I was at both times he played the Winterland in 1968, the infamous Eyeball show in February and the more eclectic show he put on in November. I was growing up down the road in San Jose so we got up to the Filmore and Winterland a number of times. I was 16 years old for the first and a much more mature 17 (hah!) for the second. We were all white suburban kids, but we were definitely not straight. If you indulge me for a minute, I will give some thoughts and recollections.

The February show was far better in terms of supporting acts. I think I was there on Saturday night. Mayall opened with Mick Taylor on guitar. We were huge Mayall fans, having lived on a steady diet of his first two albums with Clapton and Peter Green; we were anxious to see the new young guitarslinger he had in tow. It turns out there were even better musicians in the group than Taylor, with Ansley Dunbar on drums and *** Hextall-Smith on sax. Their two sets were good, competant blues with Taylor at times getting us excited as he reached towards the type of playing we had come to expect with Clapton and Green.

Albert King came next and he was outrageously good. His skillful professionalism made Mayall's show seem a bit like the British guys were posing. Now, I loved British blues (Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, Yardbirds, Savoy Brown, Ten Years After), but to see the three Kings, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Magic Sam, James Cotton, and others -- well they just had more stage presence and were more fun. The British groups openly admitted who their idols were and they were following in their footsteps.

Hendrix opened with Sgt. Pepper's and something occured that night that I had not seen before. The crowd spontaneously STOOD UP and stayed up for his whole first set. Before that time, it was my experience that folks sat through basically the whole evening (which was not the case at the Avalon Ballroom, which was more of a dance hall than a concert hall). Anyway, Hendrix totally blew us away. I can still remember that the number one impression I had was that his guitar was part of his body. Also prominent was the sexual energy he gave out with his moves. Then there was the stuff coming out of his amps. We had never heard anything like it, obviously, and it left an impression. And I should not fail to mention the drumming of Mitch Mitchell; I had yet to see Moonie, so he was definitely at the head of my little rock world at that point. Hendrix repeated songs in his second set like Foxey Lady, Fire, and Purple Haze. We wondered at the time if he thought the audience had been cleared out and he was playing to a new set of ears. I have always wondered about that.

I have to say that we all agreed that Albert King almost stole the show in his second set. He just got the audience in the palm of his hand. A high point was when he broke a string and kept playing the song WHILE he replaced the string. If the Vaultsters can find that on video and put it on DVD, you'll see. Something about the way he did was so genuinely casual and somehow better than any moment of the night, except the Hendrix's Sgt Pepper's.

Did you know that the Winterland held only about 3,200 concert goers? That's ain't too big. But it "drawfed" the Old Fillmore, which was only 1,200. I have still never met anyone who was at the first Hendrix show when he was third-billed at the Fillmore.
I have been unable to find out how many folks could be at the Fillmore West, but I am guessing from how Graham used the two venues, it was on the order of 2,500. Not a big place either. Can you imagine why "Days on the Green" were not very attractive to me after seeing these groups in the old buildings?

Hendrix's second set of shows in 68 had Dino Valenti as a solo act and Buddy Miles new band, the Express. Valenti was frankly boring. He was out of jail and trying to re-establish himself and it was still a couple of years away that he would get into Quicksilver. Buddy Miles had put together a tight group from the demise of the Electric Flag; his lead guitarist was Jim McCarty, who I think was from Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels band. He was so-so, and Buddy carried this band on his ample shoulders (and stomach!) with his soulful singing and power drumming. I like him more as a part of the Flag, but what do you expect?

We were there for the last night, Sunday, and it became clear that this was going to be a different Jimi that night. One of the largest impressions we came away with was how much he talked. I am no kidding. He blabbed and blabbed between songs, so much that folks started yelling out to "play Jimi." We think he had taken some kind of mind-altering substance. Was this possible? Anyway, he had sound system problems all night long with one of the Marshall amps misbehaving.

The music he played was definitely more interesting and less structured than the show earlier in the year. He was moving away from the Greatest Hits thing that was to plague him his whole short career. How many times did stoned people scream out "Purple Haze!" when he was trying to talk or tune. He was starting to explore the bounds of the instrument and the compostions. Again, Mitchell was sterling on the drums. Full disclosure: someone gave us a joint soaked in DMT during the second set and I have to say, the music moved onto a different orbit for awhile.

Again, I am dying to know if there is video of his last set. I distinctly recall Jimi saying before the last song something like, "I love you San Francisco and I will be a back with better equipment." At the finish of the last song, he went back to the amps and punched a big whole in one or more of the Marshalls. Hendrix was not into destroying the set like The Who were -- Monterey Pop was an anomaly. With the whole set up squealing like a bunch of hurt wild boars, he punished the amp and walked off the stage. Noel Redding, taking cues from Jimi, worked to produce nearly equally loud feedback, but did not mash his instrument. Anyway, we walked out into the cold, damp SF night, once again, impressed by Mr. Hendrix.

I never saw him again, but I can't complain. Not many people can say they saw him twice.