Milwaukee (Milwaukee Auditorium) : 1er mai 1970

Admin Messages : 3126 Date d'inscription : 04/06/2010 Age : 52

Milwaukee (Milwaukee Auditorium) : 1er mai 1970

Titres :

1. Spanish Castle Magic
2. Lover Man
3. Hear My Train A Comin'
4. Ezy Ryder
5. Freedom
6. Message To Love
7. Foxy Lady
8. Star Spangled Banner
9. Purple Haze
10. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Source :

Enregistrement audience de 60 minutes. La qualité audio est faible : il y a pas mal de distorsion sur la voix et la guitare, la basse se devine plus qu'on ne l'entend vraiment, et la batterie est la plupart du temps inaudible. On entend parfois mieux certaines spectatrices que le groupe !

Le concert de Milwaukee marque la troisième étape du "Cry Of Love Tour", et le début d'un second week end de concerts bien chargé. Les titres joués ce vendredi 1er mai 1970 sont tous présents sur la setlist de la première donnée au LA Forum. La performance est cependant plus courte, tout en étant plus longue que celle de Sacramento. On notera l'absence de "Machine Gun", et un répertoire finalement pas si éloigné que ça de celui de l'ultime tournée du Jimi Hendrix Experience.

C'est avec "Spanish Castle Magic", seul rescapé Live du second album studio de l'Experience, que Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox et Mitch Mitchell (annoncés comme le "Jimi Hendrix Experience") ouvrent les hostilités à Milwaukee.
Les spectatrices qu'on entend discuter pendant le second couplet ont la bonne idée de se taire durant le solo de Jimi, construit selon un schéma différent des versions de la semaine précédente.
Un solo de 5 minutes 30 où l'inspiration ne retombe quasiment jamais.
Le début est assez classique : on retrouve ces traits d'inspiration blues, considérablement durcis, joués avec énergie.
Mais Hendrix enchaîne avec la citation de "The Breeze And I", en tenant les notes avec le feed back et son vibrato.
Après un court passage en percussion, il emploie ensuite sa technique si particulière mélangeant hammering et vibrato, produisant un son presque aquatique (qu'on entend à la fin de la version officielle de "Machine Gun", avant le déluge sonore), avant de conclure dans une veine similaire à la première partie.
Contrairement à la version de Sacramento, Hendrix reprend le chant et termine le titre normalement.

"Lover Man", classique en début de set, est joué tambour battant. Bien rodé, et (presque) parfaitement efficace... si ce n'est un pain de Jimi en rythmique à 1:50.

Après un petit discours où Hendrix nous rappelle que "seuls les cow-boys restent accordés", il attaque seul l'introduction de "Hear My Train A Comin". Le blues ne doit intéresser que très modérément les spectatrices qui sont à proximité du micro du bootlegger : elles se tapent la discussion pendant le chant de Jimi !
Le solo commence par des traits blues avant de profiter de la tonalité pour partir en feed back.
Hendrix branche son Octavio vers la 4ème minute avec la courte citation du riff de "Power Of Soul". Son utilisation nous renvoie forcément au son du Band Of Gypsys. Le rendu audio des modulations si particulières de cet effet (Cf.le dernier solo de "Who Knows") rend le jugement de ce dernier hasardeux. Pour autant, cela nous montre que Jimi improvise en toute liberté, et n'hésite pas à sortir des sentiers battus, y compris sur des titres souvent joués.

"Ezy Ryder" est encore une fois à l'honneur, dans une version compacte avec un court solo de guitare. La qualité audio est ici vraiment faible : le son est très brouillon, et l'écoute difficile.

Le groupe lance "Freedom" sur un tempo assez lent, mais se voit contraint de gérer les aléas du Live dès le premier refrain : Jimi se retrouve complètement désaccordé suite à une corde cassée ! Si certaines guitares sont assez tolérantes lorsque qu'intervient ce type d'incident, ce n'est pas le cas de la Fender Stratocaster, surtout si le vibrato est réglé de façon à pouvoir aussi tirer les cordes (Jeff Beck est devenu avec les années un maître en la matière). Mitch Mitchell en a vu d'autre : c'est sans souci qu'il gère l'intermède (avec Billy Cox dans un premier temps), relativement bref au demeurant (mais peut-être le solo de Mitch est-il coupé ?), avant que Jimi ne reprenne le morceau à zéro, salué à son retour par la foule en délire. Le son, déjà médiocre, se détériore encore un peu suite à un micro-coupure... Dommage, car de ce qu'on en devine, il semblerait que ce soit plutôt une bonne version d'un titre rarement inoubliable en concert.

"Message To Love" paraît plutôt réussi, avec un solo dans la droite ligne de celui présent sur l'album du Band Of Gypsys.

Sur "Foxy Lady", Hendrix reprend dans un premier temps le solo de la version studio puis improvise quelques mesures supplémentaires. Là encore, la qualité audio leste considérablement la qualité musicale.

L'hostilité des campus américains à la guerre du Viêt Nam est à son apogée ce premier mai 1970 : les américain viennent en effet de bombarder le Cambodge. C'est donc un "Star Spangled Banner" brulant d'actualité que Jimi livre à ses compatriotes...

...avant d'enchaîner sur un "Purple Haze", au plus grand plaisir du public, qui manifeste son enthousiasme sans retenue.

C'est sans surprise que le groupe termine son set avec "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", dans une version manifestement furieuse, avec un solo central classique dans sa construction, mais a priori impressionnant.

Au final ? Un concert en contradiction totale avec l'image d'Epinal du Jimi Hendrix cuvée 1970 : lassé de tout, peu concentré, sans créativité...
Que reprocher à ce concert... si ce n'est de ne pas avoir été enregistré professionnellement ? Répertoire solide, improvisations inspirées, absence de problème technique majeur... Puisse une meilleure source faire prochainement surface !

