🌟 1967.
York University, Lang with College Dining Hall, Heslington, Yorkshire, England, JHE
Concert (50) minutes
Support: T D Backus & the Powerhouse; The Peeps
Songs: unknown
Beat International (April) interview by unknown:
Noel: “We had a photo session in the afternoon and we were late leaving. Gerry, our road manager had left with the gear and we were to follow in Mitch’s car. We set off at five p.m. and belted off towards Nottingham, but after only a few miles the generator went, we just about made it to Nottingham, left the car at a garage and started to look around for something to get us to York which was still a good hundred miles away. We turned up at midnight. Fortunately we weren’t due on until one a.m. On this particular night I was watching Jimi so closely I nearly had a bit of an accident. I just happened to look round and I saw that the top cabinet of my Marshall set up had moved with the vibrations and was just about tottering on the edge of the other one. It would have fallen on my head if I hadn’t turned round. After the gig, which finished around two a.m. we set off back to Nottingham, but when we arrived it was 6 a.m. and the garage didn’t open until 9 a.m… Eventually the guy came to open the garage, we got the car out and Gerry Stickells who is a genius of a mechanic fixed it all up. We left Nottingham around 10 a.m., we were making good time on the motorway when ‘bang’, we had a blow out at seventy miles an hour… Eventually an A.A. man came along and helped us out and at two p.m. we were on our way again. The thing was we had a gig that night at six o’clock. I needn’t tell you how tired we were, but at least it had been a good gig.”
🌟 1968.
Houston Music Hall, 800 Bagby Street, TX, USA, JHE
Two shows.
Support: Soft Machine with The Mark Boyle Sensual Laboratory light show; The Moving Sidewalks; Neal Ford And The Fanatics
Neville: “Drove straight to Music Hall and unloaded gear and started to repair it. Worked very hard. Roger did amps. I did cabinets with new speakers. . .”
Mitch: “On the last day, the Sunday, he turned up in full police uniform. He's like the Chief of Police for most of Texas - we'd had no idea. Various substances had been smoked, there were young women around and he's a cop. We really weren't sure what to do.
Anyway, before the first show on the Sunday, Noel and I figured we'd get some food and a couple of beers. Not possible - the whole place was dry on Sunday. So we asked the only person we could, our friend the policeman, to help us out. Much to our amazement he said, 'Whatever you want, boys,’ and promptly phoned the Mayor. Within an hour everything we wanted turned up.”
1st show, 45 minutes:
💠 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 💠 Fire 💠 Hey Joe 💠 Foxy Lady 💠 Wind Cries 💠 Mary 💠 I Don’t Live Today 💠 Catfish Blues 💠 Purple Haze 💠 Wild Thing 💠
Neville: “Had to change more speakers between shows.”
Songs 2nd show: (unknown)
Neville: “Second show started 7:30. Jimi smashed gear up again.
...had smoke and listened to some records... to pick up Bill’s girlfriend and we went to MEXICAN RESTAURANT for something to eat but the food was really strange, no good. Went to...stopped for hamburger on way. Had.... went back to hotel. Went to bed”.
1969.
🐎 London SW7, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Grove, England. JHE
Rehearsal: songs unknown
Chas attends the rehearsals and does a bit of managing.
"Photo call with Eric Hayes": “Quite honestly, I must have been in a trance, because I remember very little of what was going on, except that I had no trouble getting into the hall, and my pictures are my diary.”
Concert at 19:30, sold out
Support: Soft Machine; ‘Mason, Capaldi, Wood & Frog’
Promoter: Harold Davison Ltd.
Audience: 5,000
Songs:
💠 Tax Free 💠 Fire 💠 Getting My Heart Back Together Again 💠 Foxy Lady 💠 Red House 💠 Sunshine Of Your Love 💠 Spanish Castle Magic 💠 Message To Love 💠 Spanish Castle Magic 💠 Star Spangled Banner 💠 Purple Haze 💠 Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 💠
Noel: “We played Jeff Beck’s Truth in the dressing room to get into the mood. Jimi was relaxed and happy. Instead of his usual non-stop jumping, he played in a variety of poses and we went down well...”
Mitch: The first show was appalling. One of those gigs where you wished you could go back the next night and make up for it, but you had to wait a week. I don’t know what it was, it just didn’t feel good.. .but funnily enough most people enjoyed it.”
Chas: “That was a lousy show, among the worst I had ever seen Jimi play. And it wasn’t his fault, it was Mitch and Noel’s. They were lifeless. Mitchell’s timing seemed totally off, he was coming in late so often it seemed like he was out of his brain, and Redding was just trying to show how awkward he could be....
If I had been in charge, they would have been sacked the next day. Mitch and Noel wouldn’t have done the second show that would have been the end of it.”
🌟 1970.
🐎 Sterling Sound, New York. Studio Recording.
Jimi and Eddie team with mastering engineer Bob Ludwig to supervise the final mastering for Band Of Gypsys. In light of his disappointment with the mastering of Electric Ladyland by Reprise Records, Jimi opts to work independently to insure that the final sound quality meets his satisfaction.
