Hendrix' best concert?

[Microwave Walrus]

recently listened to isle of wight for the first time...1st half was awesome, minus all the crap he talks in between songs

[csm]

I'd pick Monterey (1967) for Classic Early Hendrix and Berkeley (1970) for Classic Late Hendrix ...with special shout-outs for Woodstock and the Band Of Gypsys (both 1969) for extra fabness.

[tantamo]

I like the royal albert hall where he recorded bleeding heart.

[thick_mike]

This is the hardest question for me...

 

Monterey was like the first test explosion of a nuclear bomb...

 

Albert Hall 1969 contains some of the best live guitar I've ever heard (the solo after the drum solo in Stone Free is amazing).

 

Voted for Albert Hall in the end

[Tidal Rhythm]

 

I'd pick Monterey (1967) for Classic Early Hendrix and Berkeley (1970) for Classic Late Hendrix ...with special shout-outs for Woodstock and the Band Of Gypsys (both 1969) for extra fabness.

 

Wow. That drives home the tragedy of how short his career - and life - really was.

[IamBurnout]

I went with BOG as an effects head, but Monterey in '67 had so much 'fire' in the performance.

[blingdogg]

I voted BOG. That was some of the best playing he (and any other guitarists IMHO) ever did.

 

Some very close honorable mentions are his Berkeley, Monterey and Winterland concerts. Those are among my favorites.

 

Woodstock was good too.

 

His performance of Hey Joe at Woodstock and one of his performances of Like a Rolling Stone at Winterland are two of my favorite songs to listen to.

[Pincookie1]

Single monterey pop vote here. Love the energy and tune selection. Like a rolling stone nails it.

[Spitfire Mojo]

Monterey pop, no contest.

 

I can't believe how many people voted for Wight. WTF? He has major equipment problems, tone isn't the best overall, and probably my least favorite version of Red House.

[Hubert Stumblin]

I chose Monterey.

[humbuckerstrat]

Altho he had too many musicians onstage with him at Woodstock, that's probably my favorite filmed concert of Hendrix's. Great tone and playing there. None of the other concerts were slouches either, but I agree that Isle of Wight has my least favorite version of Red House, also. To me it's overlong and uninspired, and Hendrix didn't even use a Strat! I did like his Voodoo Chile from the Isle of Wight concert, tho.

[noisebloom]

I'm picking Monterey, because that's when Hendrix went supernova.

 

I would not pick Woodstock. That set is remembered mostly for the incendiary Star Spangled Banner, but otherwise it was a sloppy, sleepless, untested band being led by the nose by its exhausted leader. Jimi probably had a hundred other shows that surpassed it, by and large. It's the national anthem that lifted the whole thing to legend.

 

Sure, Monterey is remembered mostly for 'Wild Thing,' but he and the Experience killed that show. The guitar sacrifice was just a big exclamation point.

[humbuckerstrat]

 

I'm picking Monterey, because that's when Hendrix went supernova. I would not pick Woodstock. That set is remembered mostly for the incendiary Star Spangled Banner, but otherwise it was a sloppy, sleepless, untested band being led by the nose by its exhausted leader. Jimi probably had a hundred other shows that surpassed it, by and large. It's the national anthem that lifted the whole thing to legend. Sure, Monterey is remembered mostly for 'Wild Thing,' but he and the Experience killed that show. The guitar sacrifice was just a big exclamation point.

 

 

Hendrix was probably exhausted at the Isle of Wight concert, but at Woodstock he seemed to be, to me anyways, fresh, lively and having a blast. [EDIT]: If slightly buzzed.

[Emory]

"Second Annual Northern California Folk Rock Festival", May of 69 at Santa Clara fairgrounds. 3 days of great music ending with Jimi on Sunday afternoon. It is my understanding that this was last time he played with original Experience. Pre-woodstock so didn't have all the hippie hipster "let's go to a rock festival" crap that happened after Woodstock...

They were giving away GREAT free LSD, lovely outdoors, actual seats to sit in... Opening acts included Lee Michaels, Taj Mahal, Poco, Cat Mother, Noel's band Fat Mattress....

