Jimi Jams revisited

jimi_jams, a photo by Doctor Noe on Flickr.

Hendrix arrived in London in 1966 under the wing of new manager Chas Chandler, and he was treated like royalty forthwith. At the time, the Beatles and the Stones were the reigning rock royalty, Beck and Clapton, the guitar kings and The Who endowed with the most flamboyant stage act.
 
All of these came to visit when Chandler arranged for Jimi's society "coming out," the first to be converted being Clapton, when Hendrix jammed with him on a version of "Killing Floor" at a Cream gig. The rest followed after a slew of barn-burning club appearances. The Who had a connection to Hendrix by virtue of the fact that the group's managing team of Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp also owned Track Records, to which they aspired to sign the Experience.

Pete Townshend said at the time that he feared, "Oh God, Kit Lambert has found another guitar player." Then, in a packed London theater, Hendrix put the icing on it, making him a dangerous act to follow: He burned his guitar at the end of the set, causing absolute mayhem.

This was not lost on The Who, who previously had been famed for other, less incendiary stage antics, such as the simple destruction of a Rickenbacker guitar. At Monterey a little while later, the question of who was to follow Who came up again. The Who won the coin toss, in an effort to not repeat the debacle of the London Savile Theatre show in which Hendrix had wiped them out even before they hit the stage, they tore it up.

But Hendrix was not to be outdone. He followed The Who with a set of pyrotechnics climaxed by the burning of the midnight Strat.

Jimi & The Who, original pic by Barry Peake, used here on a promo sticker (and a tee-shirt) promoting the Guitar World "Unpublished Hendrix" special issues.

November 27 is Jimi's birthday!