Notes

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Philharmonic (now Avery Fisher) Hall, New York.

Part of a series of Hendrix merges.

Complete 1st Show; Thomas G. Stereo Effect Mix - 1st, 2nd & 3rd Aud Sources synchronized

Billed as 'An Electronic Thanksgiving', it was an unusual pairing of Jimi and the classical world. The opening acts where a harpsichordist and the New York Brass Quintet, playing classical programs. A condition of the gig was that one of the Experience play with a classical ensemble- the possibilities of Jimi doing such a thing are fun to ponder, but in the end the task fell to Mitch, who played percussion with the quintet (no known tape, though). Though Jimi's birthday was the day before, he'd been on the road (R.I.) so there was a party for him backstage at the Philharmonic.

'Fire' again gets some extra soloing by Jimi on the second verse before the vocals start.

'I Don't Live Today' gets a wild feedback-drenched solo from Jimi. Reminds me a bit of a 'Wild Thing' type set closer but it's only the second number!

'Hear My Train' still in it's relative infancy, this being only the fourth 68 concert appearance (fifth overall, counting the early BBC version from 67). Jimi slips in some extra improvisayion between the first two verses. Words still taking shape- second verse starts with "Crying every night, crying my eyes out.." rather than "Tears burning Me.." (though he does use the latter later in the verse). Also uses the last verse variation of "Come back and buy this town, come back and put a spell on this town..".

'Spanish Castle Magic' only half the length of the previous night's tour-de-force but also features a very intense solo from Jimi that breaks down into some unaccompanied low-register riffing with a fairly clean but fat (phat?) tone (almost sounds like the later-to-come 'popping and slapping' bass style). Jimi even flirts with the 'I Feel Fine' riff at one point (had to slip it in somewhere as 'Hey Joe' doesn't appear this night)! The band kicks in and Jimi solos with that distinctive 'teeth-on-string' sound (ok,ok, my other evidence is the taper saying, loud and clear,"Wow, he's playing with his teeth.."!). Does a little more 'normally-plucked' soloing and, though he goes all over the neck, he still hits the open high E and B strings at the end of every phrase!

The distinctive tone of Jimi's Gibson SG/Les Paul can be heard on 'Red House'. Mitch flirts with a double-time feel during the second verse of soloing. This time the sharply percussive sound of the 'slapped chordal' bit is borne out by a pic in 'Cherokee Mist' which shows Jimi playing the SG with a drumstick. The soloing after this has a different attack, as we've heard in a few previous shows, and maybe he was using the drumstick here as well..

'Sunshine of Your Love' has Jimi launching into a solo after the first chorus but after a bit he abruptly switches to muted percussive strums while we get bass and drum solos. Not sure, but there sounds like some hints of some extra percussion while Mitch is soloing- maybe Jimi joined in briefly? (the muted guitar returns rather quickly) Another photo, this time from 'Sessions', shows Jimi "playing" the SG with a handheld microphone. Hard to pinpoint the resulting sound on the tape, but could account for some of the percussive sounds during 'Sunshine'. Seemed he enjoyed playing 'Sunshine' with the Gibson - many of the shows from late 68 and 1/69 have 'Sunshine' directly following 'Red House', though the only absolute proof of both songs being done on the SG is the video from Stockholm 1/9/69.

'Purple Haze' gets a relatively rare variation with some extra riffing before the vocals enter.