April 18, 1969 Burdened with an exhaustive schedule of personal appearances, the tense relationship between Hendrix and bassist Noel Redding further deteriorated.

Ellis Auditorium, Memphis, Tennessee [Two Shows] With Fat Mattress Set List: [Second Show] Fire I Don’t Live Today Hear My Train A Comin’ Sunshine Of Your Love Stone Free Foxey Lady Star Spangled Banner Purple Haze Voodoo Child (Slight Return) Burdened with an exhaustive schedule of personal appearances, the tense relationship between Hendrix and bassist Noel Redding further deteriorated. Frustrated, Hendrix reached out to old friend Billy Cox, with whom he had served in the US Army and performed on the famed R&B ‘chitlin’ circuit’ prior to leaving for New York. The bassist reunited with Hendrix backstage at this Experience concert in Memphis. “We met when the Experience played in Memphis,” Cox explains. “He told me that he wanted me to be his bass player. He said that things weren’t in the order the way he wanted them and would I come as a friend and help him out. He said he’d take care of me and everything would be okay and so I gladly accepted. I went back to Nashville, closed my publishing company, dropped everything else and left for New York.” Three days after the backstage meeting in Memphis, Cox joined Hendrix at the Record Plant recording studio in New York.

tags: Ellis Auditorium / Events / Fat Mattress / Memphis / Noel Redding / Tennessee