“He plugged into an amp and the entire place’s jaws just dropped”: David Gilmour recounts the first time he saw Jimi Hendrix performing in a tiny East London venue
Even before his 1967 debut, Jimi Hendrix was already stunning crowds across the globe. In fact, when Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour caught Hendrix performing in East London club Blaises in ‘66, he knew Hendrix was destined for greatness.
In a new interview with Rick Beato, Gilmour recalls walking into South Kensington club Blaises one fateful evening – when a significant number of high-profile rocker were in attendance. “One night, I went in there, and it was rammed with people,” he says. “All the Beatles and all the Stones were there. I thought, ‘This is a bit unusual…’”
Of course, everyone was there to catch Hendrix, the hopeful American newcomer who was starting to cause a stir overseas. Gilmour, however, had no clue what to expect. “A kid came in with a guitar case, got up on the stage, opened his guitar case and put [his guitar] on the wrong way round,” he says. “He plugged into an amp and started… The entire place’s jaws just dropped. It was absolutely extraordinary!”
READ MORE: “It was a bit of a disaster”: Why John McLaughlin had to use a cheap acoustic during a jam with Jimi Hendrix
Don’t just take Gilmour’s word for it; journalist Chris Welch was also there on the same evening, and he gave Hendrix a dazzling review in Melody Maker magazine. “The fantastic American guitarist blew the minds of the star-packed crowd”, he wrote [via Classic Rock]. “Hendrix has great stage presence and an exceptional guitar technique which involved playing with his teeth on occasion and no hands on others.”
The impact of the Blaises set left a mark on Gilmour; he knew that Hendrix was a very special talent. Hooked, the Pink Floyd legend went hunting for more of Hendrix’s work – but, unfortunately, he was a year too early to find Hendrix’s Are You Experienced debut in stores. “I went out the next day trying to find records by this character, Jimi Hendrix,” he explains to Beato. “He didn’t exist.”
This would mark the beginning of Gilmour’s patient wait for a Hendrix debut. Speaking to BBC Radio 2’s Tracks Of My Years back in 2006, he also recalled his wild goose chase trying to get his hands on more Hendrix content back in ‘66. “I went to record shops and I said ‘You got anything by this guy Jimi Hendrix?’, and they said ‘Well, we’ve got a James Hendrix?’” he laughed [transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage].
“He hadn’t yet done anything!” he said. “So I became rather an avid fan waiting for his first release.”
Thankfully, he only had to wait one year. When Hendrix finally did unleash his music onto the world, Gilmour was first in line, telling Beato: “As soon as it came along, I thought, ‘Yes, Jimi!! I want a slice of that.’”
Gilmour was such a fan that he would do anything to work alongside Hendrix. While the pair never released any music together, Gilmour helped mix Hendrix’s set at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. “Not a lot of people know that,” Gilmour told Prog back in 2019. “[I was working] side stage with WEM Audiomasters with Charlie Watkins.”
“I went down to go to it and I was camping in a tent, just being a punter,” he continued. “[The sound team] were very nervous, because they were going to have to mix Hendrix’s sound. I did some mixing stuff in those days and they said ‘Help! Help!’ So I did.”
The post “He plugged into an amp and the entire place’s jaws just dropped”: David Gilmour recounts the first time he saw Jimi Hendrix performing in a tiny East London venue appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
