Jimi Hendix - 1970-07-17 - Randalls Island, NY (SBD)

Jimi Hendrix

1970-07-17

Downing Stadium

Randalls Island, NY

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. Band Intro > Stone Free

02. Fire

03. Red House

04. Message To love

05. Lover Man

06. All Along The Watchtower*

07. Foxy Lady

08. Ezy Rider

09. Star Spangled Banner

10. Purple Haze

11. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Jimi Hendix - 1970-07-17 - Randalls Island, NY (SBD)

Throughout our month dedicated to Guitar Gods, we've refereed numerous times to the variety of lists ranking the best rock guitarists of all time.  We've wondered about Rolling Stone actually producing 2 such lists, 8 years apart, that widely differed in their rankings. Given how subjective the debate is, its hardly surprising that there's little if any consistency between any of these lists. Yet, incredibly, no matter what list or ranking you look at, every one of them has the same name at the the top: James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix". As David Fricke, who compiled the 2003 Rolling Stone rankings put it; "In the end, I looked at it this way: Jimi Hendrix was Number One in every way; the other 99 were all Number Two."  Today's  post captures the one and only Jimi playing yet another rock festival, While Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Altamont and Watkins Glenn are the most well known festivals,  almost every city or state seemed to host one at some point in the late 1960s and early 1970s. New York was no exception. From June 17 to June 19, 1970 the New York Pop Festival was held on at Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island, which is located in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, right off the RFK Tri-Borough Bridge. The festival featured such acts as Van Morrison, Grand Funk Railroad, Steppenwolf, Mountain, Ten Years After, Delaney and Bonnie, and Joe Cocker, just to name a few. In addition, Hendrix headlined the first night of the festival, on June 17, 1970, 47 years ago today. Jimi’s set at New York Pop was part of his Cry of Love Tour, his last run of live performances before his death in September. Download this soundboard recording, therefore, to capture one of Jimi’s last live concerts. By the way, one other note about New York Pop. Posters for the festival (see below) advertise Eric Clapton, one of the few men who could rival Jimi for first on the list of Guitar Gods, and Ginger Baker performing on the last night with Miles Davis and Tony Williams' Lifetime group. That performance has never been confirmed and remains one of rock’s unsolved legends. Go to the Slowhand Tourography site and look up this date to learn more.