45 years ago in 1967: JIMI HENDRIX, Monterey Pop Festival
by WAAF 97.7/107.3,posted Jun 18 2012 10:02AM
45 years ago . . . in 1967 - The JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE made their U.S. debut at the Monterey Pop Festival. At the end of their set, Jimi set his guitar on fire and became an overnight superstar. He capitalized on the newfound fame . . . by opening forTHE MONKEES.
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. Monterey was the first widely promoted and heavily attended rock festival, attracting an estimated 55,000 total attendees with up to 90,000 people present at the event's peak at midnight on Sunday.[1]
The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Ravi Shankar, the first large scale public performance of Janis Joplin, and the introduction of Otis Redding to a large, predominantly white audience.[2]
Hendrix ended his Monterey performance with an unpredictable version of "Wild Thing", which he capped by kneeling over his guitar, pouring lighter fluid over it, setting it aflame, and then smashing it in to the stage seven times before throwing its remains into the audience.[7] This produced unforeseen sounds and these actions contributed to his rising popularity in the USA.[8]
