The Jimi Hendrix Experience Spectrum concert poster – The Spectrum Philadelphia April 12 1969

The Jimi Hendrix Experience Spectrum concert poster – The Spectrum Philadelphia April 12, 1969

This is a superb reproduction of a rare Jimi Hendrix Experience Spectrum concert poster. The single-colour poster printed in black on a kraft-like stock, advertised the band’s forthcoming show in Philadelphia on their 1969 North American tour. The poster boldly announces the Jimi Hendrix Experience above a black-and-white image of Jimi’s headset in the centre of the sun’s wavy rays. The poster explains that the show will be held at the Philadelphia Spectrum on Saturday, April 12th, along with a start time of 8 p.m.

The show, promoted by Cora Promotions will also feature Buddy Miles and the English rock band The Soft Machine. Stating that Jimi and the band would appear at ‘1 show only’ tickets were available in four price bands, $3.50, $4.50, $5.50 & $6.50.

The Spectrum Poster was originally produced to promote the fourth out of five appearances the band played in Philadelphia. The initial two shows in Philly were held at the newly opened Electric Factory on 2201 Arch Street. The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed two shows each night on February 21 and 22, just three weeks after the venue’s grand opening. By the time the group returned to Philly, just three months later, they had already outgrown the confines of the Electric Factory. Instead, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, and Noel Redding were booked in to play the higher-capacity 15,000 seater, Arena. The band’s fourth Philly date took place at the recently opened indoor arena known as The Spectrum – later known as CoreStates Spectrum, First Union Spectrum, and Wachovia Spectrum.

What happened to the Jimi Hendrix Experience?

By April 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience had made a huge impact on the British music scene. Starting with Hey Joe backed by Stone Free in December 1966, the group had released six singles. Following Hey Joe, March 1967 saw the release of Purple Haze with The Wind Cried Mary coming out in May and the Burning Of The Midnight Lamp in August. 1968 saw the release of All Along the Watchtower and Cross Town Traffic. They also released their debut album in May 1967 which was an immediate critical and commercial success and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. It was followed up in December ’68 by Axis/Bold as Love. And by the time the 1969 North American tour was announced the band had spent most of the year in the recording studio laying down their third and what turned out to be the band’s final album, Electric Ladyland.

From their first gig on September 24, 1966, at the Scotch of St James in London and the night of their final concert at the Denver Pop Festival in 1969, it is estimated that the band performed over 500 shows. The band’s hectic schedule was beginning to take its toll. Rumours about the band breaking up began to circulate widely. Central to the tension within the band was bass player Noel Redding’s increasing dissatisfaction with his role in the band and Jimi’s excessive drug taking. By February 1969, Redding had become frustrated with Hendrix’s unpredictable work ethic and his dominance in shaping the Experience’s musical direction.

The speculation of a split only intensified when Fat Mattress was named as the support act on the upcoming North American tour. Fat Mattress was, in fact, an English folk rock band that was formed in Folkestone, England in 1968. The group was founded by guitarist and vocalist Noel Redding together with vocalist Neil Landon, and multi-instrumentalist Jim Leverton and Eric Dillon. The band was formed while Redding was a member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was a way for Redding to release his own creativity. To write songs, play guitar, sing lead, as well as to record original material. While he had done all three things with the Experience, they were restricted to rare occasions. However, to the music press, the fact that Fat Mattress was scheduled to be the opening act on the 1969 American tour appeared to be as much a concession to keep Noel in the fold as it was a musical decision.

In an interview following the band’s demise, he expressed his frustration, stating, “We had been relentlessly touring for two and a half years, constantly on the road without adequate rest or breaks. And then, when the band gained fame, Hendrix rose to stardom and seemed to look down on the rest of us.” Tensions had been building for months. Recording sessions for the double Electric Ladyland LP had been notoriously riotous. “There were tons of people in the studio,” Redding stated, “you couldn’t move. It was a party, not a session.” Hendrix’s perfectionism was painstaking with between 40-50 takes per song.

Finding himself frustrated at the lack of musical input he was given in the group, Redding, formed his own band, Fat Mattress in mid-1968. It got worse during the recording of Electric Ladyland. Redding would be at the studio for days on end, only to find that Jimi simply wouldn’t show or worse, that Hendrix had played many of the bass parts already. In the end, Redding decided it was more important to record his new band’s debut album than sit around waiting for the guitarist to turn up and found it increasingly difficult to fulfill his commitments with the Experience.

Even Hendrix was under pressure. Not only was their turmoil with Redding, but the guitarist’s relationship with his manager, ex-Animls bassist, Chas Chandler had recently come to an end. Chandler had also become frustrated with the recording sessions for Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland album, he quit as the band’s manager in December 1968. This left the management in the sole hands of Michael Jeffery who Hendrix, possibly fuelled by his intake of drink and drugs, had strong suspicions was scamming him.

Moreover, the artistic, experiential Hendrix was beginning to feel restricted by the bass-guitar-drums format and wanted to move in a new musical direction. Believing his musical talents were stunted by the trio format. During the year, Hendrix began collaborating and recording with a variety of musicians and without consulting Redding, Hendrix made public his plans to expand the group.

By April, the band was exhausted. Even Hendrix was tired. During an interview with writer John Lombardi at the Holiday Inn, just before the Saturday afternoon performance at The Spectrum, the guitarist appeared weary, worn down, and uninterested in the interviewer’s questions. He even went on to complain about being tired, saying gain. “I didn’t want to do this interview because I was tired and I never get any time to myself. I wanted to relax and write a song. But how can you say that to someone?”

Things finally came to a head at the Denver Pop Festival on June 29, 1969. The three-day event was marked by police using tear gas to control the audience. The band narrowly escaped from the venue in the back of a rental truck, which was partly crushed by fans who had climbed on top of the vehicle. It was enough for Redding who quit the band and returned to London. On his return he announced that he had left the band and intended to pursue a solo career, blaming Hendrix’s plans to expand the group without allowing for his own input as the main reason for leaving.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience live at the Spectrum Philadelphia April 12, 1969

The gig at The Philadelphia Spectrum on the 12th of April was only the second date of the band’s 25 date 1969 North American tour. The Experience hadn’t played since their gig at the Royal Albert Hall on Feb 24. Hendrix, Mitchell, and Redding kicked off the tour with a show at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 11th before flying into Philadelphia International Airport for the gig at The Spectrum.

An article written by Frank Moriarty on the univibes website titled Jimi Plays Philadelphia includes a review describing how events on the night unfolded. The information we provide here is truncated and paraphrased from that original article. The entire article can be read here.

A large crowd eagerly awaited the Experience. While not quite a sell-out, almost 14,500 concertgoers filled the multi-purpose venue almost to maximum capacity. To kick off the evening’s entertainment, support act Fat Mattress took to the stage. Neil Landon, Jim Leverton, Eric Dillon, and the JHE bassist Noel Redding ran through material from their about-to-be-released eponymously titled debut album. Although the crowd received them well, it was clear that Fat Mattress set was simply a precursor to the night’s main event. The air was thick with anticipation for the night’s main event.

For most of The Spectrum’s early music events, a circular revolving stage was positioned in the centre of the arena floor. The band appeared from the Philadelphia Flyers locker room, escorted by police officers and security as they walked through the tunnel to the arena before running the gauntlet to the stage.

To a tremendous roar, they mounted the steps and walked onto the stage. Jimi stood in the spotlight wearing a blue headband trailing down, Jimi was clad in an orange ruffled shirt and black vest and pants, a scarf tied around one leg. Holding his white Stratocaster Jimi smiled and greeted the crowd and began to tune up. Noel and Jimi ran through their equipment checks and made small talk with the 15,000 crowd until Mitch popped up behind his gold drum kit.

The band kicked off with “Fire.” Fueled by the crowd’s energy Hendrix worked his magic over the fretboard. Jimi capped off the solo with some quick guitar gymnastics, finishing the song with the inevitable pitch bends and clouds of feedback. The huge sound of the Experience was rivalled only by the cheers of the audience.

A change of pace saw the band launch into an eleven-minute version of the slow blues classic Red House. Hendrix emphasized the line “Wait a minute, something’s wrong” with added intensity, repeating it over and over for a dramatic effect, before hitting soaring notes on the upper reaches of the guitar neck during its extended solo.

After a quick retune and a long burst of feedback, the band settled into the riff of Foxey Lady. Hendrix dispensed a hail of hammered notes leading up to the first verse finishing the song with a long solo unaccompanied by his rhythm section.

Jimi stepped to the microphone to introduce “I Don’t Live Today” from the Are You Experienced album, by saying “We’re just jamming, we haven’t played in a long time.” A cool Mitch Mitchell drum solo with tribal rhythms starts the song before Jimi bursts in with the dark lyric “Will I Live Tomorrow.” The song written in honour of his Cherokee heritage brings out an emotional delivery ending with the lines “Nothing but existing, baby – all you’re doing is existing” before bringing the song to a close.

Jimi introduces the next song as ‘Getting My Heart Back Together Again,” and dedicates it “to little Beefy, who’s in the hospital now, and her little friend.” Before adding “I’d like you to take a little train ride with us” The instrumental tune sounds like a short jam or a work in progress ‘ Jimi finishes it by adding “Yeah! It’s gonna take time… it’s gonna take time.” The song in a completed form was later released the 1971 Woodstock II album called “Hear My Train A Comin” Although Hendrix recorded the song in live, studio, and impromptu settings several times between 1967 and 1970, he never completed the blues rocker to his satisfaction, but the Woodstock version takes some beating.

Next, Jimi steps up to the microphone and introduces Stone Free saying “I’m going to release it as a single.” The song had already appeared in England as the b-side to Hey Joe in December 1966. In April 1969, the Experience recorded a remake of “Stone Free” with some additional musicians however, the revised version wasn’t used. Instead, the original version was released in America in September 1969.

The version played at The Spectrum is upbeat, energetic, and passionate, showing the Experience was still a force to be reckoned with in spite of the persistent rumors of an imminent breakup. The pace was fast, with a long solo by Jimi at the end yielding to an even longer percussive improvisation between the three musicians. As  the song draws to a close, Hendrix over the rapturous crowd says ‘Thanks for coming… we’ve only got time for about two or three more numbers.”

Jimi dedicates the next number to “…all the beautiful memories of a beautiful school… and er… the pain that we used to have to be made to sing it in school… always being programmed”. Then the opening notes of the national anthem, familiar to every American, soar into the air. The song starts off respectfully, but after the initial notes, Hendrix paused, playfully teasing the audience—was he going to play it or not? After what felt like an eternity, the instrumental took flight, seamlessly picking up from where he left off. When he reached the section where the lyrics would mention “Star Spangled Banner,” Hendrix’s guitar work ascended into a cacophony of sound, a deafening combination of dive bombers before seamlessly blending into the iconic opening riff of the classic hit “Purple Haze”, a precursor to the stupendous version recorded at Woodstock in August, a few months later.

The crowd at The Spectrum was treated to a six-minute-long version of Purple Haze. It included a wild solo that reprised some of the sonic guitar work, feedback,  and dissonant sounds of the Star Spangled Banner introduction before navigating back towards the song structure to meet up with Noel and Mitch to finish.

After a quick set of thank you’s Jimi immediately breaks into a stunning eleven-minute version of  “Voodoo Child (slight return).” The band delivered a fiery rendition of the song and played it with their usual level of musical ability and intensity. After that, Jimi said thank you one more time and the band left the stage. Once again, surrounded by police, they rushed through the barricades, meant to be protecting them from the crowd as they fled towards the dressing rooms.

In contrast to the rest of the 1969 American tour, The Spectrum’s setlist featured fewer songs. Nevertheless, the night’s performance compensated by delving into extended instrumental renditions, surpassing their usual boundaries. It was an exceptional performance that was energetic and passionate, showing the Jimi Hendrix Experience was still a force to be reckoned with in spite of the rumors of a break-up.

However, break up they did. The band completed the North American tour with a concert Denver Pop Festival on June 29th. The three-day festival would prove to be the last performance by the original Jimi Hendrix Experience. An inspired set by the Experience was marred by a riot following the group’s performance. Police officers began firing tear gas at the audience while Eric Barrett, a roadie for the Experience, rushed the band off stage and into the back of their rented equipment truck. Fans climbed all over the vehicle, nearly buckling the roof before Barrett and the road crew could whisk the group away. It was the last straw for the bassist. Immediately afterward, Noel Redding left the group and returned to London. Redding cited Hendrix’s stated desire to expand the group without consulting him as one of the factors influencing his decision.

How much is an original Jimi Hendrix Experience Spectrum concert poster worth?

Hendrix’s brief time in the spotlight, cut short by his untimely death, has resulted in a scarcity of memorabilia from his career. Despite the band performing in over 500 shows, posters promoting these events were typically printed in limited quantities. In numerous instances, only a few copies of each poster have survived, further adding to their rarity.

The fact that all three band members have passed away, contributes to the exceptional rarity of Hendrix memorabilia. As a result, collectors highly covet these items, making them incredibly valuable in the eyes of enthusiasts. And, once in private collections they rarely come to market.

This Jimi Hendrix Experience Spectrum concert poster is one that originally had a very low print run and only a handful of the original 1969 posters are known to have survived, making it exceptionally rare in any condition. The only original copy we could find was sold by auction as far back as 2016. Back then, the poster achieved a hammer price of $4,200. We imagine its value has increased over the last seven years.