Jimi Hendrix Encyclopedia

Newport Pop Festival, Devonshire Downs, Northridge, Ca. After a subpar performance with the Experience on Friday evening, Hendrix returned to the festival on Sunday afternoon to jam with Eric Burdon, Buddy Miles, Tracy Nelson, and Mother Earth. Jimi’s enthusiastic participation won over the crowd. The shambling, extended jam session proved to be the highlight of the Sunday slate of Jimi Hendrix is photographed during an afternoon performance / jam on June 22, 1969 at the Newport ‘69 pop festival at DevonshireDowns in Northridge, California. Photo: © Authentic Hendrix, LLC

Buddy Miles Devonshire Downs Eric Burdon Events Mother Earth. Newport Pop Festival Tracy Nelson

Billed as the “Winter Festival For Peace,” Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary) and Sid Bernstein, event producers, announced that their services would be donated and that all proceeds of the event will go to the Vietnam Moratorium effort. The five-hour festival slated from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. will feature Harry Belafonte; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Dave Brubeck; Richie Havens; Mother Earth; Peter, Paul & Mary; The Rascals; The Cast of Hair; Judy Collins, and Jimi Hendrix & his Band Of Gypsys.

Suffering from exhaustion and the effects of a drink laced with an unknown substance taken before the show, Hendrix failed to execute his musical plans this evening. Having completed just two songs, “Who Knows” and “Earth Blues” the only thing Hendrix could do at that point was drop his guitar and sit down on the stage, meanwhile Miles and Cox continue to roll through the back beats. As Alfred Aronowitz later recalled in his New York Post column, “The crowd has already gotten twice its money’s worth when Jimi Hendrix stopped playing in the middle of his second number, said ‘That’s what happens when Earth ***** with Space, never forget that, that’s what happens.'” … “Jimi got up, put his guitar down and walked offstage.”

“When he came off stage,” explained Alan Douglas “he actually fell off the apron. At first I thought he was hurt, but he wasn’t. I then ran backstage to the dressing room to see if in fact he was okay. There he was sitting playing the guitar and smiling. I don’t know what went through his mind when he was on stage, but the first thing I noticed, it looked like he was having a big rhythm problem. I think he just got fed up.”

Backstage, Jimi meets Johnny Winter. In recounting the meeting Winter explains, “I saw Jimi backstage at the Madison Square Garden concert, the one where he just couldn’t play. When I saw him, it have me chills. It was the most horrible thing I’d ever seen. He came in with this entourage of people, and it was like he was already dead. He just walked in – and even though Jimi and I weren’t the greatest of friends, we always talked, always – and he came in with his head down, sat on the couch alone, and put his head in his hands. He didn’t say a word to anybody, and no one spoke to him. He didn’t move until it was time for the show. He really wanted to do that gig, but he never should have. It wasn’t that it was bad, but his whole thing was inspiration, and there wasn’t any. It was just completely uninspired; finally, right in the middle of a song, he just took his guitar off, sat on the stage – the band was still playing – and told the audience, “I’m sorry, we just can’t get it together.” One of his people said he was sick, and lead him off stage. He was just so unhappy that there was no way that he could play the show. It didn’t have anything to do with the group – he had already died!”

1970 Band of Gypsys Blood Dave Brubeck eter Events Harry Belafonte January 28 Jimi Hendrix Johnny Winte Judy Collins Madison Square Garden Mother Earth. Paul & Mary Peter Yarrow Richie Havens Sid Bernstein Sweat & Tears The Cast of Hair The Rascals Vietnam Moratorium Winter Festival For Peace