Although it took 30 years for this to be released, there is only about an hour of the actual 2 hour concert on this DVD. I suppose we should all be grateful that there's this much, but I'm sure you'll agree it would have been wonderful to see it all. Hendrix was paid $18,000 for his set (more than anyone else), and he was suppose to close the three day festival on Sunday night. But because of bad weather and logistic problems, he didn't walk on stage until early Monday morning. By then only about 50,000 people remained of the estimated 500,000 who attended the festival. He's accompanied by Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox. Another guitarist (Larry Lee), and 2 percussionists (Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez) also play, but why they are there is totally and utterly beyond me. They are rarely seen, and are almost inaudible on both this and the C.D. of the same performance. Having heard the songs so many times over the years, it's fascinating viewing seeing how Hendrix actually got the sounds he did. At times the direction is extremely poor, with overlong shots of Jimi's grimacing face rather than letting us see what he was doing with his hands. Come on Mr. Director. With all those cameras on him you could have done a lot better. But I should be grateful, as I said earlier, that we at least have this. Future generations of aspiring guitarists will be able to see a man in action, the like of who only comes along once every century, or more.
