Jimi Hendrix Experience - Konserthuset 1969-01-09 (Bootleg) (Two Different Sources of Same Concert)

Size: 659 MB
Bitrate: 320
mp3
Found under my Bed
Some Artwork
Swedish FM Broadcast

Jimi Hendrix was amazing, even on a bad night. And January 9, 1969 was clearly not the best night for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was the second night of the group’s European tour, and Swedish television was there to capture the first of two shows that evening at the Stockholm Concert Hall, or Konserthuset.

“We’re gonna play nothing but oldies-but-baddies tonight,” Hendrix says at the start. “We haven’t played together in about six weeks, so we’re going to jam tonight and see what happens. Hope you don’t mind.” As he steps away from the microphone he can be heard to mutter, “You wouldn’t know the difference, anyway.”

Hendrix looks irritated throughout the 56-minute set. He and the other two members of the band–particularly bassist Noel Redding–hadn’t been getting along, and there were problems with the equipment. In the book Are You Experienced: The Inside Story of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Redding describes the scene:

On the whole, I can’t understand how anyone who saw us on this tour could have liked us. There was a lot of filming for Swedish TV and compared to similar films in 1967, we were a different group. Jimi was sullen and removed and actually slagged off the audience during the first set. He rarely bothered to sing. I paced grimly in my corner and turned my back on him. The sparkle was gone, very gone, replaced by exhaustion and boredom which showed in the sloppy repeats of the hits as we stared at the crowd with dead eyes. We hated playing Sweden. Always the same problem–no drugs. We were forced to drink the killer Schnapps, and it brought on Jimi’s mood for the first set.

“Hendrix was listless and tired,” writes critic Ludvig Rasmusson in the next day’s Dagens Nyheter. “He seemed like he had a desire to run away from it all. The joy of playing was gone. He played his guitar carelessly…. All the other things were gone–liveliness, engagement, impudence, and poetry.”

In the filmed set, the band plays four original songs and three covers:

“Killing Floor” by Howlin’ Wolf
“Spanish Castle Magic”
“Fire”
“Hey Joe” by Billy Roberts
“Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”
“Red House”
“Sunshine of Your Love” by Jack Bruce, Pete Brown and Eric Clapton

Perhaps the most satisfying moment comes near then end, when Hendrix trades his Fender Stratocaster for a white Gibson SG guitar and plays a soulful version of his traditional-sounding 12-bar blues, “Red House.” But things go downhill again, and the concert ends in pathos. After a desultory instrumental performance of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” Hendrix trades back to his main guitar for another song when the master of ceremonies strides out onto the stage. 

“That’s the lot, folks,” the man says, and the audience begins to boo. The musicians look at each other quizzically, shrug their shoulders and walk off the stage without saying a word as the crowd continues to boo. “Well,” says the M.C., “they told me that you should finish at nine o’clock. But I guess everyone wants some more–so here they are!” At which point a bored-looking roadie walks out and unplugs Hendrix’s guitar.

Feeling uncomfortable revealing the details of my penis's two states of fluctuation, I declined to give this woman an answer. Apparently Jimi Hendrix did both. Why the Good Lord felt Hendrix had to have two incredible blessings is beyond me. I've always comforted my delicate ego by believing that a man can only possess one great human characteristic in his lifetime. But the mere assumption that Mr. Hendrix's male anatomy supposedly resembled a baby's arm holding an apple, and the fact that Jimi was one of the most talented rock guitarists of all time, pretty much takes a giant shit on my theory. If this isn't divine injustice, I'm afraid I don't know what is.

Purple Haze Records' third Jimi Hendrix release comes in the form of the now famous '69 Stockholm concert recordings. The double disc is separated into the both sets that the band performed on that day. The early show, on the first disc, begins with Hendrix exercising his frontman rock banter skills. 

"We haven't played together in about six weeks, so we're just gonna jam, see what happens tonight...," Hendrix tells the crowd about his band, the Experience. A strange remark, considering the band had been touring and played two shows the previous evening.

Regardless, the Jimi Hendrix Experience gets off to a rough start with opener "Killing Floor," struggling through a sloppy, bastardized rendition of the studio version. I get lost in a visual image of Hendrix being fucked up beyond belief as the rest of his band tries to keep up with his improvised self indulgence.

But just as I was about to classify this recording as balls, Jimi and the Experience begin to wail with a genuine intensity. The band begins slamming into "Spanish Castle Music." Finally, they're in tune with each other, and it's as if they could do no wrong. Not even halfway through the song, Hendrix's fingers seem to explode with power as he rips into an improvised guitar solo.

I was sucked into a trance, a trance that was broken when the next song, "Fire," came on. The track was rushed and lacked every bit of energy that the song in its original form possesses. Unfortunately the rest of the first CD continues with a "let's get this over with so we can get high" feeling. Powerful rock songs like "Hey Joe," and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" are unfortunately performed half assed.

The second disc features the band's later -- and overwhelmingly regarded as better -- performance that evening. Hendrix converses with the crowd enthusiastically and proceeds to lead the Experience through each song with an animalistic force that can only be summed up as "completely natural."

The set list from the second show is a bit different than the first. Hendrix and the band rip through a powerful version of "Purple Haze," do a much better version of "Fire," and Hendrix strings through his famous rendition of the "The Star Spangled Banner." This one is cooler, though, simply since it was recorded before Woodstock.

It's tough for a live recording to translate the same energy that a live show can. But this kind of musical intensity is found only at times on this double-show recording. The majority of the Jimi Hendrix Experiences' magic is captured on the second disc only. 

Now, a confession. I neither show, nor do I grow. Not only does this confession confirm the pathetic size of my own genitalia, it has left me to ponder what my talent/blessing actually is. And I've come to the conclusion that If excessive back hair is considered a blessing, than I guess I'm winning.

Source 1: "On The Killing Floor"

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "On The Killing Floor"
Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden, 09th January 1969

Personal:
Jimi Hendrix: Vocals, Guitar
Neil Redding: Bass
Mitch Mitchell: Drums

Early show
01. Killing Floor  07:36
02. Spanish Castle Magic  08:04
03. Fire  02:52
04. Hey Joe  04:19
05. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)  14:41
06. Red House  11:04
07. Sunshine Of Your Love  08:06

Late show
01. I Don´t Live Today  11:24
02. Spanish Castle Magic  06:05
03. Hey Joe  06:51
04. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)  10:36
05. Sunshine Of Your Love  11:31
06. Red House  11:41
07. Fire  03:46
08. Purple Haze  03:50
09. The Star Spangled Banner  03:28

Source 2: Stockholm 1969, "The Electric Church"

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Konserthuset, 1969-01-09  Stora Salen, Stockholm, Sweden (Complete Show)

First Show Disc 1
01. MC Intro  00:43
02. Jimi Intro  01:35
03. Killing Floor  05:15
04. Spanish Castle MAgic  07:55
05. Fire  02:52
06. Hey Joe  04:12
07. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 13:56
08. Red House  11:33
09. Sunshine Of Your Love  07:33
10. MC Outro  00:29

Late Show Disc 2
01. Jimi Intro  01:49
02. I Don't Live Today  08:47
03. Spanish Castle Magic  06:19
04. Hey Joe  06:53
05. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)  10:33
06. Sunshine Of Your Love  10:47
07. Red House  12:20
08. Fire  03:46
09. Purple Haze 03:59 
10. Star Spangled Banner  03:16

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Part 4: Link
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