Hendrix 70 -- Film Review

Hendrix 70  Live at Woodstock

Directed by Michael Wadleigh and Bob Smeaton

 

 

This was a one-time showing of Jimi Hendrix's concert at Woodstock in August of 1969 at the Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco, December 4, 2012.  We arrived a few minutes late and the film was already in progress.  It was my fault.  Sorry.  We missed some of the introductory interviews with fellow band members and promoters that explained how Jimi Hendrix was recruited to play at Woodstock, but we didn't miss any of the concert, which was mesmerizing.  Jimi Hendrix had a powerful physical charisma that naturally drew everyone's eyes toward him.  But, of course, it was his guitar playing and his singing that kept people spellbound.  I love the way he sings a song.  He had a natural feel for how to use his voice to let the song speak through him.  He was casual, yet precise.  His sound is chaos.  It is the sound of a battlefield.  It is agonized.  There are screeches and sirens, explosions and clamor, bombs going off.  It can be relentless and tries to crush you.  And yet it can subside into captivating, soul searching lyricism.  His voice rides above this tumult smooth and steady.  He doesn't scream or shout.  He sings even though underneath there is a seething cauldron. 

Someone who knew him once told me that Jimi Hendrix cared about three things:  music, drugs, and sex -- not necessarily in that order.  In my case, I would say it is the arts, ideas, and sex.  The order depends on circumstance and inspiration.  But I have a natural affinity for Jimi Hendrix.  Rock and roll guys tend to be relaxed and easy going, but underneath there is a driving sexual energy that is combative, defiant, and even reckless.  The music helps to channel it and give it some structure, but in Hendrix's case the disorder and recklessness is right on the surface.  The chaos is palpable to the point of being overwhelming. 

The concert included many of his standard favorites like Fire, Foxy Lady, and Red House, but my personal favorite was his version of the Star Spangled Banner which then morphed into Purple Haze.  His version of the Star Spangled Banner is a different view of America than they play at NFL football games.  His version is harsh, abrasive, and violent.  When the rockets red glare and the bombs burst in air, you can actually hear the rockets blaring and the bombs exploding.  It is not a sanitized, romanticized America that makes you stand and put your hand on your heart.  It is the violent, rapacious America of slavery, the extermination of the Indians, the pillaging and despoiling of the natural environment, the unnecessary wars, the millions incarcerated, the violence between the sexes, the fear of walking the streets at night, crumbling schools, declining wages, the disillusioned and angry.  It is all there in Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner.  I remember being taken with it the first time I heard it around age 16 or 17.  I remember many people being offended by it.  Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner is America with the gloves off.  He then segues into Purple Haze, which is another of my all time favorites.  Missing from the show was All Along the Watchtower, which I was hoping he would do.  Altogether it was a magnificent concert, and I am so glad I was able to see it.  If it comes around again or they put it out on DVD, by all means try to catch it.  Very unfortunate his early death.