I was surprised to see this on PBS the other night. First surprise was that it wasn't the band I expected. Two guys on percussion, a *second guitar* that was only audible for a total of about 30 seconds to a minute, and the wrong bassist. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The surprisingest thing though was watching Hendrix's glares, really cold and angry glares, that he kept shooting this bassist every time the guy fucked up. It was far from "peace love happiness etc" or whatever one would expect from Hendrix during Woodstock. It also came across as kinda stern-taskmasterish and even a little bush-league. I mean, staring down one of your bandmates because he's fucking up? Guy was probably tripping balls and didn't even know where he was.

So yeah, Hendrix at Woodstock, you seem like a kinda un-fun guy to be in a band with!

scott wrote:So yeah, Hendrix at Woodstock, you seem like a kinda un-fun guy to be in a band with!

I'm sure Quill had a great time.

Wasn't Hendrix playing with The Band of Gypsys at Woodstock?

I noticed he looked all pissed-off too. Having seen the film, and read a bunch of interviews with people who were at the festival, it sounds like it was a bloody nightmare.

vockins wrote:I'm sure Quill had a great time.

I have no idea what this means.

6079smith wrote:Wasn't Hendrix playing with The Band of Gypsys at Woodstock?

I noticed he looked all pissed-off too. Having seen the film, and read a bunch of interviews with people who were at the festival, it sounds like it was a bloody nightmare.

Yeah, the people at the festival, too! I forgot about that! Pretty much none of them were moving, or dancing, or responding in any way. Just a bunch of dirty white kids standing there motionless, staring. It was not at all what I would have expected.

6079smith wrote:

vockins wrote:I'm sure Quill had a great time.

I have no idea what this means.

Me too!

6079smith wrote:

vockins wrote:I'm sure Quill had a great time.

I have no idea what this means.

Quill played Woodstock. I'm sure they had a great time.

scott wrote:It was not at all what I would have expected.

Probably had to be there.

vockins wrote:

vockins wrote:I'm sure Quill had a great time.

Probably had to be there.


I remember hearing the album years ago, and during Crosby, Stills and Nash's set, during stage banter, you can here some woman screaming "Fuck you!! Fuck you!! FUUUUCKKK YOUUU!!!" a lot.

Peace and love, my foot.

Remember, Hendrix played in the MORNING on the LAST DAY of the festival. Not exactly the prime time. He should have been right after Sly & the Fam.Stone. So that plus the audience packing up en masse to head back to Illinois or wherever, people who are tripping being past peaked, Jimi being with (I'm guessing) a somewhat unfamiliar band and stage setup, means wierdness. Gotta take those factors into account as well as probaby a fuckload of other wierd stuff that may have been going down.

vockins wrote:

6079smith wrote:

vockins wrote:I'm sure Quill had a great time.

I have no idea what this means.

Quill played Woodstock. I'm sure they had a great time.

Sha Na Na played too.

Fuck Woodstock.

Boombats wrote:Remember, Hendrix played in the MORNING on the LAST DAY of the festival. Not exactly the prime time. He should have been right after Sly & the Fam.Stone. So that plus the audience packing up en masse to head back to Illinois or wherever, people who are tripping being past peaked, Jimi being with (I'm guessing) a somewhat unfamiliar band and stage setup, means wierdness. Gotta take those factors into account as well as probaby a fuckload of other wierd stuff that may have been going down.

Yeah - there's a lot of weird things about that set... first of all, on any "official video release" that I've ever seen, it's hilarious how you see ABSOLUTE FLAILING ABOUT on congas or whatever, and they are wiped completely out of the mix... same for the second guitarist too, as I recall. Apparently they were horribly out-of-time and/or out-of-tune...

Also, 2nd Guitarist (Larry Lee) had a (supposedly horrible) tune named "Mastermind" in the set - and that never makes the cut for commercial release either.

wikipedia, master of all knowledge wrote:Larry Lee joined Gypsy Sun and Rainbows a week before Woodstock occurred. Hendrix had called on a person who was close to him to join him as a second guitarist. Lee had only been back from the war for two weeks before Hendrix called upon him. In concert, he seemed to have culture shock, as he performed with a head scarf around his face. Lee preferred to play a Gibson Les Paul guitar. Shortly after Woodstock Larry left the band.

Oh wait - actually, this particular page is a bit more informative:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_at_Woodstock

I'd be very interested to someday hear the whole affiar, warts-and-all.

(Follow-up: I just looked and apparently some of this is out on YouTube - why am I not surprised - will have to check when I get home - can't access it from work...)

From what I've read, all of Woodstock was a bit weird and more than a bit shitty.

I remember reading accounts saying that everything that went wrong did go wrong, and it is only the nostalgic pot-smoking surburban hippie teenagers who view that whole time period as being the golden age of freedom and music. Get fucking bent.