Jimi Plays Monterey

Jimi Plays Monterey

50 mins | Documentary, Music | Oct. 16, 1987

It's no exaggeration to say this might be the most intense and groundbreaking 45-minute performance in the history of rock. Jimi Hendrix's debut American set at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival is generally considered one of the most radical and legendary live shows ever. Virtually unknown to American audiences at the time, even though he was already an established entity in the UK, Hendrix and his two-piece Experience explode on stage, ripping through blues classics "Rock Me Baby" and Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," interpreting and electrifying Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," debuting songs from his yet-to-be-released first album and closing with the now historic sacrificing/burning of his guitar during an unhinged version of "Wild Thing" that even its writer Chip Taylor would never have imagined. Hendrix uses feedback and distortion to enhance the songs in whisper-to-scream intensity, blazing territory that had not been previously explored with as much soul-frazzled power.

Jimi Plays Monterey

50 mins | Documentary, Music | Oct. 16, 1987

Jimi Plays Monterey
It's no exaggeration to say this might be the most intense and groundbreaking 45-minute performance in the history of rock. Jimi Hendrix's debut American set at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival is generally considered one of the most radical and legendary live shows ever. Virtually unknown to American audiences at the time, even though he was already an established entity in the UK, Hendrix and his two-piece Experience explode on stage, ripping through blues classics "Rock Me Baby" and Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," interpreting and electrifying Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," debuting songs from his yet-to-be-released first album and closing with the now historic sacrificing/burning of his guitar during an unhinged version of "Wild Thing" that even its writer Chip Taylor would never have imagined. Hendrix uses feedback and distortion to enhance the songs in whisper-to-scream intensity, blazing territory that had not been previously explored with as much soul-frazzled power.
IMDb rating 8.1
Producers Pennebaker Films, Are You Experienced?
Original title Jimi Plays Monterey
Directors Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, D. A. Pennebaker
Writers

Cast

John Phillips

as Narrator (voice)

Jimi Hendrix

as Self (archive footage)

Noel Redding

as Self (archive footage)

Mitch Mitchell

as Self (archive footage)

Art Garfunkel

as Self (archive footage)

George Harrison

as Self (archive footage)

Mick Jagger

as Self (archive footage)

Brian Jones

as Self (archive footage)

Janis Joplin

as Self (archive footage)

John Lennon

as Self (archive footage)

Paul McCartney

as Self (archive footage)

Charles Shaar Murray

as Self - Commentary

Ringo Starr

as Self (archive footage)

Denny Dent

as Street Painter

Michelle Phillips

as Self (archive footage)

Cass Elliot

as Self (archive footage)