Among other things, Hendrix played Star Spangled, which hadn't been recorded yet.... WTF is this???? Oh yeah, PA went out for a few minutes, so Jimi only had his amps, so started doing some sort of real life delay, bouncing it off of the grand stand that was maybe 200 yards from the stage.

I saw him three times: first in Portland (turned him off at 11 as was the practice there then), this one, and then last time he played Seattle.

On this one he was a pipeline direct from God. Drove back to Eugene after concert. Could still hear him in my head 12 hours later when I crawled into my dorm bed......

[catscurlyear]

there are lots of highlights from all his shows, monterey`s best for me was "like a rolling stone" and "rock me baby" ,isle of wight`s the first half of "machine gun"and "midnight lightning"which never made it on to the movie because the camera guys flim ran out at that point ,and "in from the storm" which is realy sad when he throws his guitar down at the end. woodstock`s has to be "star spangled banner" and "spanish castle magic" he rips a great solo in that one. "band of gypsys" machine gun is just incredible. but my fav concert i`ve seen on film has to be "albert hall" voodoo chile is my highlight but there are so many high points in that film. one of hendrix`s best ever live performances of a song in my opinion though is "red house" which is on an album called "hendrix in the west " but the credits on the inner sleeve are incorrect as to where he played some of the songs so that one remains a mystery.

[noisebloom]

: If slightly buzzed.

 

According to various accounts, Hendrix had been sleepless for as much as a day and a half prior to his Woodstock performance. He was running on adrenaline, as well as other substances.

 

But I agree with you -- he looks a lot more tired and weary during the Isle of Wight show. His life was about to end less than three weeks later, and you could almost see why. His life was a mess and he was really run down.

[mikesr1963]

I've got Woodstock, IoW, and Live at Monterey on DVD and of them all I think Woodstock was played the best and sounded the best.

[benzem]

I'd freakin LOVE to be able to answer this!

[paul44]

Monterey.Probably the best live performance by anyone,anywhere in the history of everything.

[akapuli]

Berkeley

[Cymro#1]

Funnily, I've just recorded the Isle of Wight gig from SKY Arts and have been watching it closely. Whilst I feel Hendrix is a very difficult player to judge as all his gigs are so different, I think that the I of W version of All Along the Watchtower is the best ever. To be honset can't comment on best ever performance because the guy was so capable and diverese.

[csm]

I was actually PRESENT at the IoW -- and it was PAINFUL. It was if Hendrix's connection to that big magic source point in the sky was broken ... and, watching it since on film, it seems like the man who seemed more at ease with a guitar over his shoulder than anyone else, who seemed able to play anything at all the nanosecond he thought of it ... was struggling. He seemed ill at ease with his guitar, with his music, with his audience and with himself, like he was having no fun at all.

 

He barely smiled once during the whole show. Right at the end, you see him walk off stage, tearing his guitar off and slamming it to the stage ... not as a theatrical gesture, but because he was seriously pissed off ... mostly with himself.

 

It's undoubtedly the worst show of his ever captured on film ... and contributed an awful lot to the idea that he was burned out at the time of his death. Yet, at the Berkeley show, less than three months earlier, he played like a frakkin GOD.

 

It's a pity and a shame that he went out in the wake of a (very rare) bad night ... because it's distorted the perception of his career trajectory ever since. If he'd lived to finish and release his First Rays album, and to play more shows which were up to his usual towering standard, we'd feel very differently.

 

As it is, I never want to see IoW again because it's seriously depressing ... only to be watched for research purposes. Trust me: if you own ANY other Hendrix concert film, you own a better one.

[Cymro#1]

Yes , looking at I of W again in the light of your comments, Charles it does seem like he was having some problems, certainly communication with his audience and clearly inspiration on songs such as Red House and th raraely heard In From The Storm. Still like All Along t' Watchtower though......!

[RUExp?]

Live At Winterland is a good one.

[kirs]

Monterey with Bob Dylan's grandma on bass.