Jimi Hendrix
Cal Expo Racetrack
Sacramento, CA
April 26, 1970

Unknown gen.cassette.aud>SonyTCWE435>PioneerPDR-
4>CDR>EAC>WAV>Trader'sLittleHelper>FLAC

Quality: C (collectors or Jimi freaks only!)


1. Lover Man
2. Spanish Castle Magic
3. Freedom
4. Machine Gun
5. Foxy Lady
6. Room Full Of Mirrors
7. Ezy Rider
8. Purple Haze
9. Star Spangled Banner
10. Voodoo Child (slight return)


Notes (from Univibes:)
Even though it was an outdoor show, the tape has the sound of a hall's acoustics so the taper was likely recording from the semi-enclosed grandsand area. The guitar is most prominent, vocals and bass low but audible, and the drums are virtually non-existent.
In April 1970 Hendrix headed out on tour with renewed purpose, mixing as much of his new material into his set as possible. The first show of the tour took place at the L.A. Forum on Saturday April 25, and the next day Hendrix & Co. flew north to Sacramento to headline an afternoon, outdoor gig at Cal Expo at the state fairgrounds.
Promoters for the next show at Cal Expo in Sacramento advertised "The Jimi Hendrix Experience in a beautiful afternoon concert." Fans were invited to "bring a picnic lunch, a blanket & a smile." Music would begin at 3 p.m.
The state fairgrounds just east of downtown included a large, oval racetrack with a grandstand along the straight-away on the west side. For the concert promoters erected a stage at the foot of the grandstand, facing up into the seats.
Photos of Hendrix reveal him with the same choker and medallion around his neck and in the same floral vest as the night before. It is hard to tell if he has the same or a very similar dark, ruffled shirt at Cal Expo as at the Forum show the night before. The same red-white-and-blue scarf appears around his head. As it is somewhat unusual to see Jimi wear the same outfit two days in a row, there is a possibility that Hendrix did not sleep between the two concerts, nor even changed his clothes.
"It was the first time I'd ever seen him live," Craig Chaquico - who later played guitar for Jefferson Starship - recalls of his position on stage, just a few feet away from Hendrix. "After listening to his albums what impressed me was that live, everything was noisy. The amps buzzed and hummed, things were out-of-tune and scratchy... I was so used to hearing his immaculate recordings, all that stereo and double-tracking and finesse... The impression was, 'Wow! This stuff is really raw, live. I kind of dug it! It was super-loud. I remember thinking, 'It doesn't sound as tame and as clean as the records.'"
According to Dave Hatfield in the next day's Sacramento Union: "It was cloudy, cold and windy in the grandstand, but the approximately 17,000 spectators mostly in their 20s kept warm clapping and dancing to the music." Hatfield noted that "Hendrix kept the crowd moving to the sound of his amplified electric guitar music and when he did 'Foxy Lady' the audience burst into cheers."
John V. Hurst, writing for the Sacramento Bee: "Part of the experience, it turned out," he wrote later, "was chilling wind, a lot of poor vantage points and some freaky acoustics."