Search - The Jimi Hendrix Experience :: The Jimi Hendrix "Experience" [Live at The Royal Albert Hall 2/24/69]

A MUST HAVE RARITY IN YOUR HENDRIX COLLECTION!

M. McKay | Downey, CA United States | 05/25/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On Feb. 24th of 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Expierence rocked The Royal Albert Hall in London, the first U.K. shows they had played in over a year and what would turn out to be their last. Neither Reprise in the U.S. nor Polydor in the U.K. issued a live album of this concert though a few songs were released on the American album "Hendrix In The West" in 1972. However this concert has been issued and re-issued on various indie labels throughout the last few decades, spliced and diced in every which way conceivable complete with fade ins, fade outs, deceiving track squencing, even the insane idea of chopping the song "Room Full Of Mirrors" in half then playing both parts on top of one another and labeling it a "short version." The various issues have made claims that this was The J.H.E.s last concert (not true) and even Jimi's last concert before he died (VERY NOT TRUE). Jimi's last concert was on 9/6/70 at an open-air festival in Germany, not at The Royal Albert Hall in London.



One of those deceiving re-issues happened to be the first Hendrix I ever owned. It was 1987, I was in the fourth grade, and I bought a cassette titled "The Last Expierence" on the Legacy International label. The front cover made the latter claim that I mentioned above. The Royal Albert Hall concert is special to me in particular because it was the first I'd heard such Hendrix classics like "Purple Haze," "Fire," or "Voodoo Child." After all these years, I wanted to reunite with the live show that got me started on Jimi as a youngster but I didn't want to buy another cheap hodge-podge of it. I'm glad I held out until I found this great 2-CD set, which gives you the entire concert (except for one song) AND presents it in the correct order finally!



Apon hearing this concert for the first time in almost 16 years, it's just as awesome and undeniably RAW (keyword there) as I remember it. But as I listened, it dawned on me why Expierence Hendrix has probally chosen to not re-issue this concert, in all honesty, it's not one of Jimi's best shows. While Jimi and the guys turn in some killer versions of "Stone Free," "I Don't Live Today," and "Foxey Lady," each with unique solos unlike any other live versions you've heard before, feedback and hiss from the amps plagues many of the songs, and not in a good way. Jimi also sounds tired throughout the set and sometimes, downright frustrated making more apologies to the audience than he did at Woodstock. On this version of "Fire" in paticular, Jimi dosen't bother to sing the song with much enthusiasm or even include the come-ons between verses ("oh move over Rover..."). It rocks none the less though. That's not to say Jimi was without his humor on this night, his mimicking Noel saying "blast from the past" in a British accent is funny and there are a few times Jimi chastises the audience for not bringing their instruments so they could come up on stage and jam with him.



There is no "bad" Hendrix you can buy, that's one of the things I love about Jimi, everything he did was special in some way or another, be it on the stage or in the studio, he was that full of creativity. This concert is great in it's own way, like Woodstock and all the others. You get to hear the second time Jimi performed "The Star Spangled Banner" in front of an audience, right after he completes "Wild Thing, and then procedes to do what is titled on the CD as "The Smashing Of The Amps." A feeback noise fest as Jimi smashes his guitar to bits. Probally one of the last times he did that for his audience.





"