Minneapolis (Auditorium) : 2 novembre 1968

Minneapolis (Auditorium) : 2 novembre 1968


Titres :

1. Fire
2. Are You Experienced
3. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
4. Red House
5. Foxy Lady
6. Little Wing
7. Spanish Castle Magic
8. Sunshine Of Your Love
9. Star Spangled Banner
10. Purple Haze

Source : c'est un enregistrement amateur effectué par Tony Glover, d'une qualité audio assez moyenne (le son est rugueux, avec pas mal de saturation), mais qui ne manque pas de musicalité - surtout lorsque le volume sonore n'est pas trop élevé. La bande présente en outre un entretien de Jimi avec Tony Glover, effectué avant et après le concert, qui est particulièrement intéressant. Celui-ci sera publié dans le numéro de février 1969 de Hullabaloo. Jimi rentre dans le détail de l'enregistrement de son dernier album ("Electric Ladyland"), expliquant même certaines des techniques utilisées sur le disque. Il note aussi que le fait d'avoir 12 pistes n'implique en rien de toutes les utiliser : on obtiendra éventuellement un plus gros son avec moins de pistes. Il avoue aussi sa déception quant au mastering du disque, manifestement pas à la hauteur de ses espérances. Tony Glover manifeste beaucoup d'intérêt quant au versant blues du jeu de Jimi, expliquant sans doute son choix de ne conserver que "Red House" dans son intégralité - les autres titres n'étant que très partiellement enregistrés (le plus souvent moins d'une minute). On notera enfin que Jimi se montre ici très clair, vif dans ses réponses, qui ne sont pas celles d'un type qui plane. Conséquence directe ou non, de ce qu'on peut en entendre, la performance semble excellente, malgré quelques soucis de matériel évoqués par Jimi.

Repères chronologiques :

12 octobre 1968 : derniers concerts au Winterland  
26 octobre 1968 : Bakersfield (Civic Auditorium) - non documenté
1er novembre 1968 : Kansas City (Municipal Auditorium Area) - non documenté    
2 novembre 1968 : Minneapolis (Auditorium)
3 novembre 1968 : St Louis (Kiel Auditorium) - non documenté    
15 novembre 1968 : Cincinnati (Cincinnati Gardens) - non documenté

La chronologie est elle aussi à prendre en compte : le gig de Minneapolis est certes précédé d'un gig à Kansas City la veille et d'un autre à St Louis le lendemain, mais il faut remonter aux concerts du Winterland (10-12 octobre) pour les dates antérieures, le concert donné au Civic Auditorium de Bakersfield le 26 octobre étant à part dans la mesure où le groupe jouait (presque) à domicile (le concert est contemporain des sessions du TTG). Quant aux concerts suivants, ils n'auront lieu qu'à partir du 15 novembre.



La bande présente des extraits de "Fire", "Are You Experienced" et de "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", trop courts pour pouvoir les apprécier, mais assez longs tout de même pour entendre que le groupe semble en pleine possession de ses moyens. Avant "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", il est demandé aux spectateurs de regagner leur siège : on aurait préféré que Glover conserve plus de musique que d'annonces de ce type !

Jimi annonce ensuite "Red House", en précisant qu'il a enregistré ce titre deux ans auparavant pour "Are You Experienced". Il déclare ensuite que le titre figurera sur son prochain album, avec de meilleurs arrangements : Jimi avait-il en tête la version de "Red House" enregistrée au TTG présente sur l'album "Jimi Hendrix :Blues" ?
Le volume sonore réduit nous permet de mieux apprécier les 14 minutes de musique, sauf lorsque le solo s'emballe. Selon Chris Dixon (de Just Ask The Axis), c'est peut-être avec sa nouvelle Gibson blanche que Jimi interprète son blues. Comme au Winterland, "Red House" est le théâtre de longues improvisations, Mitch prenant les commandes lors du passage percussif. Il importe de souligner la qualité de la version : Jimi chante très bien, et se montre inspiré dans son jeu de guitare, ici d'une grande subtilité.

Il ne subsiste qu'un peu plus de 30 secondes de "Foxy Lady"... et malheureusement pas beaucoup plus de "Little Wing", qui va de la fin de l'introduction au début du second couplet. Dommage : le chant de Jimi est superbe, et ses traits guitaristiques sont un régal...

"Spanish Castle Magic" s'arrête avant la fin du premier refrain alors que seules quelques mesures de "Sunshine Of Your Love" ont été conservées. Jimi se plaint auparavant de son matériel : un classique.

Après un début bruitiste, Jimi attaque le thème de "Star Spangled Banner" - sur lequel Mitch part littéralement en solo. Là encore, l'enregistrement est coupé, comme pour "Purple Haze", dont il ne reste pas plus d'une minute.

Au final ? Le concert semble excellent. Une source plus complète est à souhaiter...

Deux articles d'époque :

ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS - by Robert Protzman
“What an experience it was listening to and watching Jimi Hendrix! His biggest hangup is that he creates so much excitement that he must compete for attention with the audience and all the security measures to protect him from that audience.
There were more than 80 ushers, about 20 police officers, 10 of Hendrix’s own security men, some HennepinCounty deputy sheriffs, a handful of fire marshalls. and according to a crack from Hendrix. some narcotics agents. ‘enjoying’ the Experience.
And some of the loudest sounds in a night of mighty amplification were the sights of relief heard from the officers when the concert ended and the estimated 7,500 persons in the audience did not charge the stage....
Mostly youngsters, the audience surged to the stage- front as soon as Hendrix appeared, and this move chased us backstage from where we watched and listened to the one-hour performance.
Fire marshalls tried to get the audience back to their seats.. so did a local radio station disc jockey, who sounded as if he would cry if the concert could not con tinue. ‘We’ll never be able to get great talent like this back in the Twin Cities if we don’t sit down. Please sit down,’ he pleaded. No one budged. Hendrix made a half-hearted appeal. No one moved. Guess who won the struggle?
Hendrix, often an exciting guitarist and a good blues vocalist, ended things with his biggie, ‘Purple Haze,’ and the throng of kids - their appetites apparently satisfied - stood silently, seemingly stunned for awhile, before trudging slowly from the auditorium.”

