The Chicago Shows 1968 (ATM 121-122 / 30.08.2000 / 2CDR)
(Civic Opera House, Chicago, IL 25.02.68 / Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL 10.08.68 [2nd Show] / Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, IL 01.12.68 [Complete Show]; 60:46 / 68:22) 25.02.68: Aud; 2nd Gen / 10.08.68: Aud; Master Clone - Modified (Some clean-up done) / 01.12.68: Aud; 1st Gen
notes:
- Chicago, IL 25.02.68 is an Upgrade of the Chicago-portion of ATM 011-012 / 013 B / 014-016 "Three Nights of Winter (Alternate version)".
- Raw source version of the 10.08.68 recording is available.
- Refer to Jimpress issue 66, p.50-51 for a comprehensive review of the 10.08.68 tape.
- Refer to UniVibes issue 30, p.30-38 for a comprehensive review of all featured Chicago tapes.
-http://infromthestorm.net

---

Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Chicago Shows 1968 (ATM 121-122)

Upgrade of the Chicago-portion of ATM 011-016 Three Nights of Winter (Alternate version).
Extraordinary Archives Traded Material series of the highest quality Hendrix recordings available in traders' circuits.
All recordings in the ATM series are taken from the lowest generation masters available, and they have all been digitally restored unless otherwise indicated.

Thanks to Hans-Peter Johnsen

Disc 1:
CIVIC OPERA HOUSE, FEBRUARY 25, 1968
1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. Fire
3. The Wind Cries Mary
4. Foxy Lady
5. I Don't Live Today
6. Hey Joe
7. Can You Please Come Crawl Out Your Window
8. Manic Depression
9. Like A Rolling Stone
10. Purple Haze

AUDITORIUM THEATRE, AUGUST 10, 1968
11. Are You Experienced
12. I Don't Live Today
13. Fire
14. Red House
15. Foxy Lady
16. Purple Haze
17. Wild Thing

Disc 2:
THE COLISEUM, DECEMBER 1, 1968
1. Killing Floor
2. I Don't Live Today
3. Spanish Castle Magic
4. Foxy Lady
5. Red House
6. Sunshine Of Your Love
7. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
8. Fire
9. Purple Haze

Sunday February 25, Civic Opera House:

FLOOR and didn't let up until perhaps SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE.

When he kicked into a "heavy" and drawn out rendition of RED HOUSE he had the audience in slack-jawed awe of his every note. The man was on fire except in the mind of one local blues legend, who shall remain unnamed here because I believe even he knew he was talking some world-class bullshit that night, that was loudly proclaiming to all who were in shouting distance in the wings that, "Outside of playin' and wild, Hendrix can't play the blues for shit!" The 'legend" also went on to say that Hendrix couldn't play the the blues on the guitar right even if Muddy Waters was fingering the notes! I clearly remember saying to myself "What kind of fool (make that 'legendary fool") could hear what the rest of us in attendance were hearing, and then say that Hendrix couldn't play the blues?

To this very day, in my own humble opinion, I don't think that any Chicago blues guitarist, living or dead, could have "cut" Jimi that night simply because Jimi was ON! He was so ON that had any blues guitarist dared to get onstage and challenge Jimi in a "cutting" contest, Jimi would have given the audience a new meaning for the lyrics of KILLIN' FLOOR.

Jimi was so ON that all he would do is shift into another gear and blow away any guitarist who wanted to lay down the gauntlet on the fretboard. The man was on FIRE. And, for those of you interested, I was not "loaded" that night.

My memory on that set is as clear as a bell. I became a true Jimi Hendrix fan that night because the man played a magnificent set - period. The 'legendary" fool didn't say anything about getting onstage with Jimi and jammin' or "cuttin'" at all.

I'd like to think that Jimi would have loved to jam with any "real" legend that night, but you know what? The "real" legends had more than enough sense not to show up either.

Jimi ruled in Chi-Town that night. Jimi Hendrix was the REAL DEAL in Chicago on December 1, 1968.

