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Fact #118082

When:

Short story:

Whwn Cream play at London Polytechnic, London, UK, they are joined onstage by Jimi Hendrix. The audience includes Roger Waters and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd.

Full article:

Peter Shertser : London University had a gig. The Cream were on and he came on stage and jammed. We heard he was going to be on, so we steamed down there and saw him. Never paid to get in - the normal.

Eric Clapton (guitarist, Cream) : We were playing at the London Polytechnic the day Jimi arrived in England and Chas Chandler brought him to see us. He said he’d like to play.

Jack Bruce : The first time he played in public in London was with us, The Cream, at London University. I was in a pub in Charing Cross Road, and this guy came up to me and said "Hi, my name's Jimi Hendrix. I wanna sit in with your band," which was practically unheard of to us. So I said "Yeah, it's all right with me if it's all right with the other guys." We walked over to the gig and he did sit in and played incredibly, playing with his teeth and everything, and really blew us all away.

Eric Clapton : He was very, very flash, even in the dressing room. He stood in front of the mirror combing his hair and asked if he could play a couple of numbers.

Nick Mason (Pink Floyd] : The curtains parted and there was Ginger's double Ludwig, champagne-sparkle, pearl drum kit and their road manager still trying to fix it down, and I vividly remember thinking "That's it." Then, when Jimi Hendrix came on stage, it tipped right over the edge. It was the musical moment of my life.

Neil Slaven (fan) : I was already keen on Cream and I'd seen Clapton play several times but we didn't expect anything unusual that night until Clapton stepped up to the mike and said, 'We'd like to introduce you to a friend of ours from New York City.' Then this guy walked on stage looking for all the world like nothing less than a black Bob Dylan, with this huge mop of hair.

Tony Garland (executive, ANIM Management) : Hendrix blew into a version of [Howlin' Wolf's] 'Killing Floor' and plays it at breakneck tempo, just like that – it stopped you in your tracks.

Eric Clapton : He did Killing Floor, a Howlin' Wolf number I've always wanted to play, but which I've never really had the complete technique to do. Ginger didn't like it and Jack didn't like it. They'd never heard the song before. It was just, well, he just stole the show.

Jack Bruce : He did sit in and played incredibly, playing with his teeth and everything, and really blew us all away.

Neil Slaven : I don't think Clapton was arrogant enough to believe all the stuff that was written and said about him at the time, but he must justifiably have considered himself to be one of the greatest guitarists in the country at the time. Well, I will never forget the look of absolute shock on Clapton's face when Hendrix went into Catfish. Here was this total unknown, doing things, using techniques that Clapton had not the faintest inkling of.

Eric Clapton : ...then he put the guitar behind his back and I thought, “My god, this is like Buddy Guy on acid.

Kathy Etchingham : He walked off stage with this smirk. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Chas Chandler : Clapton stood there and his hands dropped off the guitar. He lurched off the stage. I thought, 'Oh God, what's happening now?' I went backstage and he was trying to get a match to a cigarette. I said 'Are you all right?' and he replied, 'Is he that fucking good?' He had heard ten bars at most.

Peter Shertser : So he's come on, blown the place apart, Ginger Baker's done his nut, Hendrix is getting all the ovations - from then on I knew the guy was magic. We followed him around.

Greg Lake (bassist/vocalist, Emerson, Lake and Palmer) : Cream missed me by a mile, and I think that was because once you'd seen Hendrix, you'd seen the thing done properly, if you know what I mean.