MUSIC REVIEW Jimi Hendrix Show Plays at Auditorium
By ALLAN HOLBERT
Minneapolis Tribune Staff Writer
Jimi Hendrix on the Isle of Wight in 1970. The Jimi Hendrix show at the Minneapolis Auditorium Saturday night was billed as "an experience," and that's a good name for it. It was an experience, an undesirable one. For those of you who are not yet aware of this shining new talent, Jimi Hendrix could be best described as a black Elvis Presley. That is to say, he doesn't sing too well, and he doesn't play his white guitar too well, but he does have a lot of sex. HE HAS long hair. He wears a pink, flowery shirt and pink pants and white shoes. He twists and moves around a lot as he sings and caresses his guitar. So his talent is really not significant and neither is that of something called [Mother] Cat and the all night newsboys, the rock band that preceded Hendrix before intermission. The things that made the Hendrix experience an experience was the behavior of the love-oriented (remember) hippie types in all their conforming nonconformist costumes who crowded and forced themselves up to the front of the stage when Hendrix came on. THE MUSIC by Hendrix and his two white sidemen was loud but not too clear. Among his songs were "Foxy Lady" and "Are You Experienced," which he dedicated to "all the narcotics agents and detectives and a few other bastards." People sitting in the balcony probably had no trouble seeing Hendrix. For those sitting up front it was quite difficult because of those rude, smelly long-haired kids who pushed their way up to the stage, completely intimidating law officers and Andy Frain ushers. It was possible to see if you stood up, but Jimi Hendrix isn't worth standing up for.
Here's what the Minneapolis Auditorium looked like in 1966, two years before the Hendrix concert — and nine years before I witnessed Rod Stewart kicking soccer balls into a crowd there in the fall of 1975. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)
