June 1967

Abstract

With his debut album rapidly ascending the British record charts, Jimi gives a series of revealing interviews in advance of the Experience’s much-anticipated final U.K. show at the Saville Theatre. During this performance, the band stuns Paul McCartney by opening with a cover of the Beatles’ just-released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. After a series of photoshoots, the Experience flies to New York City in advance of their performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival. Jimi revisits the New York City haunts he’d left behind just nine month earlier. Upon their arrival in Monterey, California, Jimi hand-paints the Stratocaster he’ll use to climax their set. The weekend-long Monterey festival presents a wide array of rock talent and climaxes with the sets by The Who and Jimi Hendrix. Jimi stuns the audience, most of whom have never heard of him, with his charismatic personality and unprecedented approach to performing. He ends the Experience’s set by burning his guitar amid a roaring cacophony of feedback. As Joel Selvin sagely noted, Jimi Hendrix “walked onstage a nobody and walked off a major star, ready to rewrite the language of the guitar.”