On this day in 1969, the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s original line-up played together for the last time

The Jimi Hendrix Experience started out in London in 1966, and rapidly grew into one of the premier acts of the era, with Hendrix as the frontman and guitarist, Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. By 1969 however, tensions had begun to rise within the band for a number of reasons. Firstly, the sessions for their third and final album Electric Ladyland had proven to be difficult for the band. Hendrix’s perfectionism had them recording an estimated 40-50 takes per song. On top of that Hendrix’s partying led to the sessions often being overly crowded and generally unproductive. 

Hendrix’s wild behaviour was made worse by his increasing use of drugs and alcohol. Festival promoter Barry Fey recalled several members of the band say they were finished with the group as early as September 1968, after Hendrix had discovered heroin and reportedly became more difficult to deal with. Onstage however, Hendrix was the same great performer. His trademark wild performances and incredible guitar skills still drew massive crowds and his jovial attitude on stage belied the tensions behind the scenes. 

The final blow would come in Denver on June 29th of 1969. The Denver Pop Festival had a number of major artists performing, but Hendrix was considered by most to be the main draw. A crowd of around 62,000 gathered at Mile High Stadium over three nights for the seventeen booked acts that included Frank Zappa, Joe Cocker and Creedence Clearwater Revival. The event would be marred however by violent clashes between police and and the attendees. On the Saturday night, the police decided to crack down on a group of supposed gate-crashers using tear gas. 

The following night, the night of Hendrix’s performance, festival organisers attempted to make a plan with the police, one which was quickly reneged after the show began. Several of the gate-crashers refused free tickets, claiming instead to be there to fight with police. Shortly after rocks would be pelted at the authorities, leading to more violence and more tear gas. Onstage, Hendrix would joke about the tear gas, before launching into a set featuring a number of classics such as Purple Haze, Fire as well as a version of A Star Spangled Banner that would soon bring a lot of attention at the upcoming Woodstock.

As the show finished and the band retreated to avoid tear gas that was drifting back towards the stage, Noel Redding, shocked by the events of the evening, decided this was the final straw and said goodbye before catching the first plane back to London, thus ending the classic line-up. Mitch Mitchell would follow soon after, and Hendrix hired a revolving crew of musicians to back him through the remainder of his career.