Baltimore (Civic Center) : 16 mai 1969

Baltimore (Civic Center) : 16 mai 1969


Titres :

1. Lover Man
2. Hear My Train A Comin'
3. Fire
4. Red House*
5. I Don't Live Today*
6. Foxy Lady
7. Purple Haze
8. Spanish Castle Magic
9. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)*

* Titres coupés

Source : Baltimore '69 (ATM 125)

La qualité audio est médiocre (il y a de la saturation), mais le groupe semble en forme. Ce sont la voix et la guitare qui sortent le plus, mais dans une sorte de magma très saturé qui n'est pas toujours très musical. On devine la batterie plus qu'on ne l'entend le plus souvent. Quant à la basse, elle est souvent inaudible.

Le groupe attaque par "Lover Man", dont le fort volume sonore ne contribue pas à la qualité audio... Jimi commence comme s'il reprenait "Rock Me Baby" mais reprend aussitôt sur les paroles de "Lover Man".

Jimi annonce ensuite "Get My Heart Back Together" (aka "Hear My Train A Comin'"), dont seul le chant est audible. Le solo de guitare se noie dans une saturation générale sans intérêt.

Les arrangements de "Fire", qui ménagent l'espace sonore, nous laisse deviner une version correcte.

Lors de l'introduction de "Red House", on entend un spectateur dire que "c'est sur l'album anglais"... puis que c'est "en tapant le dos de sa guitare" qu'il obtient le son caractéristique du passage calme du solo.
Le volume sonore étant nettement plus réduit sur ce titre (excepté lorsque le solo prend de l'intensité), c'est un des titres les plus intéressants du pirate. Le titre est coupé lors de la fin du dernier couplet...

... débouchant directement sur le second couplet de "I Don't Live Today". Le son semble un peu mieux équilibré - à défaut d'être satisfaisant. Et c'est regrettable car Jimi se lance dans une improvisation furieuse en fin de morceau, sur un tempo élevé.

Après "Foxy Lady", l'Experience joue une version énergique de "Purple Haze", dont le solo semble comporter des éléments communs avec celui de Woodstock...

En raison de leur structure, les couplets de "Spanish Castle Magic" passent relativement bien, mais la saturation de la bande augmente dès que Jimi part en solo. La première partie du solo de Jimi semble très intense... mais il est extrêmement difficile d'en apprécier la qualité. Le son se clarifie un peu lorsque Jimi se sert de sa guitare comme percussion, de même lorsqu'il joue le passage a capella connu sous le nom de "Woodstock Improvisation", qu'il développe lors de cette ultime tournée US de l'Experience.

Jimi annonce enfin "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", le dernier morceau du concert. L'introduction semble étrange... mais là encore, la qualité audio interdit de trop s'avancer sur ce qui s'est vraiment joué ce jour-là. La fin est là aussi coupée.


Au final ? Souhaitons qu'une nouvelle source puisse un jour remonter à la surface.

In May, 1969, I was first in line at the Hendrix concert at the Baltimore Civic Center. I told my friend (Jeff Thorsell, the light guy for my band) that I was walking right on stage. I did, he followed.

I went backstage and Mitch Mitchell asked me to hold a flashlight while he fixed his bass drum pedal. Then, I went to one side of the stage, and my friend went to the other.

I was watching the opening band, Cactus, when I felt a nudge on my shoulder. It was Jimi Hendrix. He mentioned that he thought the guitar player with Cactus was good. We stood side by side, watching Cactus for a while. Hendrix did most of the talking.

Then Cactus finished their set, and Hendrix came out. I watched the whole show from side, backstage.

Incredible.

I think it was around that point that I gave up guitar and took up the bass.

And the next week I went to Merriweather and saw Led Zeppelin open up for The Who.

I was on my way...


Source : http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/midnight_sun/blog/2008/05/meeting_jimi_hendrix.html

WASHINGTON POST - ‘Hendrix: The Rare Concert’ by Richard Cowan:

“Last Friday night [16 May], Jimi Hendrix experienced the BaltimoreCivicCenter. There, more than 12,000 people saw one of the rare rock concerts that happen every once in a while in the Washington area. This is not to say that there are not many groups which play here; it means that the audience is reacting, strongly and visibly, to the artist’s performance. During the last piece on the program, ‘Little Child’ [sic] people in the orchestra section of the great hall jammed the aisles, overflowed into seating rows, stood on the chairs, sat perched on shoulders, clapped in rhythm to Mitch Mitchell’s drum solo, and, in general, had a fantastic time, an experience.
Hendrix was the ideal star performer - he not only played the audience, he let the audience play him. A flower thrown onto the stage was twined into the strings of his guitar. He played requests of the songs he has become famous for: ‘Foxy Lady,’ ‘Purple Haze,’ ‘Fire’ (Before playing “Purple Haze,” he chided the audience mildly for requesting old material, saying, ‘This song is dedicated to all the people in here born in 1733.’) But the audience loved it, and he loved the audience in return. In ‘Little Child,’ [sic] he went through his ‘trademark’ routines: playing with his teeth, slinging the guitar around his neck and through his legs, letting his picking hand rest while fingering a magnificent solo. Hendrix demonstrated his actual instrumental virtuosity in a piece called ‘Red House,’ which was played without any of his showmanship gimmickry; it didn’t need it. His abilities as a bluesman came through, and affirmed our judgment of him as one of The World’s leading guitarists.”