Jimi Hendrix Experience Hollywood Bowl, August 18, 1967 LP

• DESCRIPTION

In the aftermath of their successful American debut at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 18, 1967, San Francisco promoter Bill Graham offered the Experience an extended, five-show booking at the Fillmore Auditorium. The gigs were critical to the group, as they had come to Monterey with nothing booked in the U.S. apart from their festival appearance. The Experience initially came on the bill as a support act, along with Gabor Szabo, for the Jefferson Airplane. That arrangement unraveled when the Jefferson Airplane backed out of the gig after one show and let the Experience take over. During the week-long stint in June when the Experience were performing at the Fillmore in San Francisco, co-manager Michael Jeffery had secured a position for the Experience to serve as an opening act for the Monkees on their summer U.S. tour.

Incredibly, the Experience lasted nine shows as the opening act for the Monkees before leaving the tour. A story was concocted by Hendrix's management that his act was deemed too offensive for such a young audience by the venerable Daughters Of The American Revolution organization. The group scrambled to fill their suddenly empty calendar with odd club dates and recording sessions before the Mama's & Papa's (whose leader John Phillips was one of the producers of the Monterey Festival) offered an opportunity to open for them at their August 18, 1967 show at the Hollywood Bowl.

Before a sold-out amphitheatre of 17,000 people, the Experience overwhelmed an unsuspecting audience with a superb show that encompassed renditions of songs by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters as well as signature songs such as "Purple Haze" and "The Wind Cries Mary." Are You Experienced, the group's debut album, had not yet been released in the United States by Jimi's label Reprise.