MINNEAPOLIS TRIBUNE - ’Jimi Hendrix Show Plays at Auditorium.” - review by Allan Holbert:
“The Jimi Hendrix show at the Minneapolis Auditorium Friday night was billed as “an experience,” and that’s a good name for it. It was an experience, an undesirable one.
For those of you who are not yet aware of this shining new talent, Jimi Hendrix could best be described as a black Elvis Presley.
That is to say, he doesn’t sing too well and he doesn’t play his white guitar too well, but he does it with a lot of sex.
HE HAS long hair. He wears a pink flowery shirt and pink pants and white shoes. He twists and moves around a lot as he sings and caresses his guitar.
So his talent is really not significant and another is that of something called Cat Mother and the all night news boys, the rock band that preceded Hendrix before the intermission.
The thing that made the Hendrix experience and experience was the stupid behaviour of the love-oriented (remember) hippie types is all their conforming nonconformist costumes who crowded and forced themselves up to the front of the stage when Hendrix came on.
THE MUSIC by Hendrix and his two white sidemen was loud but not too clear. Among his songs were ‘Foxy Lady’ and ‘Are You Experienced?’ which he dedicated to ‘all the narcotics agents and detectives and a few other bastards.’ People sitting in the balcony probably had no trouble seeing Hendrix. For those sitting up front it was quite difficult because of those rude, smelly, long-haired kids who pushed their way up to the stage, completely intimidating law officers and Andy Frain ushers.
It was possible to see if you stood up. but Jimi Hendrix isn’t worth standing up for.”


METANOIA - by Tony Glover:
“Jimi Hendrix and company arrived backstage at 9:15... Hendrix was dressed in colors, pink and white, and moved cooly thru the back stage mess. One of his [road] managers, who I’d talked to earlier, introduced us and we headed backstage to the curtained off dressing rooms to do an interview. But it was loud, so Jimi suggested we go upstairs where it was quiet... So we wound our way thru the confusing corridors and up an elevator. (They got a floor there called 2 1/2. Can you dig it?) Jimi flipped thru some magazines, I turned on the tape machine.
“In the auditorium the crowd was milling about, the air full of electricity... Jimi opens with ‘Fire,’ a tune out now by somebody else [getting mixed up with Jose Feliciano’s version of The Doors’ – Light My Fire] on the charts. He casts strange looks at his amplifier; after the number he says that there is amplifier trouble. With a grin he announces, ‘We want to dedicate this number to all the narcotics agents and plainclothesmen here, you know who you are…and any other bastards who might be in the crowd.’
Intro ‘Are You Experienced?,’ a full avalanche of sound. Jimi moves like a magician, twisting dials, flipping switches and working with the Bixby lever on the guitar. He arches his back to pull notes out of his shoes. The crowd surges forward, right to the stage edge. The cops get uptight, the aisles up front are clogged, people are getting stepped on, elbowed, shoved, and one chick fainted.
The fire marshal is threatening to stop the show, and Hendrix’s managers are enjoying the whole scene, probably because they’re not in the middle of it. The front rows are standing to see, and everybody is milling around near the stage.
Backstage the promoter is pulling out his hair. He had made careful security plans: the guards were supposed to clear the stage area during the second number, but the Hendrix people said ‘no,’ let them come close if they want to. And now it’s too late to do anything. The cops want to send a flying wedge in to clear it out, but the promoter knows that would start a riot.... the end of the show Jimi thanks the audience for coming, and says he’ll be back and play twice as long next time. Then come some awesome and scary noises resembling the National Anthem, Hendrix going down on his guitar, and it eventually turns into the last number, ‘Purple Haze.’ ‘Scuze me while I kiss this guy,’ Hendrix shouts and turns towards Mitch, who grins. Then in a last rumble of feedback it’s over and the curtain is lowered as the crowd yells for more…
Upstairs Jimi is upset because of the equipment hassles. We continue anyway -
TG: “Does an audience worry you when they rush the stage like that?”
Jimi: “No man, I used to do it for Fats Domino, and I wasn’t about to sit down just ‘cause somebody told me to! If we’re not laying down anything and they’re screaming and hollering and thinking that’s good, it makes me feel bad. I didn’t play so well tonight... Like I said, I was only playing out of 3 speakers.”
About then, Jerry Stickler [sic] the road manager, came in to say that it was time to go. Hendrix nodded, adjusted his shorts and tied a Confederate flag around his left arm. ‘We’ll finish this after, okay?’ he said. I nodded and headed down with him to the hall...”
Jerry [sic] has gathered up the instrument cases and it’s time to leave. We head down across the stage, into the bowels of the building, where a big black limousine is waiting to zoom the group back to the Ritz.”

je vous met un lien pas dégueu sur ce concert à Minneapolis
http://robbhenry.blogspot.com/

Photos prises par Lindsay Smith :

c rigolo de voir que sur la photo tout en haut (n&b) qui montre la salle dans son entier, plein d'enfants sont assis au premier rang, ca ne doit pas etre une photo du gig de Jimi non ?