Jimi Hendrix plays the Star Spangled Banner

Jimi Hendrix plays the Star Spangled Banner during the final day of the three day Woodstock festival that took place at Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York on August 17, 1969.

Bad weather and logistical problems caused long delays, so that Jimi Hendrix did not appear on stage until Monday morning.

By this time, the audience (which had peaked at over 500,000 people) had been reduced to, at most, 180,000, many of whom merely waited to catch a glimpse of Hendrix before leaving. F

estival MC Chip Monck introduced the band as "The Jimi Hendrix Experience", but Jimi Hendrix quickly corrected this to "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, for short it's nothin’ but ‘A Band Of’ Gypsies" and launched into a two hour set, the longest of his career.

As well as the two percussionists, the performance notably featured Larry Lee performing two songs and Lee sometimes soloing while Jimi Hendrix played rhythm in places. Most of this has been edited out of the officially released recordings, including Lee's two songs, reducing the sound to basically a three piece. The concert was relatively free of the technical difficulties that frequently plagued Jimi Hendrix's performances, although one of his guitar strings snapped while performing "Red House", which he played through. The band, unused to playing large audiences and exhausted after being up all night, could not always keep up with Jimi Hendrix's pace, but in spite of this the guitarist managed to deliver a memorable performance, climaxing with his sui generis rendering of "The Star-Spangled Banner", an improvisation since regarded as a defining moment of the 1960s. In 2010, a federal court of appeals court decided whether online sharing of a music recording can constitute a "performance" of it, writing: "Jimmy Hendrix memorably (or not, depending on one’s sensibility) offered a 'rendition' of the Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock when he performed it aloud in 1969."

This expanded band did not last long. After the Woodstock festival they appeared on only two more occasions. The first was a street benefit in Harlem where, in a scenario similar to the festival, most of the audience had left and only a fraction remained by the time Jimi Hendrix took the stage. Within seconds of Jimi Hendrix arriving at the site two youths had stolen his guitar from the back seat of his car, although it was later recovered. The band's only other appearance was at the Salvation club in Greenwich Village, New York. After some studio recordings, Jimi Hendrix disbanded the group. Some of this band's recordings can be heard on the MCA Records box set The Jimi Hendrix Experience and on South Saturn Delta. Their final work together was a session on September 6. Jimi Hendrix's September 9 appearance on TV's The Dick Cavett Show, backed by Cox, Mitchell and Juma Sultan, was credited as the "Jimi Hendrix Experience".

Retro History for August 17 The 50s 60s 70s 80s

Retro History For The Decade 1980

1989 32nd Walker Cup: Britain - Ireland, 12 -11
1989 Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken moves into 3rd place (1,208th cons game)
1988 Butch Reynolds runs world record 400m (43.29)
1988 LIRR says Penn station will get air conditioning in 1991
1988 New York City 1st case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9 year old Bronx boy)
1988 Republicans nominate George H. W. Bush for president
1988 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1987 Bunt single gives Paul Molitor longest hit streak of 1980s at 32 games
1987 Dow Jones Industrial Avg closes above 2,700 for 1st time (2,700.57)
1987 Mohammad Ali elected to "Ring" magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame
1986 Bronze pig statue unveiled at Seattle's Pike Place Market
1986 Cindy Mackey wins LPGA MasterCard International Golf Pro-Am
1986 Pat Bradley wins LPGA Nestle World Golf Championship
1986 Rioting at DMC concert, 40 injured
1986 Red Sox trade shortstop Rey Quinones and pitcher Mike Trujillo to Mariners for shortstop Spike Owen and outfielder Dave Henderson
1985 1,400 meatpackers walk off the job at a Geo A Hormel and Co plant
1985 Dave Kingman hits his 400th home run
1985 Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India
1985 Sara Trollinger forms House of Hope in Orlando
1984 Pete Rose returns to Cincinnati Reds as player-manager (gets 2 hits)
1983 Hurricane Alicia, kills 17 in Texas
1982 Los Angeles Dodgers beat Chicago Cubs, 6-5, in 21 innings (game completed 8/18)
1982 South Bend, Indiana jury acquits self-avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin
1980 "Blackstone" closes at Majestic Theater New York City after 104 performances
1980 Beth Daniel wins LPGA Patty Berg Golf Classic
1980 George Brett goes 4-for-4, raising his batting average to .401

