Was just thinking about this the other day

I did, three times (same with Duane Allman). First time, Anaheim Convention Center (don't think it's there anymore, replaced by a bigger barn) which held about 6-8 thousand people. Opening act Chicago Transit Authority with Terry Kath. Their first album, a double, had just come out and they were red-hot. It was the Experience - Mitchell and Redding. Second and third times were at the LA Forum which held around 19 thousand. Last time was Miles and Cox - Band of Gypsies. As powerful an experience (no pun) as you might imagine. His ability to excite a crowd with playing and showmanship remains unparalleled in my experience, and I've seen a lot of music. I remember exactly where I was and who I was with when I heard he had passed (also, just like Duane). I'm still rolling - stood eight feet from Sonny Landreth two weeks ago.

Ok, now I am jealous.

Two of the three times I saw the Brothers with Duane were at the Whisky a Go Go, a small club on the Sunset Strip. Obviously it was a formative experience - I'm still here, 45 years later, yakking away on their website.

hi, I saw Hendrix at Woodstock and again at the second Atlanta pop fest, just look at the movie to see the zombies that were still standing around on Monday morning to give him some kind of reaction, which is not much, plus he was playing a lot of new stuff that the crowd didn't know. I particularly remember the version of "gypsy woman" sung by Larry Lee which you will have to find to find since it wasn't released because jimi didn't do vocals, but I liked his playing on it a lot. I wasn't very impressed with his set a year later at a field south of Atlanta but that probably had more to do with me than him, I was way back in the crowd somewhere and fairly distracted at the time. oh well.

by the way, I saw sonny landreth a week ago in new orleaans and was very impressed although I wasn't familiar with anything he did. it was all good.

1968 Municipal Auditorium Atlanta I actually met him in the lobby of the Omni Hotel, got a hand shake and an autograph. He told me to "take it easy".

1969 old Charlotte Coliseum

1970 Atlanta Pop

http://recordcollectormag.com/letters/how-i-became-experienced

Once in Tampa,,Curtis Hixon Hall. He got pissed that people were taking many flash photos, had his back to the crowd a bit. Admonished once by asking if people wanted pictures or to hear music...like today and cell phones. He didn't play that long and seemed to be trying to get away from the wildman thing.

Atlanta Pop II, heard, did not see. I was hooked into the cosmos and did not want to get into the crowd. Stood outside the fences behind near the stage area and listened.

I found a lot of musicians back then who were incredible & made their mark later deteriorated & started to burn out..if they even survived! Some of them lost their fire,creativity & got pretty messed up & just became average or crappy.I always felt it was key to catch bands at the right time or tour rather than put up with their nonsense.I hated the disappointment because once you've seen them good it was incredible!

In 68 in Cleveland..my first concert! 2nd concert was Cream a couple months later. Alpha go away!

I found a lot of musicians back then who were incredible & made their mark later deteriorated & started to burn out..if they even survived! Some of them lost their fire,creativity & got pretty messed up & just became average or crappy.I always felt it was key to catch bands at the right time or tour rather than put up with their nonsense.I hated the disappointment because once you've seen them good it was incredible!

The same can be said for old drug addicts and burn outs like aiq and others. 😉

I am old...

But not burned out or addicted, or at least for a kid my age.

I would not want to make light of anyone's struggle. Some quality whiskey, IPAs, and plant materials which produce various levels of synesthesia would be my poison.

enhances my journey. joints do a lot for joints if you get me.

[Edited on 4/17/2016 by aiq]

Twice

Fillmore East with Sly opening

The Newark Symphony Hall in the wake of the MLK shooting. Girlfriends father offered us his gun, we refused.
300 white kids from Suburbia
Soft Machine opened.

saw him at Woodstock

i also saw him on a New years eve at the Fillmore Eve. Don't remember the year but i am sure it was New Years Eve

I saw Hendrix play with the Experience in May 1969 at the Indianapolis Coliseum. Chicago Transit Authority was the opening act. (CTA really nailed their version of I'm a Man.) Similar to what aiq described, Hendrix cautioned the audience about flash photographs. Even though it was pretty much a by-the-numbers performance, it was quite a spectacle nonetheless.

I used to use the concert ticket stub as a bookmark, thinking that it was the coolest bookmark ever. Now, I can't find it. Oh well.

I found a lot of musicians back then who were incredible & made their mark later deteriorated & started to burn out..if they even survived! Some of them lost their fire,creativity & got pretty messed up & just became average or crappy.I always felt it was key to catch bands at the right time or tour rather than put up with their nonsense.I hated the disappointment because once you've seen them good it was incredible!

No doubt this is true but I feel that Hendrix, like Duane, was just getting started. He had gone a long way toward freeing himself from management dictating that he cut short songs to save costs, play only with the musicians he was told to play with, and crank out material so they could tour endlessly, and had made quantum leaps in using the studio and the recording process as much as an artistic endeavor as live performance, which he had already pretty much completely conquered. "Electric Ladyland" was one of the greatest studio achievements in the history of rock'n'roll, up there with "Dark Side of the Moon", "Sgt. Pepper", "Pet Sounds"…alas.