Ok, I guess I'm the only one here who went to the Feb.1 [Thursday] show at the
Fillmore. There was no John Mayall, just the Soft Machine, then Albert and finally Jimi. It was a spectacular show!

The Soft Machine opened the night with an improvisation that started out slow and quiet and ended 45 minutes later with the Marshall's smoking from overload [that's an exaggeration].  They were very cool.

Albert came next and stole the audience by the third song. He received three standing, screaming encores and after the third one he came out on stage and said something about not being the headliner or the one that most of us paid to see and that HE [Jimi] was standing in the wings and getting pissed because it was way past the time for Jimi's set to start. So Albert said, "please let me leave now" and then played a little bit more for the audience and left the stage.

Jimi came on then and played a couple of songs from the Experienced album and, he did sort of look a little pissed. All of a sudden, he just walked off the stage. A few minutes later he came back with a flying arrow guitar like Albert's and gave us a look that seemed to say "So, you want to hear the blues? Well, listen to this!" and he launched into a half set of the smokiest blues I'd ever heard. Then he got his Strat again and did the rest of his Experienced material and the whole Monterey Pop thing; playing with his teeth, behind his back, over his head and through his legs. Finally setting the Strat on fire.I guess he had spares but, trashing those guitars always felt like a waste to me. At least he didn't beat on the Marshall stacks like he did at Monterey. Jimi got a couple of encores too and was fantastic but, IMO Albert stole the first set.

For those of you who were too young to be there, in those days the bands did two sets a night. I guess at most venues it was so that the house could shoo the first show audience out and sell another show but, Bill new better than to throw a bunch of stoned hippies out onto Geary and Fillmore at 10pm and so, we got to wait around and see the whole show again. Some bands probably didn't realize that they were playing to the same audience again and would actually do exactly the same show twice but, that didn't happen too often but, it did happen once in a while.

Anyway, after intermission, the Soft Machine came back on and did another 45 minute improvisation [a different one, BTW] and then Albert and his band took to the stage and were about ready to start when Jimi walked out and suggested that they jam instead. Albert agreed and they played together for the rest of the night along with Janis and a lot of other local musicians. The rest of the night is a little fuzzy because I had decided during the intermission to re-dose myself and it was coming on strong by that time.

In retrospect, I speculate that Jimi didn't want to see Albert steal the second show and headed that off at the pass by jamming the night away instead.

I think that this is the show that Albert is talking about on that great album that he did jamming with SRV [In Session With Stevie Ray Vaughan]. I also think that Jimi and Albert became great friends after that first Thursday night gig. They both had a lot in common besides the left handed restrung guitars. They both were the real deal...

I wish the Vault would release THAT concert.

It's my all time favorite Fillmore performance.