“Los Angeles Forum – April 26, 1969” presents an extraordinary live performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Before a raucous, sold-out house, Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding tore through a unique set featuring highlights such as “I Don’t Live Today,” “Purple Haze,” “Red House,” and an astonishing medley of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love”. This pristine recording, newly mixed by Hendrix’s long-time engineer Eddie Kramer, captures the original Jimi Hendrix Experience in their unrivalled, peak form.
A portion of this performance was previously included as part of a short-lived Westwood One radio documentary box set [Lifelines 1990-1992] but has been unavailable in any form for two decades.
ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons was there when the Jimi Hendrix Experience performed their legendary 1969 show at the Los Angeles Forum.
At the time, Gibbons was still in his pre-ZZ Top band Moving Sidewalks, and opening for the Experience on a handful of dates had sparked a friendship with Hendrix. So, on April 26th, 1969, Gibbons found himself side-stage watching Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell deliver an incendiary set.
“Excitement was definitely running high in advance of the Jimi Hendrix appearance,” Gibbons says . After initially taking the stage to little fanfare, Hendrix “stepped up and invited the crowd to imagine being in church, and to think of the ceiling as an open sky,” Gibbons adds, “and then it began: Man, it was loud, fast and furious.”
Gibbons says “what unfolded thereafter was first hand evidence of how Jimi Hendrix had figured out to do things on a Fender Stratocaster that had obviously never been imagined by the designers.”
The Experience tore through iconic tracks like “Foxy Lady,” “Purple Haze” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” that night, as well as deeper cuts like “Spanish Castle Magic” and the instrumental tune “Tax Free.” Through it all, Gibbons watched in awe of Hendrix’s guitar prowess.
“He was a virtual groundswell of previously unknown techniques,” Gibbons says, noting that Hendrix’s “ferociousness was unequaled. … The Jimi Hendrix Experience lit the house up and tore it right down.”
After the show, Hendrix found Gibbons. “Hey man, how did we do?” he inquired. “How do you respond to that? Since really there’s no basis and comparison,” Gibbons admits. “It was such a singular performance. All I could manage to say was ‘Jimi, I am floored and I am fixed.’”
“The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969” captures this legendary concert in its entirety. Gibbons provided the preface for the package, which will be released on November. 18th on two-disc vinyl, CD and all digital platforms.
The Fat Angel Sings 