Jimi Hendrix Live at Monterey

Jimi Hendrix's first major American appearance, with his band the Jimi Hendrix Experience, at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 will go down in the record books as one of the best musical performances in history. It was the first heavily promoted venue in rock history, seeing more than 55,000 spectators, it became the template for all following music festivals, most notably Woodstock. Hendrix's band was introduced to the stage by Rolling Stone founding member and guitarist, Brian Jones. The set started off with "Killing Floor" and went through 9 total songs including "Foxy Lady," Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," "Hey Joe," and "Purple Haze." Hendrix ended his performance with an unpredictable version of "Wild Thing", which he closed by seductively kneeling over his guitar, squirting lighter fluid over it and setting it aflame. He then continued to smash it in to the stage several times before throwing its remains into the audience. The audience was stunned. Nothing remotely similar to this had been seen on an American stage, leaving the audience completely awestruck. This produced the unforeseen super rise in Hendrix's popularity in the United States. Janis Joplin's performance followed.

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