STAR FREE PRESS - :
“The Jjmj Hendrix Experience rock concert drew an enthusiastic crowd of nearly 4,000 last night at the county fairgrounds in Ventura. Another group of 400 youths tried to crash the gates for free entry and a small conflict between them and 80 policemen and sheriff’s deputies erupted. The youths threw rocks and bottles at police; no one was hurt. Fifteen were arrested for unlawful assembly.”
Journal inconnu :
‘A Foggy Day At The County Fairgrounds’ by Robert Peters:
“The Ventura County Fairgrounds arena is a large outdoor dirt oval track with stadium bleachers on the northwest side. It was built mainly for eque shows and competitions and was not well suited as a concert The stage was a forty-foot flat bed truck trailer parked parallel to the bleachers on the opposite side of the dirt oval. Wooden shipping pallets were lashed together along the side of the trailer facing the bleachers, and a ten-foot plywood wall ran along the back of the trailer with stair access on the right rear side.
The Ventura County Fairgrounds arena is only about 800 yards from the Pacific Ocean, and on this particular evening heavy fog was rolling in off the ocean. The fog made it very difficult for those seated in the bleachers to get an un-obscured view of the concert stage. At times I could barely see the bleachers through the fog from my location directly in front of the stage. It was also drizzling lightly which led me to wonder if the concert would be cancelled due the increasingly inclement weather. About 7:10 p.m., and without announcement, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox, and Mitch Mitchell walked onto the stage. Jimi was wearing a long cape which he later removed. The three readied their equipment and began playing. The audience which was expecting to see the opening act Ballin’ Jack, was largely caught by surprise at this unexpected turn of events. The Jimi Hendrix Experience played several unreleased songs, songs from their Band of Gypsys album including an extended version of “Machine Gun,” and did the obligatory “Purple Haze”/”Foxy Lady” during which Jimi did his now expected stage theatrics of playing the guitar with pick held between his teeth [sic, actually no pick] and playing crouched down with his Stratocaster between his legs. The set performed by the Experience had no outstanding moments that I can remember. On this particular night Jimi seemed to be “going through the motions” as he ran through his bag of tricks. After playing for approximately 50 minutes, the Jimi Hendrix Experience ended a song and without a word to the audience left the stage. The crowd applauded tepidly, probably not realizing that the performance was over. Jimi always played at least one encore number [sic, almost never] but on this night the Experience didn’t come back for encores, and their set ended as suddenly as it started. It was a little past 8 p.m. and the headlining act, which normally wouldn’t have even played yet, had already finished their set and left. After a twenty minute or so intermission while the stage was readied for the next band, Ballin’ Jack, the opening band turned closing band, took the stage and played their set. Remarkably the audience stuck it out in the fog and drizzle maybe in hopes that Jimi would play a second set which he never did. They may also have realized that they were getting gypped and decided to stick it out until they felt they had gotten their money’s worth.”
Sujet: Ventura (County Fairgrounds) : 21 Juin 1970 
Lun 12 Juil 2010 - 21:52