Herb April � Eyewitness account, 1999


Saturday August 10, Auditorium Theater:


Saturday night was a night for swallowing.

If you've heard the Jimi Hendrix Experience or the Soft Machine, you know what I mean. If you have not, a word of explanation. It's a matter of sound, you see - sound multiplied by man and machine to the infinate, sound extended past any mere decibel count - not necessarily the sound of the '60s, more the sound of 2001. It gives you that express elevator, jet flight feeling, a taste of labyrinthitis. And once you can stop hanging onto your seat, it also gives you the sensation of a seventh sense; of living life on a new level at 6 full feet above the rest of the world.

Over 30s, Time Out.

Now it all, my friends over 30 will please tune out, I am ready to admit I liked it and quite pleased with the idea that I'm not as square as [thought I was. To join the capacity crowd at the Auditorium Theater Saturday night was in itself an absorbing lesson in contemporary tastes. It was a very young crowd. Some came barefoot, none came wide-eyed. Some came simply clad, others costumed. All came to sit in rapt intensity.

First came the Soft Machine, a trio on organ, drums and guitar, a group that has nothing whatsoever to do with orangeade. They played non-stop, full speed, proving themselves extraordinary instrumentalists.

They do not improvise. Their arrangements are meticulously orchestrated, blueprinted down to the last vibration of that fascinating electronic gadget, the wah-wah pedal.

A Free Spirit.

It was, however, the Jimi Hendrix Experience that was the big lure. The enfant terrible of the rock-blues funky-freak-sound, Hendrix is the man of the moment in his field, thanks to the notoriety of such as "Purple Haze," "Foxy Lady," "Fire," "Wild Thing," etcetera. He's a free spirit, this young man with orbiting hairdo and the purple bell-bottoms. Sexy? Yes. Offensive? No. A musician? You bet your life.

The celebrated final destruction of his instrument was a little tame and I was a bit disappointed that he didn't play his guitar with his toes. Just his teeth.

Glenna Syse � Chicago Sun Times 11.8.68


Sunday December 1, 1968:

The absolute worst entertainment venue in Chicago ever. The building was once a prison for captured Confederate soldiers during the ivil War, and if you ever went into the place you would realise that it was still not much more than a huge enclosed prison yard with roof over it.

The acoustics were so miserable at this site that if you were not in the first ten o twenty rows of seats all you could hear were meandering echoes, errant feedback, sound bytes from 10 seconds past, and perhaps the howls of pints of the long departed prisoners who were nce imprisoned in this barn.

The best seat in the house was either onstage with the group or ackstage in one of the hellholes they called ressingrooms.

Add to that the fact that the place was hotter than hell inside to make up for the colder than Antartica tempertaures outside (made even colder by the ever-present howling wind that we Chiago natives call 'The Hawk") and you had the makings of a potential bummer of a musical EXPERIENCE had not Jimi came into town ready to give one of the best shows of his swing through the midwest. The word backstage and all through the audience was that a number of Chicago westside and southside blues luminaries would be in attendance, and so there were.

Jimi was going to be judged by some of the blues greats that he himself held in high esteem on this night. The Chicago 'legends" sent their emissaries to "check Jimi out" so to speak. With that in mind, Jimi came out kickin' proverbial ass! He started with KILLIN' FLOOR.

Electric guitar hiding his face, he started plucking the strings with his tongue and teeth. He scraped the guitar against the mike and made suggestive gestures with it. Across the stage the bass player threw his instrument behind his neck. Then Hendrix began rushing the amps, banging the guitar against them, each time with a louder thud. He finally stopped, backed toward the audience, and flung the instrument crashing into the equipment.

...The music is undeniably powerful. Without coming right out and saying so, it lets you know there is a war in Viet Nam and there will be more big city riots next summer, that the world is not very pretty and that people don't communicate and want to escape, that there are things like sex and drugs and violence which people are afraid to talk' about but maybe should.

Robb Baker .Chicago Tribune 26.2.68

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: