The Jimi Hendrix Experience returned to the City
Hall on Monday 4th December 1967. This time as the joint headline act with
The Move on a showcase tour which also featured Pink Floyd , Amen Corner,
The Nice and two support bands called The Outer Limits and Eire Apparent.
Once again there were two shows - a matinee and an evening performance.
Chas Chandler later told the story of the show: “Jimi had this guitar shaped
like an arrow, known as a Flying V. It was one of those nights when
everything was going wrong. No matter what happened, an amp was breaking
down, there was crackling coming over, and at one point, half way through
the act, he was getting so uptight because the world was falling down around
him out on stage. He took his guitar and threw it at the amp, and this is
where the good luck comes into it – the guitar went into the amp and stuck.
It was just like an enormous arrow sticking out of this amplifier. The
audience thought it was part of the act, the amp just went ‘rmmmmm’, and
from that minute nothing else went wrong. It was just one of those little
magic seconds. It just altered the balance of the act and he went on to just
tear the place apart.”
Noel Redding said "During the show, one guy jumped twenty feet from the
balcony to the stage only to be lobbed off by a roadie wielding a mike
stand".Both the above stories refer to the evening show.


Andy Fairweather Lowe (who was performing with
Amen Corner), said that someone was taking cine footage of Hendrix in the
dressing room. This footage has never become available.
This filming will most likely have been done using Jimi's own 8mm cine
camera which he had with him on the tour.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience's second album Axis Bold as Love was released in
the UK three days before the show on 1st December.
The band stayed at the Station Hotel in Newcastle.
Possible songs are Sgt. Pepper's, Fire, Hey Joe, The Wind Cries Mary, Purple
Haze and Wild Thing all of which were played one week earlier at the
Blackpool Opera House , a show that was filmed by the BBC. An alternative
possible set list would include Foxy Lady, Fire, Hey Joe, The Burning of the
Midnight Lamp, Spanish Castle Magic, The Wind Cries Mary and Purple Haze
which were all played at the tour's opening night at the Royal Albert Hall
in London. Two witnesses on this page have said that the band opened with
Foxy lady at the City Hall so that part is certain anyway.
For your 15 shillings admission you were treated to a two-part show with the
first half headlined by The Move & the second half by Jimi Hendrix, the
running order & set times for the evening show being as follows :-
Outer Limits 8 minutes
Eire Apparent 8 minutes
Pink Floyd 17 minutes
The Move 30 minutes
Interval
The Nice 12 minutes
Amen Corner 15 minutes
Jimi Hendrix 40 minutes |
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The sixteen date tour had started on 14th November at the Royal Albert Hall
in London and ended on 12th December at Green's Playhouse in Glasgow.



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Photographs from Matinee Show

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Thanks to Keith Johnson for these photos. |
Photographs from Evening Show

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Thanks to Keith Fisher for scanning and sending in his photos. |
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Thanks to Alan Walton for sending in these photos taken by a
friend of his. |
Official Tour Programme

