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Fact #161980

When:

Short story:

The Jimi Hendrix Experience play at Symphony Hall, Newark, New Jersey, USA. (The day after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.) In the evening, Jimi jams with Buddy Guy at the opening of the new Generation Club in New York City.

Full article:

Noel Redding (bassist, JHE) : I remember this vividly. We got down to Newark, to the venue, and there were tanks in the street. It was the first time I'd actually seen that. We were supposed to do two shows. The police and the army advised us to do one show and get out of town. So we did exactly that.

Bob Cianci (fan) : I come from Bloomfield, New Jersey, USA, which is the next town. There was a lot of trepidation on the part of our parents about us going down to Newark to see the show. The hall was about half empty, and as soon as Jimi came on, he said 'Everybody c'mon and move down the front.

Mark Boyle (lighting director, JHE) : Hendrix came out to enormous applause and said 'This number is for a friend of mine.' And he abandoned completely his normal set. The band played an improvisation which was absolutely hauntingly beautiful. Immediately everyone knew what this was about. This was a lament for Martin Luther King. And within minutes the whole audience was weeping … Old redneck stagehands came on the side of the stage and they were standing there with tears running down their faces. The music had a kind of appalling beauty.

Bob Cianci : They did Fire, they did Foxy Lady, Red House, and I know they ended with I Don't Live Today. The thing I remember most about their performance was that they were very subdued. There were no histrionics, at least not until the end of the show. Jimi just kind of stood there and played. I feel I was kind of fortunate to see him doing that, under unfortunate circumstances.

At the end there was the big feedback guitar thing and I remember Jimi taking his Strat off and throwing it into his Marshall amps. Then he turned around, grinned at the audience. There was no violence, there was no trouble.

Mark Boyle : When he came to the end, there was no applause. He just put down his guitar, the whole audience was sobbing, and he just walked quietly off the stage.

Noel Redding : It was very short, as far as I can recall, probably about 45 minutes. There had been a lot of rioting going on. It was more of a jam as far as I can recollect, than one of our proper shows. We basically played a load of blues for 45 minutes, then we went straight back to New York.

Marvin Grafton (reviewer, RAT Subterranean News) : … many great rock stars (at the New Generation Club) had decided to pay tribute to Martin Luther King in the way they could best, by having a folk, rock, blues jam session. The next four hours were non-stop great. First Joni Mitchell, then Buddy Guy lent their personal tributes and sounds to the occasion… Next, the space man himself, Jimi Hendrix.

Ted Nugent : Hendrix came walking in, pulled a blue Strat out of the case, plugged it into a Fuzz Face fuzzbox and a rolled and tucked Kustom amp, and all by himself started playing shit that was unbelievable. I was mesmerised, totally in shock. He did this for about 45 minutes,and then B.B. King, Al Kooper and a bass player joined him. B.B. signalled for me to come up, and we jammed until 6am.
(Source : not known)