna stay here all night until somebody moves." "Yeah, right!" shouts the audience, with a cheer.
Somebody shouts to shut the camera off. Jimi remarks: "I just want to get to my old lady at three o'clock." Confusion reigns, with the camera crews shouting at each other and amplifiers frantically being changed. Jimi changes guitars to his Gibson Flying V and, after a slight delay and tune up, continues with 'Lover Man'. The crew seems to have finally managed to sort out the problem and Jimi feels much happier with the sound. He dismisses the last forty minutes and decides to start the whole concert again. "Okay we ought to start all over again. Hello, how are you doing England? Glad to see you.
'We'll do a thing called 'Freedom'." Jimi has now settled down to engage in some fine playing and was starting to sound more fluent. Without a pause he goes straight into 'Red House,' which was possibly the highlight of the entire concert. The audience start to react favourable, now that the equipment had been sorted out, and Jimi is able to really play for the first time since the concert started. The crowd show their appreciation and all of the first few rows take to their feet cheering and clapping at the end of the song. Turning to Mitch, Jimi says: "Try that Dolly Dagger, okay?" We're gonna try to do this song now, it's called, um, 'Dolly Dagger' and it's, er, one of the things that we'll try to put on our new LP."
Jimi only sings the first verse of the song before bringing it to an end. This was a song that Jimi had used extensively as a show opener back in 1968, but which he rarely played now.
Without any introduction the band then launch into 'Spanish Castle Magic', which Jimi ends in howls of feedback. His amp is now being plagued by a foreign voice and xylophone music comes from his speakers. "As I said before, thanks a lot for coming. We'd like to get into another song that we did about, er, in the year of 1883. And, er, I think it's pretty [true]... today, if you can dig it." Meanwhile the crews are trying desperately to eliminate the radio signals, a problem that annoyed Jimi more than anything. Trying not to let it bother him too much, he proceeds to count up the guitar neck with his fingers, looking for the chord that would start his next song - a little joke that he often did to amuse his audience. He then proceeds with 'All Along The Watchtower', but is still experiencing equipment trouble. "Er, we're having a tiny bit [of] trouble with the equipment, hold on a moment, one more second, buy your hot dogs or whatever."
"Yeah, there's a whole lot of head games go along sometimes, and sometimes they leak out, as a word they use their powers and so forth, and put it on header games on other people, which we call WAR. And so I'd like to dedicate this one to, er, all the soldiers that are fighting in Birmingham, all the skinheads" which evokes a reaction from the audience.
"... All the, yeah, well, you know what I mean, you know, yeah right, Amen. All the soldiers fighting in Bournemouth, London. Oh yeah, all the soldiers fighting in Vietnam, like I almost forgot, man. So many wars going on."
Three minutes into the 'Machine Gun', the radio interference re-emerges - this time because of the security walkie-talkies: "Security personnel, security personnel, are you receiving over?" However, Jimi seems unconcerned at the interruption this time. and continues to play. Indeed, in a strange way, the voice seemed to fit in with the song. After about nine minutes, Jimi stops playing and Mitch fills in with a four-minute drum solo. Jimi comes back in, and for the following ten minutes there is a jam which features some incredible guitar work. However, this version of the song remains inferior to the one played during Jimi's Band Of Gypsys concert, back on New Years Day at the Fillmore, when 'Machine Gun' received its live debut. As the song comes to a close and the decibel level lowers, it becomes clear that the radio interference problem has still not been solved. This time, Jimi has to contend with a male opera singer coming through the bank of speakers! Looking back at his amplifiers in disgust, he brings the song to a sharp stop.
Somebody shouts to shut the camera off. Jimi remarks: "I just want to get to my old lady at three o'clock." Confusion reigns, with the camera crews shouting at each other and amplifiers frantically being changed. Jimi changes guitars to his Gibson Flying V and, after a slight delay and tune up, continues with 'Lover Man'. The crew seems to have finally managed to sort out the problem and Jimi feels much happier with the sound. He dismisses the last forty minutes and decides to start the whole concert again. "Okay we ought to start all over again. Hello, how are you doing England? Glad to see you.
'We'll do a thing called 'Freedom'." Jimi has now settled down to engage in some fine playing and was starting to sound more fluent. Without a pause he goes straight into 'Red House,' which was possibly the highlight of the entire concert. The audience start to react favourable, now that the equipment had been sorted out, and Jimi is able to really play for the first time since the concert started. The crowd show their appreciation and all of the first few rows take to their feet cheering and clapping at the end of the song. Turning to Mitch, Jimi says: "Try that Dolly Dagger, okay?" We're gonna try to do this song now, it's called, um, 'Dolly Dagger' and it's, er, one of the things that we'll try to put on our new LP."
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| Festival Booklet |
Meanwhile the audience at the front of the stage are still standing. Jimi is asked to request that they all sit down: "Oh yeah, somebody wants, er, people in the front row to sit down. I think it's compliments of the hills. Don't forget, you can't fly off the top of those hills, don't forget that." The band then launch into 'Dolly Dagger' - a completely new song that had only been performed once before during Jimi's concert in Maui, Hawaii.