Memories
Jeff Christie, lead vocalist and guitar player with the opening act The
Outer Limits, remembered the Newcastle show in an interview for The Strange
Brew….
“All the bands would hang out back stage to watch Jimi. I wasn’t really into
Floyd. They were more interested in their light show. The Move were great.
Roy Wood was an inspiration and Carl Wayne was a great frontman. He stood
next to me backstage watching Mr. H at Newcastle City Hall when Jimi threw
his Gibson Flying V at his Marshall stack and it exploded, as did the
audience in disbelief, I think that was the true beginning of Shock and Awe!
Lemmy was one of the roadies on that tour! Rock’n’Roll History.
There was a bit of a jam. One day, at one of the venues I can’t remember
where it was. He was sat in the dressing room jamming and there were a few
of us. I picked up a guitar for 10-20 seconds and played a couple of chords
but I don’t think I added too much, it was enough to be there, a great
memory. He filmed all the bands onstage during the course of that tour, I
never did see Jimi’s super 8 film of the Outer Limits, maybe one day it’ll
surface along with all the other bands – that would be interesting.”
Lemmy remembered spending the entire tour high on acid along with the rest
of the road crew. LSD was not illegal at the time, there weren't any laws
against it until the end of 1967.
Brian Jones who was at the evening show on the 4th december 1967 and
remembers seeing Jimi throw his Gibson Flying V into one of his 6 Marshall
cabinets. He recalls ...
"When Hendrix and the band came on I seem to remember there were three white
strats & the flying v on the stage.
The p.a speakers consisted of 4 or 5 Vox column speakers on each side.
Jimi`s guitar was way out of tune and he tried to re - tune it while he was
playing, the first song i think was Foxy Lady. I think that somebody was
playing a joke on him because all the guitars were out of tune.
The volume they were playing at was so, so loud, one of my friends who was
with me couldn`t stand it and after two songs left and went outside. The
p.a. systems of the day could not handle volume like that so there was a lot
of distortion, my ears were ringing at the end.
He managed to get one of the guitars in tune and carried on. I cant remember
all the songs he did but certainly did Hey Joe & Purple Haze.
I think he finished with Wild Thing.
I seem to remember that he used 2 or 3 Marshall stacks. Looking at one of
the photographs I think the stacks behind Mitch Mitchell were maybe being
used as a monitor for him.
In spite of the incredible volume I`m pleased I saw them, very enjoyable."
Brian Heneage was also at the evening show.....
"I remember it being cold and wet that night. Newcastle and good weather had
never been bedfellows so it was of little surprise. I took the 64 Bus into
the city centre from my parents house in Washington near Sunderland.
Pink Floyd, as you might suspect were quirky and unique in their
performance. You couldn’t see the band on stage instead a white sheet was
draped from the ceiling with light shone upon it. Their shadows took up the
sheet which gave quite a haunting effect. It also made it a bit more
difficult to connect with the band. They were going through what would later
be called the ‘Umma Gumma’ stage, and while I was a fan of progressive (or
prog) rock bands like ‘Yes’ I struggled to get into them that night.
At the time I knew what to expect from them, but for someone unprepared I
imagine it was quite an experience. Their songs were long and flowed from
one to the next which was the polar opposite of someone like Amen Corner,
who were more of a pop band really.
Eventually the main attraction made his way on stage. He was wearing an all
red costume and I was positioned directly in line with him, a few rows back.
He played a white Fender Telecaster which against the backdrop of his
clothes really stood out. To say he was unique would be doing him a
disservice. Nothing he did felt like a gimmick. Playing with his teeth or
above his head, it didn’t feel cliché like it might now.
For me ‘Hey Joe’ was the standout song. It was unlike anything I was
listening to at the time and in my head (even 40 odd years on) I can still
vividly picture it. I had no idea what I was going to get from Hendrix that
evening, but I knew it would be special.
Now having spoke to other people who attended and even reading some stories,
it seemed he was frustrated that night at some equipment problems. I
personally can’t attest to seeing anything, but it may go someway to
explaining what he did next.
By this point Hendrix had changed guitars to a white Gibson flying V, which
as you might expect takes its name from its shape. After finishing the song,
Hendrix turned around and launched his guitar at the amplifier. It pierced
the speaker and stuck inside it like an arrow shot from a bow. The City Hall
erupted. People didn’t know what to think, the room was filled with a
monotone humming sound coming from the speaker. In that moment I knew I’d
witnessed something wholly unique. It was like all the emotion was trapped
inside this amp and he just set it free."
John Nelson was at the afternoon show. “I remember the first song was
Foxy Lady. He started the song offstage and entered stage left girls started
screaming couldn't understand why!. We were on row A of the balcony so had a
great view. Still have program in the loft. He finished with Wild Thing (I
think) having changed to a flying V.”
John saw all the bands. He remembers that Pink Floyd were boo’d by the crowd
because their Interstellar overdrive lasted for ten minutes. He also said
"The Move played Byrds songs and seemed bored. The Nice were loud and Amen
Corner were decent."
Joy Askew was at the evening show, these are her memories...
"I was at the Monday 4th Dec 1967 evening show of Hendrix, Pink Floyd and
others in Newcastle upon Tyne. I still hail this as the #1 show of all time
for me....and I was only 14!
The first thing I remember when Hendrix came out was being aware of his
left- handed guitar playing because his guitar was really out of tune. Jimi
was having to try and tune it constantly during some of the songs. The
strings seemed like elastic and I remember this as almost like a bad dream
sequence (for Jimi) that he's trying to tune them up but the strings keep
getting slacker and slacker! This was especially I think during Foxy Lady
the first song.
Hendrix got into a bad mood during this show- maybe it was the strings but
also an amp was bothering him. At this point in history we'd never seen so