Messages : 2459 Date d'inscription : 09/07/2010

THE MILWAUKEE SENTINEL - ‘Passions Go Wild With Hendrix Call’ by Patti Colla:
“Rock singer Jim [sic] Hendrix called the tribe together Friday night. About 3,000 responded, choking the Milwaukee Auditorium to its seating capacity. The night started calmly enough. The Oz, an acid rock band, recounted their version of the Arkansas Train Robbery of 1949. It was loud, yes. But there were some almost ‘quiet’ moments, and ‘Maxene Don’t You Worry’ might also be counted as a ballad.
AND THEN CAME HENDRIX! You may not like Hendrix. You might not even want to classify his sound as music. But after an hour of it - if your ear drums haven’t collapsed - the vibrations get to you. Most of those in the definitely under 30 crowd stuck closely to their seats, puffing their mod ‘peace pipes.’ Trying to enforce the ‘no smoking’ ordinance turned out to be an impossible task. Guards continuously had to prod a few of the young people back into their seats, away from the stage and Hendrix. The black singer-guitarist had a red, white, and bluish purple scarf tied around his Afro styled hair. The group went wild with ‘Easy Rider’. Some got up and began to do a snake dance. By ‘Foxy Lady’ it went out of its mind into pure, primitive passion. Hendrix invited everyone to stand for an acid rock version of ‘The Star Spangled Banner.’ Sweat glistened on his face, his eyes barely open. A group rushed to the front of the stage, some trying to touch Hendrix. Others held their hand clenched in a fist, or in the ‘V’ sign of peace. Then Hendrix said it was over - that he had to be in Madison the next day. Fury broke loose as the kids shouted for ‘moooooore’ in one long scream, repeated again and again. But it was over and though a few stamped their feet up and down, they eventually streamed out into the cool and relatively quiet night.”

THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL - ‘Real Hendrix Lost in Sound’ by Jerold J. Jackson:
“Noise, noise, noise. It was that kind of experience Friday night when the blues-rock sound of Jimi Hendrix and his group blasted through the Milwaukee Auditorium.
Several thousand fans sat in aisles and stood on seats throughout the performance, responding enthusiastically as Hendrix picked a guitar and sang.
But Hendrix came off as a tired, noisy blues-rock singer. His voice strained as he sang. The show seemed to be without feeling.
Hendrix tried to combine the sound of white rock music with that of the black blues and the attempt was disappointing. Rather than create one sound or the other, Hendrix is lost somewhere in between.
The overamplification of the instruments and the mod style of flashy clothes gave the performance an air of phoniness. Perhaps the real Hendrix sound will come out in a couple of years.
The Oz, an acid rock group, also appeared.”
Interview with Scott Finch
Rob Lewis: What do you remember from the Milwaukee Auditorium show on 1 May 1970? Scott Finch: There was a curtain in front of the stage. They had pulled the curtain after the opening act was done. A band by the name of Oz. There was some shifting around going on behind the curtain. At a certain point you heard someone checking the bass amp... probably the bass player. Then someone tested the bass drums... a few kicks and once around the drum set. Maybe roadies were making sure everything was ready, I don’t know. The crowd was very quiet. Then you suddenly heard just a few notes out of the guitar that sounded like “Who Knows.” It was obviously, beyond any doubt, Jimi Hendrix on the guitar. It could not have been anyone else testing the guitar. It had that tone. It was Hendrix. No one else in the world could sound like that. The place went completely wild at that point. I felt that most of the people had never seen Hendrix before. That was pretty exciting. That was the high point of the show as I remember.
RL: The next night at Madison was a much better show. [were you there? At both shows? If so, why aren’t you being interviewed?] What [else] do you remember?
SF: When the curtains finally opened, they started playing. It was really noisy. It sounded like a big blurry mess. At first you could see him fiddling like he was trying to fix his amps to improve the sound. After awhile he just gave up. There was no way lie could come across to the audience and affect people the way he wanted to. So after that, he just went back and turned all three Marshalls up to ten and went through the motions because it just didn’t make any difference. That’s why the best part of the night was the first few notes he hit. Hendrix was still optimistic at that point. He still had that curtain between him and a terrible sounding room. Hendrix came out with “Spanish Castle Magic” or some thing. Big noise right from the start. He stood motionless in one spot...kind of hunched over. He looked down at his feet and pedals during most of the set. Then he would look up to sing. He seemed very depressed.
RL: Jimi was very ill at that time and probably felt sick. He had some glandular problems at the start of this tour, which would have been at this time. Near the end of this month they cancelled three gigs because he began to feel sick again.
SF: Well, that was pretty much the whole show. When “Foxy Lady” came along, Out of nowhere, he just started doing somersaults and stuff on stage. Very lackluster, it was amazing that he did it at all be cause you could see that he didn’t feel like doing it... but he did it anyway... like he had to. Just like he had to play those songs. People upfront were screaming, “Foxy Lady, Purple Hazel” He just felt so obligated to play the old stuff.
RL: It is unconfirmed, but Vic Buff says that Hendrix had a girlfriend sitting in a chair on the stage during this show. Is that true?
SF: I remember Mitch had a huge drum set and I seem to remember a girl sitting in a very large chair right behind Mitch’s drums throughout the whole show. I don’t know who she was.
RL: The newspaper articles give this show a bad review.
SF: I don’t remember an encore... if there was one. It was cool that it was Hendrix. I had already been playing in bands for six years by 1970 myself and had played big ugly auditoriums. I knew what it was like and just figured that he was so bummed out by how it sounded that he just gave up. It was just a big blurry mess."