Jimi Plays Monterey

Overview

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.

Directed by Chris Hegedus, D. A. Pennebaker

Top cast

John Phillips

Narrator (voice)

Jimi Hendrix

Self (archive footage)

Noel Redding

Self (archive footage)

Mitch Mitchell

Self (archive footage)

Art Garfunkel

Self (archive footage)

George Harrison

Self (archive footage)

Mick Jagger

Self (archive footage)

Brian Jones

Self (archive footage)

Janis Joplin

Self (archive footage)

John Lennon

Self (archive footage)

Paul McCartney

Self (archive footage)

C

Charles Shaar Murray

Self - Commentary

Ringo Starr

Self (archive footage)

D

Denny Dent

Street Painter

Michelle Phillips

Self (archive footage)

Cass Elliot

Self (archive footage)

Otis Redding

Self (archive footage)

Pete Townshend

Self (archive footage)

Details