"Six, five, four, three, two, one. "On behalf of the Fillmore family, a very, very happy new year! It's January 1, 1970, midnight 2 a.m. Jimi & Co. take the traditional "Auld Lang Syne" from the Guy Lombardo orchestra - highly melodic, not sawing through - and let it turn grooving into "Who Knows" ..
Jimi Hendrix's stage life had always been a kaleidoscope of highlights: 1966 the sensation in London's Speakeasy, 1967 Monterey with pyromaniacal guitar grilling, 1968 Miami with the most relaxed experience of all time, because "Electric Ladyland" was finally in the can after a year of tinkering, plus the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco with six dream gigs in three days. 1969 then a brutal broadside with Marshall amplifiers in the "Happening For Lulu" show against the will of the playback-mad BBC bosses, Woodstock including deconstruction of the US national anthem and criticism of the Vietnam War.
No, a reputation like Donnerhall did not precede Jimi Hendrix when he climbed out of the plane on 24 September 1966 in London at the side of his new manager, the ex-animal bassist Chas Chandler. But only a few months after his arrival the man from Seattle was on everyone's lips. And by the end of 1967 he had not only taken guitar playing, but rock music as a whole into a new dimension. "Suddenly this stranger comes running along, and all hell breaks loose," said Jack Bruce. We follow Hendrix' numerous stations in this year, which was so decisive for him, when the incomparable jumped off the Rainbow Bridge.
RETRO? ROCK! - Blues Pills and the New Generation Rock
The crucial day is a Friday. More precisely: September 23, 1966. 180 passengers gathered at the departure gate of New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, a few moments later they boarded a Boeing 707. Among the passengers were two young men: 27-year-old Englishman Brian James "Chas" Chandler and 23-year-old American James Marshall Hendrix, who will soon call himself Jimi. For them, Pan Am flight 102 to London is associated with the launch of a mission. They want to change the world of music.
Touchdown at the Thames
