I happened upon this group while searching "Jimi Hendrix free concert Harlem 1969." I see this thread started off with good dialog between "Down" and "NuJerz," and some quoting from someone (Charles Cross, a biography writer) that I'm pretty sure was talking from something he'd heard, and the details, or rather, lack of some very real details, suggests to me Cross either didn't get a good interview from anyone who was there at the Harlem concert, or worse, was going from total hearsay, or something like someone thread actually was there, or maybe was there and forgot a lot.
Anyhow, there was a lot of good discussion in this thread, and I'm just popping in to add some eyewitness. . . The 'report' about 'Hendrix played on while a lot of the crowd wandered off' (after some eggs and a bottle were said to have been thrown) and much else, drags down to the negative what actually happened.
The band at that event was a transition between 'Experience' and 'Band of Gypsies' and with a majority of Black musicians, and included the White drummer, Mitch Mitchell, and I think Juma Sultan on conga--others, I don't know for sure. (we were behind the stage platform and to the side--could see only some 'side-on') I'm not sure, I think was another drummer, and there were horns. What REALLY went down was some serious good shit, and yeah, some people booed Hendrix (who appeared after 4 or 5 bands I'm pretty sure were local talent and all Black, to my recollection, had performed), and I think a bottle was smashed in front, but it could have been just smashed down, maybe by one of the loudmouths who when Hendrix at the mike said something about 'good to be in Harlem' someone called out "Yeah, you finally got your ass up here!" There were also some people who left, but the large majority of the crowd stayed, and yes, Jimi paid the dis no mind and just started playing, but what happened when Hendrix was bending that first note this way and that way in one long riff leading into the full band coming in was unforgettable, so I gotta wonder why anyone who WAS there and the biographer Cross never got to plain truth.
Simply put, the >90% of the crowd that remained got down. Some danced, some moved in place, some just stood like 'man, this is awesome' The band *rocked*. At the end, there was some applause, some calling out good words, and some fair amount of like 'WTF, did a music bomb go off?--damn!' No encores--band was off down steps at back of the stage, through the back of a store, and went off in the cars out front of the store. Whole lot of people had some serious good smiles and some shaking of heads, including two 19 year olds, one who drove the bike and wrote this report.
That's just the truth.
-maxman © 2016