At the end of the song, he changes guitars, back to his Stratocaster, and tells Mitch and Billy: "'We'll try to do that, er, rock 'n' roll tune, okay?" Then, to the audience: "Very sorry for tuning up, but, er, you know we do that... to protect your ears. That's why we don't play so loud, you know. And, er, cowboys are the only ones who wanna stay in tune anyway.
I'm so glad you all have patience though, cause I don't. I'd like to do this slow blues." Again, Jimi tries out a relatively new song, 'Midnight Lightning'. As the song ends, Jimi immediately hits the long feedback note for the more familiar 'Foxy Lady'. "This is dedicated to Linda. To the cat right there with the silver face... (Nik Tirrner of Hawkwind) Dedicated to Kirsten, Karen and that little four-year-old girl over there with the yellow panties on.
And I'd like to say thank you for the last three years. One of these days we'll get it together again. Thanks for showing up and you're outta site. If you had the same old songs, you'd be ready to stop." Halfway through the song, the radio interference comes back with a vengeance. Now Jimi is getting all kind of voices coming through the speakers. He stops playing while Mitch and Billy carry on with the beat.
I'm so glad you all have patience though, cause I don't. I'd like to do this slow blues." Again, Jimi tries out a relatively new song, 'Midnight Lightning'. As the song ends, Jimi immediately hits the long feedback note for the more familiar 'Foxy Lady'. "This is dedicated to Linda. To the cat right there with the silver face... (Nik Tirrner of Hawkwind) Dedicated to Kirsten, Karen and that little four-year-old girl over there with the yellow panties on.
And I'd like to say thank you for the last three years. One of these days we'll get it together again. Thanks for showing up and you're outta site. If you had the same old songs, you'd be ready to stop." Halfway through the song, the radio interference comes back with a vengeance. Now Jimi is getting all kind of voices coming through the speakers. He stops playing while Mitch and Billy carry on with the beat.
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| The Cry Of Love |
The problem again seems to be solved and Jimi continues to play. He doesn't seem to let it bother him, riding the song out with some theatrical showmanship, playing the guitar between his legs and performing an extended solo with his teeth. "You all wanna hear all those little songs, man? Damn man, we was trying to get some other things together. I just woke up about two minutes ago... I think we'll play, play something a little more familiar. 'Cause I ain't came yet myself, I don't know about you, but I ain't came, you know. There, I came, thank you very much, good night!" Jimi continues with 'Message To Love', after which he adjusts his uni-vibe for 'Land Of The New Rising Sun'. In the second verse, his improvised lines, "Coming back to England, thank you baby for making so easy," suggest that he must have been pleased with his first concert in England for almost 18 months.
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| Festival Weekend Ticket |
Bringing the song to a rather abrupt end, Mitch starts the drum intro for 'Ezy Ryder', after which it's straight into a real crowd-pleaser - 'Hey Joe' - which included snatches of 'Satisfaction' and English Country Garden'. Jimi draws the concert to a close with 'Purple Haze' and Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' and, finally, another relatively new song, 'ln From The Storm'. During this song, Jimi was looking very tired as he tried to squeeze notes from his guitar. Then, after an hour and fifty minutes, it was all over.
"Thank you for being so patient. Maybe one of these days [we'll] smoke a joint again, I really hope so, right? Thank you very much. And peace and happiness and all the other good shit." With that, Jimi takes his guitar off over his head and lets it fall to the floor with a crash.
[taken from Jimi Hendrix: Concert Files by Tony Brown. Omnibus Press, 199. p166-169]
"Thank you for being so patient. Maybe one of these days [we'll] smoke a joint again, I really hope so, right? Thank you very much. And peace and happiness and all the other good shit." With that, Jimi takes his guitar off over his head and lets it fall to the floor with a crash.
[taken from Jimi Hendrix: Concert Files by Tony Brown. Omnibus Press, 199. p166-169]
This post consists of FLACs ripped from my prized vinyl and includes full album artwork for bot vinyl and CD release. This was one of the few live recordings of Hendrix available during the 70's and it became my go to album when I wanted to hear the rawer side of Jimi. Remember, there was no Internet back in these days and Hendrix did not tour 'Down Under', so hearing him play live on this album was pretty much all that I had.
I am not adding any bonus tracks to this album this time, as I want to preserve the integrity of this release and keep it true to the time. Anyhow, you can find the full concert released on CD in most reputable music stores or purchase it online. Of course the track order on this LP is not true to the actual concert, however for me it has been the only one I have known for more than 40 years. I hope you enjoy this condensed version of his full concert and can fully appreciate the sound of this vinyl rip.
Track Listing
01 - Midnight Lightning
02 - Foxy Lady
03 - Lover Man
04 - Freedom
05 - All Along The Watchtower
06 - In From The Storm
Jimi Hendrix - Vocals, Guitar
Billy Cox - Bass
Mitch Mitchell - Drums
Jimi Hendrix Link (204Mb) New Link 21/11/2024
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