Jimi Hendrix Experience Washington DC Concert Poster 1968
In March 1968, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was one of England’s most popular groups. The band made up of Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, and Noel Redding had made considerable headway in the UK charts with singles Hey Joe, Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary, and Foxy Lady. However, in their home country, America, the band were still relatively unknown. That was all about to change.
It was the band’s breathtaking performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 when the Americans sat up and took notice. In February 1968 the Hendrix Experience embarked on an extensive tour of the United States.
Washington Hilton concert poster 1968
After a month on the road, the band reached Washington DC on March 10, 1968. The Experience was booked to perform two shows at the International Ballroom at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Ave. A poster for the event had been created by a local artist, D.W. Beeghly and put up around town. Support acts for the evening, and for most of the American tour were provided by Mark Boyle’s Sense Laboratory and the British rock group Soft Machine.
The Washington Hilton concert
At 3 pm Jimi and the band took to the stage in front of two thousand people and performed a setlist including a cover of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, their UK hit singles Hey Joe, Foxey Lady, The Wind Cries Mary and Purple Haze, along with the blues classic Red House finishing off with a rendition of The Troggs Wild Thing.
The second show at 8 pm saw another 2,000 people enjoy a 36-minute set consisting of Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor, Foxey Lady, The Wind Cries Mary, Fire, Red House, I Don’t Live Today, Purple Haze, and once again finishing proceedings with Wild Thing. The price of admission was $4.
Are Jimi Hendrix posters worth anything?
If you own an original Jimi Hendrix poster, the answer to the question is most certainly a resounding Yes! There is now a massive interest in almost any original merchandise connected to the band. At the time of listing this item (2021), an online website was offering people in the region of £2,000 to £5,000 for 20 inch x 30 inch original Jimi Hendrix Experience posters and between £8,000 and £10,000 for the larger 30 inch x 40 inch posters. So, if that’s what they will pay you, what would they actually be worth
How much is a Jimi Hendrix poster worth?
Well, how long is a piece of string? There are many variables that affect the value of any poster. Condition is always one of the most important factors. However, it is probably scarcity that drives the price up the most. It usually follows that the rarer the poster the higher the price it will command.
Some Jimi Hendrix posters can be found starting at between $300 and $500 dollars. At the other end of the scale, a poster is worth what somebody is prepared to pay for it. For example, as far back as 2016, an original copy of this rare Jimi Hendrix Experience Washington Hilton concert poster sold for $10,000.In another auction the original poster artwork for the original 1968 Fillmore Auditorium concert, created by the English design company Haphash and the Coloured Coat, whose posters are highly prized by collectors, sold for $72,000 in Denver, in 2008. It became the most expensive piece of Jimi Hendrix poster-related memorabilia to date.
Other Jimi Hendrix posters
Jimi Hendrix was just 16 years old when he made his stage debut at the Temple De Hirsch Sinai synagogue in Seattle in 1959. It didn’t go well! His bandmates at the time thought he was too flashy and tried to steal the show. It didn’t hold him back. Throughout the latter half of 1965, and into the first part of 1966, Jimmy played the rounds of smaller venues throughout Greenwich Village, catching up with Animals’ bassist Chas Chandler during a July performance at Cafe Wha?
The ex-Animals bassist, Chandler was soon to become Hendrix’s manager. Hendrix’s debut UK performance took place in a discrete little meeting place in the heart of Mayfair. It was the opening night for The Scotch Of St James and the event was attended by the elite of the British music scene including members of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, The Animals and The Hollies.
Between September 1966 and September 1970, and that first UK appearance to his final gig at the Isle of Fehmarn Festival in Germany, Jimi Hendrix played over 600 shows. Logic suggests that this means that nearly 600 posters will have been designed and printed advertising the legendary artists shows. We currently have just over a dozen reproduction prints on our website, here are three of our favorites.
The Sun Devils Gym poster features an image of the rock god reversed out of black and printed onto bright orange paper. It was produced to promote a show that took place on February 5 1968 in Tempe, Arizona. We love that the admission price appears on the poster stating entry cost just $3. The bright, bold poster looks fabulous, especially in the larger sizes.
Another bold, bright orange poster from 1968 promoted two shows at the Fillmore East in New York City. The wonderfully psychedelic image includes cameos of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell. The poster is considered to be one of the holy grails from the psychedelic-era. It’s an extremely rare poster in its original form. One original copy sold for $6,400 back in 2014.
A personal favorite is a 1970 Isle of Wight Festival poster. Although not strictly a Jimi Hendrix poster, his name appears in the three-day line-up along with artists including The Doors, The Who, and Jethro Tull. The poster depicts a cool image of a psychedelic drummer.
