Fact #34842
When:
Short story:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience hit the headlines when Jimi sets fire to his guitar on the first night of a Walker Brothers package tour at The Astoria, Finsbury Park, London, England, UK, Europe. Also on the bill are Cat Stevens and Engelbert Humperdinck.Full article:
Jimi Hendrix : The first night of The Walker Brothers tour was when I started to worry. I knew where it was at when it came to specialist blues scenes, but this was in front of audiences who had come to see The Walker Brothers, Engelbert Humperdinck and Cat Stevens. All the sweet people follow us on the bill, so we have to make it hot for them. We have to hit 'em and hit 'em good. Those who come to hear Engelbert sing Please Release Me may not dig me, but that's not tragic. We'll play for ourselves - we've done it before.
Keith Altham (journalist/publicist) : There was a clutch of us in the dressing room. Chas, Jimi and I were all talking. Various things were being discussed about what they could actually do that night to grab some headlines and capture people's attention. I think it was simply because I had a variflame lighter, I said, 'What would happen if we set light to his guitar?' I kind of said it as a joke but Chas said, 'That's not a bad idea.' I said that you would never get away with it. I mean, they are solid-bodied guitars. You could light a bonfire under it and it would take fifteen minutes to catch. And Chas said, 'Well, if we use lighter fuel, it will just burn the lighter fuel and won't burn the actual guitar.' So we tried a few experimental runs in the dressing room and it worked.
George McManus (Polydor staff) : At that stage, they only did the single, the b-side and the next single, and that was it. There were so many acts on the bill. The way they looked was amazing. You can imagine them, next to the clean-cut Walker Brothers, coming on with the Afro hair and the whole bloody lot.
Engelbert Humperdinck : When he played, it was like listening to three guitars, not one. It was just an unbelievable sound.
George McManus : You thought, Christ, this is really what rock'n'roll should be. When Jimi set fire to his guitar I was absolutely stunned.
I was one of the few who'd gone along that night specifically to see Hendrix. I'd heard Hey Joe on the radio and was so amazed by it that I convinced one of my mates we had to go and see this guy. It was a short set, because he was relatively unknown then. He did Hey Joe, Purple Haze and then on the last number, he laid the guitar down on the floor, knelt over it and you could see quite clearly that he was doing something, but you didn't quite know what.
Gerry Stickells (raod manager) : You should have seen (promoter) Tito Burns' face when it went up in flames. The compere ran on to help put it out and got his hand burnt.
Chris Welch (reviewer, Melody Maker] : Hendrix was lying on the stage playing the guitar with his teeth when it suddenly burst into flames. Jimi leapt backwards and ran offstage followed by his group. The guitar was left burning dangerously near the closed curtains and compere Nick Jones ran and tried to pick it up, burning his hand in the attempt.
George McManus : The feeling in the audience was more shock than fear. We'd been watching this man playing wonderful music, and now he'd set his guitar on fire. What was that all about? We were literally gobsmacked.
Keith Altham : It caused an enormous row with one of the security officers in the theatre - he threatened that Jimi would never work on his cinema circuit again. He came storming round afterwards looking for the guitar as evidence of what had happened.
Gerry Stickells : The press were talking to me, and the can of lighter fluid was lying in the orchestra pit, just where he had thrown it. I was trying to stand in front of it, while they were looking at me. After that night, he didn't try to hide it.
Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) : Stage fright was a big problem for me, so I would get stoned to overcome it. I was in the theatre when Jimi famously set fire to his guitar but I was too stoned to be bothered to go down and see it. Engelbert got me over that by introducing me to port and brandy but that caused another problem, trying to sing in tune while drunk.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, October 2009)
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Keith Altham (journalist/publicist) : There was a clutch of us in the dressing room. Chas, Jimi and I were all talking. Various things were being discussed about what they could actually do that night to grab some headlines and capture people's attention. I think it was simply because I had a variflame lighter, I said, 'What would happen if we set light to his guitar?' I kind of said it as a joke but Chas said, 'That's not a bad idea.' I said that you would never get away with it. I mean, they are solid-bodied guitars. You could light a bonfire under it and it would take fifteen minutes to catch. And Chas said, 'Well, if we use lighter fuel, it will just burn the lighter fuel and won't burn the actual guitar.' So we tried a few experimental runs in the dressing room and it worked.
George McManus (Polydor staff) : At that stage, they only did the single, the b-side and the next single, and that was it. There were so many acts on the bill. The way they looked was amazing. You can imagine them, next to the clean-cut Walker Brothers, coming on with the Afro hair and the whole bloody lot.
Engelbert Humperdinck : When he played, it was like listening to three guitars, not one. It was just an unbelievable sound.
George McManus : You thought, Christ, this is really what rock'n'roll should be. When Jimi set fire to his guitar I was absolutely stunned.
I was one of the few who'd gone along that night specifically to see Hendrix. I'd heard Hey Joe on the radio and was so amazed by it that I convinced one of my mates we had to go and see this guy. It was a short set, because he was relatively unknown then. He did Hey Joe, Purple Haze and then on the last number, he laid the guitar down on the floor, knelt over it and you could see quite clearly that he was doing something, but you didn't quite know what.
Gerry Stickells (raod manager) : You should have seen (promoter) Tito Burns' face when it went up in flames. The compere ran on to help put it out and got his hand burnt.
Chris Welch (reviewer, Melody Maker] : Hendrix was lying on the stage playing the guitar with his teeth when it suddenly burst into flames. Jimi leapt backwards and ran offstage followed by his group. The guitar was left burning dangerously near the closed curtains and compere Nick Jones ran and tried to pick it up, burning his hand in the attempt.
George McManus : The feeling in the audience was more shock than fear. We'd been watching this man playing wonderful music, and now he'd set his guitar on fire. What was that all about? We were literally gobsmacked.
Keith Altham : It caused an enormous row with one of the security officers in the theatre - he threatened that Jimi would never work on his cinema circuit again. He came storming round afterwards looking for the guitar as evidence of what had happened.
Gerry Stickells : The press were talking to me, and the can of lighter fluid was lying in the orchestra pit, just where he had thrown it. I was trying to stand in front of it, while they were looking at me. After that night, he didn't try to hide it.
Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) : Stage fright was a big problem for me, so I would get stoned to overcome it. I was in the theatre when Jimi famously set fire to his guitar but I was too stoned to be bothered to go down and see it. Engelbert got me over that by introducing me to port and brandy but that caused another problem, trying to sing in tune while drunk.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, October 2009)