many amps and speakers on stage - or witnessed anything so loud!
He did a cartwheel and then I remember being transfixed by Noel's hair-
which was such a big 'afro' that it was bouncing up and down as he played! I
did pay a bit of attention to Mitch and Noel - probably during "Hey Joe" as
I loved their contributions to that song! Mitch was busy, very busy....but I
loved his style - and I didn't know then, that 12 years later I'd actually
get to play and hang out with him in London!
When Hendrix threw the flying V into the speaker it seemed to cap his bad
mood and also be such an artistic flurry with it! It felt like a special
moment. I was embarrassed for him at first ( I must have been a bit prim!),
but when it stuck there it turned into a triumph!
More than anything though, the effect of the show was the overwhelming sense
that Hendrix 'initiated' us into his world - he pulled us in by his daring,
expertise, innovation and extreme sexuality. I came away feeling that we,
all as one in the City Hall lost our virginity that night! He was able to do
that with 2000+ people. He was almost shamanistic in his potency! There was
so much more out there in the world, Jimi knew it and was traveling in it
and he picked us up and took us along for a while .
All of this was not my first reason for wanting to write about that night
though!
The next night was my Schools Speech Night and as always, was held at The
City Hall. 400 pupils from Dame Allan's School for Girls descended on the
City Hall the very next morning for the rehearsal. We were told to file onto
the stage in an orderly fashion. I was beside myself and ran over to the
spot where Hendrix had been the night before and fell to my knees! I just
wanted to touch the ground where he'd stood so I lay down and rolled around
to the inevitable shrieks of 'Askew! What are you doing? Get up off the
floor at once!"
"But miss! miss! - this is where he was standing- this is where he was!"
"Hendrix miss!" others were chiming in. I didn't give a rat's ass about
being in trouble- I was so overwhelmed.
At the end of the school rehearsal (I'd managed to get back on my feet)
suddenly the doors to the left of the stage that opened directly onto the
street flung open and men, a lot of young men were coming in fast! In
seconds I recognised Roger Waters and then others and caught a glimpse of
the tour bus outside.
It was all of the musicians come to pick up stuff they'd left in the green
room the night before (supposedly) and within a minute they were surrounded
by hundreds of screaming girls in school uniforms, the mistresses all crying
out "Girls! girls!" like a scene out of "St Trinians."
I remember rushing up to Roger waters - fascinated to be so close to his
face, which was so distinctive ...but then I started looking for Jimi. Where
was Jimi? he wasn't there.
I can't remember what else happened, some girls may have got autographs- I
think I was disappointed ....we had the afternoon off so i just went home.
But that night back at the City Hall for speech night the rumours started
flying about 2 girls in my class.
Wednesday morning back at school I walked in to find 2 girls surrounded by
the whole class while they told the story of what had happened to them with
incredulity over and over again: Somehow in the melee at the City Hall, Noel
and Mitch had invited them on the bus. They rode back to the Central Station
Hotel (is that the right name?)with them but went straight over to one of
the photo booths that were in the station and had their pics taken sitting
on Noel & Mitch's knees (Bloody hell!). Then they'd gone over to the hotel
and Jimi was coming down the stairs towards them as they came in the lobby
and was filming everything! He shot some footage of them. They said he was
super friendly and upbeat and just lovely!
We pored over the pics. I was sooooo jealous!
I could have forgotten some details of their story - but I think this is
close.
To this day Hendrix is a big inspiration for me and my music. A few years
ago I wrote a song "Walk Under Waterfalls" That I've recorded on 2 different
CD's and is my most popular song. It is about 3 big influencers in my life
whose names all start with J. The first verse goes like this:
When I think about the old concert hall
He had been playing there the night before
He was beautiful with his guitar
Green velvet and fringes
When I think about how he had us all spell bound
I couldn’t help it I let it go down
Initiated with his songs ringing all around
I lost it to a track of Wild Thing screaming back to
Walk under waterfalls
Cry when I want to cry
In one early London dawn we lost him
Say goodbye"
Mandy Sylvester a classmate of Joy Askew was also there. She remembers "I have to admit that I was one of the girls who managed to get autographs and dragged Noel Redding into a photo booth in Central Station. I didn’t ride on the tour bus, but I did stand outside the hotel waiting for a glimpse.
We were tipped off by budding reporter Lesley Paterson (also in our class) who always knew everything.
My memories of the concert are dim, but I know I went to the early show (there were always two shows in those days) and it was really good. The bands only played three or four numbers each. The next day was our speech day which ended around lunch time or early afternoon, when the tour coach turned up and was surrounded by all the school girls wanting autographs. We were tipped off that Jimi was staying at the Station Hotel so we hot-footed it down to the station as we had a free afternoon. What a bit of luck! Normally it would have been a school day and we’d have missed all this.
"
There were 4 photographs taken, three of which are shown below.
Mandy remembers "the poor obscured friend who’s knees Noel and I were sitting on was in the fourth, so she kept that one. As I recall we waited outside the Station Hotel having been tipped off by some older girls that the band was staying there. After a very short while the band emerged. Jimi was indeed filming us with a cine camera. We were a very excited little group of 14 year olds and they were extremely friendly and kind, signing autographs and chatting to us. I think my friend (another Joy) and I hijacked Noel, and persuaded him to come into the station to be photographed in the booth, and I think some other girls might have highjacked Mitch for the same purpose. The remainder of the girls stayed to chat to Jimi.
"

Mandy Sylvester with Noel Redding in the photo booth at Newcastle Central Station
The Venue
Newcastle City Hall , City Road , Newcastle Upon Tyne
See page about City Hall gig on 21st April for venue information. |