Miami Pop Festival (Live)

The 1968 Miami Pop Festival was the first major multi-day rock festival held on the East Coast in response to the West Coast's brilliant 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where the Jimi Hendrix Experience broke through, once and for all. Hendrix had been recording Electric Ladyland and flew down for the Miami shows, where—according to festival promoter Michael Lang, who went on to assemble the 1969 Woodstock festival—Hendrix was slipped STP, a powerful hallucinogen. Just two songs from the afternoon show—“Fire” and “Foxey Lady”—are presented here, and they have a toughness that turns to reflection for the evening concert. Hendrix brought recording engineer Eddie Kramer to record the shows, and 45 years later Kramer mixed these tapes for a sound far superior to the bootlegs that have circulated over the years. Interestingly, nearly all the songs come from the debut album, Are You Experienced?. “Tax Free” and “Hear My Train a Comin’”—two extended blues being performed for the first time—also see the stage, along with an extended workout of the concert staple “Red House,” which appeared on the original British version of the debut.