It's one of those moments in rock history that music writers and fans have been referring to and writing about since it went down, more than 50 years ago.
The lucky attendees who saw it unfold live, on a stage that was right in front of them, experienced something unlike anything they had experienced before: a technicolor cosmos, drenched in rainbow oceans of feedback, distortion and psychedelic blues, rooted in Mississippi soul, descended upon the Monterey County Fairgrounds that magical June night back in 1967.
The rest of the world had to read about it in magazines and newspapers. If it weren’t for the photos, the live footage and the recordings that would follow, Jimi Hendrix’s groundbreaking Monterey Pop Festival performance could be reduced to a fantasy fueled by all that good, clean Owsley Acid, fittingly dubbed “Purple Haze.”
The show marked Hendrix’s roaring introduction to an American audience; it was the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s first stop on their debut U.S. tour. The performance was undoubtedly triumphant and deserved the continued awe surrounding it, but the true power of it: At the time, no one had expected anything like it.
Every fan now knows just about everything there is to know about that memorable night in Monterey. On June 18, 1967, Hendrix kicked off his set with a cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor,” both sludgy and mystical. Hendrix’s originals, including “Purple Haze” and “The Wind Cries Mary,” effortlessly quenched an audience's thirst for something new and superhuman.
Then there was his tornado take on Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” which melded Hendrix’s face-melting, electrified blues with the folk hero’s urgent ode to innocence lost.
Of course, Hendrix’s closing tune in Monterey, a punky, feedback-laden version of the Troggs’ “Wild Thing,” led to the most renowned rock show crescendos ever. It wasn’t as much about Hendrix lighting his axe on fire as the theatrics of it all; it was impassioned and sexualized bliss. The Voodoo Child fell to his knees, beckoning the blaze to grow, squeezing lighter fluid onto the flames as feedback throbbed throughout the arena.
I also didn’t think there was anything else about this historic performance that I hadn’t read or heard about.Then, out of the blue, I received a letter from my incredible 92-year-old grandmother who lives in Wilmington, Delaware. Inside the envelope was a brief note: “I think I recognize the name. I thought you might enjoy reading. Love, Granny.” It was a page torn out of a Smithsonian magazine and folded into a small square. The article was about Hendrix and something I didn’t know about his Monterey Pop appearance.
It’s nothing earth-shattering, but learning something new about Hendrix’s Monterey performance is still interesting.
A few days before the Monterey Pop Festival, Hendrix visited Nepenthe in Big Sur and did some shopping at Nepenthe’s Phoenix gift shop. Smithsonian reports that he may have purchased a black velvet vest from Afghanistan at the shop, which may have been the one he wore during his Monterey performance.
In all the photos from the show, Hendrix sports a black vest worn over a ruffled yellow shirt, with red bell bottoms and black boots. Is it the same vest he may have purchased in Big Sur? Who knows for sure? It’s still cool to think about the then-unknown Hendrix checking out Big Sur before heading into Monterey to make an unforgettable mark on rock and roll history.
One thing we do know: There will never be another Jimi.
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