The Monterey International Festival Pop of 1967, happened in California, bathed by the immense Pacific Ocean. The intention was to bring together the best elements of pop music with the interaction of an audition with the same elements. The best artists of the contemporary music have joined on this festival offering great performances like Animals, Buffalo Springfield, Byrds, Canned Heat, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Mamas & Papas, Otis Redding, Simon & Garfunkel and The Who.
However, a band would shine more than all other in this mythic festival, their name was Jimi Hendrix Experienced. The first full release of the magnificent performance of Jimi Hendrix, only see the light of the day almost twenty years late in 1986. Hendrix only has one album in the pocket, Are You Experienced, and it is what we hear on this live performance at Monterey:
1 – The introduction by Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones;
2 – The opening track, killing Floor, a raging cover from Howlin Wolf;
3 – Foxy Lady;
4 – Like a Rolling Stones, a well chosen cover of Bob Dylan;
5 – Rock me Baby, from B.B.King;
6 – Hey Joe;
7 – Can You See Me;
8 – The Wind Cries Mary;
9 – Purple Haze;
10 – Wild Thing from The Troggs;
Hendrix kill everyone on stage, including The Who at their best, and only in 45 minutes he makes a show that the audience will never forget in all their lives! The pink Stratocaster get up in flames, is one of the most striking scenes in the history of rock music.
