Fact #79485

Phil Ceney (fan club member) : I bought the most expensive ticket, at 21 shillings, and the train from Birmingham was £2. 4s. My neighbour, Bryan Badhams (later in Steve Gibbons Band), K.K.Downing (Judas Priest) and two other friends were with me on the train.

We left at nine in the morning, in the hope of catching Jimi at the stage door and maybe talking our way into the soundcheck. We walked around the hall until we found the stage door and then just hung around. Road crew came and went, then Mitch and Noel arrived. They were quite happy to stop, talk and sign autographs.

He (Jimi) was wearing bright green velvety cords, moccasin suede boots, mauve silk shirt, jacket with fringes, and a black hat with floral bandanna. He seemed genuinely surprised that we had taken such time and trouble to catch him… There was the usual chat, then we asked if he could get us into the soundcheck. Jimi's reply was that he could not take us in personally but there would be a door open somewhere and we should go in.

We looked around and saw a mobile recording truck with a cable as thick as your arm going in a door that consequently could not be closed. Slipping into a maze of corridors, we found our way down to the hall and sat as inconspicuously as possible about three rows back. It didn't take long until the gear was ready and Mitch, Noel and Jimi came out.

Jimi and Co proceeded to do endless takes of Hound Dog for the sound check. The film crew asked Jimi to take his hat off so that his face would show in the film. At one point, Jimi looked at us and said 'You guys made it then?' Amazingly, no one took any notice of us and we stayed until the end.

We went back again to catch Jimi leaving the stage door, then hung around 'til the evening when he came through again for the show.

Gary Hill (audience) : I was fifteen. We didn't have tickets but me and a mate went down anyway. Everybody had gone in and we were moping around outside and one of the commissionaires came up to us and said, 'Did you want to go in?' He marched us to the place where the St John's Ambulance workers stood and told us we could stay there.

Jimi was a peacock, chiffon shirt on, looking fantastic. A thing I really remember is that it was so loud. I mean it was so loud that you could physically feel it.

Tony Bramwell (plugger, Apple Records) : It was wild, very loud. The stewards kept tapping you on the shoulder, asking you to sit.

Phil Ceney : I remember Jimi used a black Strat and a white one. My most vivid recall is Little Wing, because I was amazed that he played it. I thought it would stay just an album track. It was such a contrast to the other violent stuff. I can see the little red circle that was his 'fuzz-face' by his feet. The sound was great, clear as a bell.

Gary Hill : Between songs the cymbals rattled just from the force of the sound from the PA whenever Jimi tuned up. He seemed very relaxed, smiling, no sign they weren't getting on.

Ceasar Glebbeek (photographer) : It turned out to be a very good concert, interrupted two times by two little boys who'd made their way on stage to shake Jimi's hand. Another amusing spectacle was a fan who managed to climb dangerously onto the organ, high up in the venue, and started to freak out. Security eventually managed to get him down – under loud protest from the audience.

Gary Hill : By the end, the stewards had given up, and it was like a rugby scrum at the front. No-one was in their seats anymore…

Phil Ceney : Jimi did smash a guitar, but you could see he was tired of it.

Tony Bramwell : I thought he seemed bored by having to play the same old material. He was touring the States extensively by then and, looking back, you could sense it was the end of an era.

Gary Hill : …and when Jimi threw his smashed guitar into the crowd after the encore with Wild Thing, the crowd went mental.

Tony Bramwell : It was a Strat, so when it hit the stage it didn't break. He had to swing it around his head until the strings came off.

Phil Ceney : Bits of the guitar were thrown into the audience, the roadies fought to get the body back, but someone did get away with the neck.

Mitch Mitchell (drummer, JHE) : It was on that one that Dave Mason and Chris Wood came up and joined us at the end for a jam. Yeah, good show.

Dave Mason : I was with Mason, Capaldi, Wood and Frog, opening the show for Hendrix. We jammed. It was fun. I made no pretence of keeping up. I just played rhythm.

Jane Simmons (head of Hendrix Fan Club) : Mitch threw his drumsticks to the audience too, and just about managed to get off the stage before it was besieged by fans. The place went mad.

Gary Hill : It's still the most amazing, mind-blowing gig I've been to. I walked out on air.

Margaret Redding (mother of bassist Noel Redding) : Jimi was sitting (afterwards, in the dressing room) right against the wall at the end with his eyes shut. I took out my handkerchief and wiped his forehead. He opened his eyes, looked up and said 'Oh, it's you. Could you check on my white guitar?'

Phil Ceney : At the end, we dashed out again, catching Jimi for the fourth time. This time though, there was a crowd and we didn't speak to him.