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On August 23, 1967, Reprise Records would issue The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut album, Are You Experienced, in North America.  U.K. audiences had been hipped to the incendiary group consisting of Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell, and bassist Noel Redding a couple of months earlier, when the album (with a unique track listing) arrived on the Track Records label.  Five days before that auspicious U.S. record debut, on August 18, the trio took the stage of the Hollywood Bowl in front of a 17,000-strong audience to open for The Mamas and The Papas.  Their performance has never been issued commercially, or even bootlegged…until now.

On November 10, Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings will release The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967 on CD, LP, and digital formats.  The road to the Hollywood Bowl was a bumpy one for Hendrix and company.  The Seattle guitarist had relocated to London in September 1966, forming the Experience with the British rhythm section of Mitchell and Redding.  U.K. audiences quickly responded to their thunderous sound, and the Experience notched three hit singles there as well as the support of such artists as Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton.  On the strength of their U.K. hits, Reprise Records’ Mo Ostin signed the group in March 1967 and they made their first concert appearance in the U.S. at the Monterey Pop Festival in June.  But U.S. record buyers didn’t warm to the Experience at first.  Debut single “Hey Joe” failed to chart, and “Purple Haze” stalled at No. 65.  They took to the road, playing a stint at San Francisco’s Fillmore and opening on tour for The Monkees.  The association with The Monkees ended when Hendrix departed the tour after nine dates, finding that group’s young fans to be insufficiently appreciative.  “Papa” John Phillips, remembering Hendrix from Monterey Pop, invited the Experience to open for The Mamas and The Papas at their high-profile Hollywood Bowl gig.

Needless to say, Hendrix, Mitchell, and Redding made the most of their allotted time.  They previewed “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Foxey Lady,” and “Fire” from the U.S. edition of Are You Experienced, and gave a heavy twist to pop tunes the audience would almost certainly have known, including The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rollin’ Stone,” and The Troggs’ “Wild Thing.” They also brought fresh power to such blues favorites as Howlin Wolf’s “Killing Floor,” and Muddy Waters’ “Catfish Blues.”

Paul McCartney’s longtime guitarist Brian Ray was among those in the Bowl audience.  He’s quoted in the press release: “The audience was there to see The Mamas and The Papas.  They haven’t heard of Jimi Hendrix.  I’d never heard of Jimi Hendrix, and he couldn’t be more opposite of The Mamas and The Papas as an act, culturally, physically, in every possible way he was the opposite. Here comes this guy and there’s only three of them on stage and they have these afros and these wild, ornate, very theatrical clothes. Jimi proceeds to shred, and it’s loud but it’s musical, and then it becomes so physical. He starts playing the guitar under his leg, and now it’s behind his back, and now he’s playing it with his mouth, and now he’s on the ground on his knees and he’s like humping it, and it, to me was mind blowing. It was sort of every human characteristic; it was beauty, grace, it was sexual, violent, gentle, it was just everything all at once in one band coming out of this one guy.  I wouldn’t say that the audience response was quite the same as the response I was having. My sister and I were going bananas, and the audience was like [soft clapping] and they were trying to figure it out.”

Ray is among those interviewed for the new mini-documentary Monterey Pop to The Hollywood Bowl which Experience Hendrix is now streaming in conjunction with the upcoming release.  “Mama” Michelle Phillips also appears in new interviews for the mini-doc. “We had never heard of him,” Phillips confirms. “I had absolutely no idea what to expect. And when I saw him perform I was mortified. I had never seen anything like this, I’d never seen anybody treat their instruments like this. He was pouring lighter fluid over his guitar and then setting it on fire and – I really was shocked. I had no experience with this kind of rock and roll theatre. And that was the first time I had ever seen it.”  But she was mesmerized when she watched him at the Bowl: “I absolutely loved him.  He was a gentleman, he was lovely, he was funny.”

Jeff Slate provides the liner notes for the new release which has been overseen by Janie Hendrix, John McDermott, and Eddie Kramer.  The latter restored the audio which has been mastered by Bernie Grundman.  In addition to the CD and digital releases, Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967 will be issued on individually numbered 150-gram vinyl.  The package will include previously unpublished photos by Ed Caraeff, Henry Diltz, and Allen Daviau from the evening. These include performance shots as well as candid images of the band with The Mamas & The Papas, DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, and manager Chas Chandler.

Look for The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967 on November 10 from Legacy and Experience Hendrix.  “Killing Floor” from the concert is streaming now.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967 (Experience Hendrix/Legacy, 2023)

1. Introduction
2. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. Killing Floor
4. The Wind Cries Mary
5. Foxey Lady
6. Catfish Blues
7. Fire
8. Like a Rolling Stone
9. Purple Haze
10. Wild Thing