Retro History For The Decade 1970

1979 2 Russian passenger planes collide above Ukraine, 173 killed
1979 Monty Python's "Life of Brian" premieres
1978 1st successful crossing of the Atlantic by balloon (3 Americans)
1977 Russian nuclear sub "Artika" is 1st to North Pole
1977 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1977 Thomas Wessinghage/Harald Hudak/Michael Lederer/Karl Fleschen walk world record 4x1500m (14:38.8)
1976 An earthquake and tidal wave in the Philippines kills up to 8,000
1976 Big win for WI at The Oval Michael Holding 14-149 for match
1975 Jo Ann Washam wins LPGA Patty Berg Golf Classic
1973 Lee Trevino's 1st hole-in-one
1973 Willie Mays hits 660th and last home run (off Don Gullett of Cincinnati)
1972 Phillies Steve Carlton wins his 15th straight game
1970 Venera 7 launched, makes 1st softlanding on Venus

Retro History For The Decade 1960

1969 51st PGA Championship: Ray Floyd shoots a 276 at NCR Golf Club Dayton, Ohio
1969 Carol Mann wins LPGA Southgate Ladies' Golf Open
1969 New York Jets beat New York Giants 37-14 in their 1st meeting (pre season)
1968 Dick Beyers (Dr. X) beats Verne Gagne, to become NWA champ
1966 Pioneer 7 launched into solar orbit
1966 Willie Mays takes 2nd place on all-time home run list
1964 Boycott scores his 1st Test Cricket century, 113 vs. Australia at the Oval
1963 Jim Hickman becomes 1st New York Met to hit for cycle
1963 Oriole's Dick Hall retires his 28th consecutive player in relief
1962 Beatles replaces Pete Best with Ringo Starr
1962 E German border guards shot and kill Peter Fechter, 18, attempting to cross Berlin Wall into western sector
1961 Building of Berlin Wall begins
1961 Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress
1960 Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow
1960 Gabon gains independence from France, National Day
1960 Indonesia drops diplomatic relations with Netherlands

Retro History For The Decade 1950

1959 7.1 quake strikes Yellowstone National Park
1959 U.S.S.R. and Iraq signs contract for building Iraqi nuclear reactor
1958 Bonnie Hoffman wins LPGA Kansas City Golf Open
1958 World's 1st Moon probe, US's Thor-Able, explodes at T +77 sec
1957 Richie Ashburn, fouls hit fan Alice Roth twice in same at bat 1st one breaks her nose, 2nd one hits her while she is on the stretcher
1956 Bundesverfassungsgericht bans KPD in West Germany
1955 Hurricane Diane, following hurricane Connie floods Connecticut River killing 190 and doing $1.8 billion damage
1952 Betty Jameson wins LPGA World Golf Championship
1951 18th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Cleveland 33, All-Stars 0 (92,180)
1951 Hurricane winds drive 6 ships ashore, Kingston, Jamaica
1950 Indonesia gains independence from Netherlands
1950 Pee Wee Reese (Dodgers) and Sam Calderone (Giants) hit inside park home runs

Have a groovy vintage retro day!


- Retro Rebirth

www.RetroRebirth.com




If you liked this article then make sure you subscribe to the feed via RSS It's Free and easily visible on your iPad or iPhone and favorite news reader. You can also follow me on Twitter too!

Become a Retro Rebirth Fan on our Facebook Page a simple LIKE is a great way to support us.


Watch Retro Videos on our Retro Video YouTube Page

Check out the Retro Rebirth Shop - hand made crafts, t-shirts, videos, comic & pop art

Vintage Retro Music & Retro Pop Culture is our passion and what we LOVE. We keep it going everyday for the love of producing it for you to enjoy. Thanks for viewing. Much Peace! Jimi Hendrix plays the Star Spangled Banner on August 17, 1969.