Customer Reviews

Jimi Hendrix - Live at Woodstock

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock is disputabily the greatest concert ever given. I am an avid Hendrix fan and was elated to see this DVD. This is by far the best DVD I have and shows Hendrix at his greatest. Izabella is revolutionary, Fire is rock solid, Red House is great (Jimi broke his high E string), his Woodstock Improvisation is incredible and his Star Spangled Banner is priceless. That being considered, it deserves 5+ stars.

Although Expericnce Hendrix has done a great job releasing material since they won Jimi's legacy a few years ago, this DVD, contrary to the CD version, was disappointing in its length. There are many songs missing. I owned the CDs first and will list my disappointments: (1) I desperately wanted to hear and see all of Message to Love and Hear my Train a Comin', two of Jimi's new songs as he broke away from the Experience. (2) I also wanted to see Spanish Castle Magic, Foxy Lady, Hey Joe and Lover Man, all not included on the DVD. (3) The order of the songs was jumbled on the DVD and I wanted to see the actual chronological order of the songs. (4) Many of Jimi's comments, some pretty interesting (a la those before Izabella for those who own the CDs), were totally cut out. (5) If it replaced another of the aformentioned left-out songs, I really did not need to hear Larry Lee being backed up be Jimi on Jam Back at the House. Considering they cut out Larry Lee's other songs from the CD I was amazed that this one even made it.

I guess I wanted a DVD identical to the CDs, which is not what this is. However, this is a must for any fan of rock music in general, but I felt I had to voice my completist complaints. Without a doubt, a must have.

The concert is legendary, but the DVD package fall short of definitive.

Here is what you get:
This DVD contains 10 full length songs from Hendrix's Woodstock concert, namely: "Fire", "Izabella", "Red House", "Jam Back at the House", "Voodoo Child", "Star Spangled Banner", "Purple Haze", "Woodstock Improvisation", and "Villanova Junction." A small segment of, "Message to Love" and, "Hear My Train a Comin'" is played over the opening and closing credits respectfully.

Here is what you don't get:
1. There is no fotage of Hendrix playing six songs from the concert, namely: "Message to Love", "Spanish Castle Magic", "Lover Man", "Hear My Train a Comin'", "Foxey Lady", and "Hey Joe."
2. The set list song order has been rearranged. This is unfortunate because there was a natural flow of momentum with the original song order. The concert started off loose and Jamming, then it tightened and rocked in the middle of the set, the climax being, "Star Spangled Banner." At the end of the original set list Jimi calms the mood down with, "Villanova Junction." For some odd reason Alan Douglas enjoys reconfiguring Jimi's set lists, his trademark is to start all concerts with, "Fire", Jimi NEVER opened with this song.
3. The picture has not been cleaned up. Although the image quality is very good it would be nice to see a widescreen version of this concert. The Woodstock movie is now available on DVD widescreen so why not this concert?
4. The original audio mix was used on this DVD. The two percussionists are inaudible and Jimi is mixed right up front.
5. There are no DVD extras, no interviews, no 5.1 mix, nothing.
6. There is NO BOOKLET contained in the DVD package. A booklet might answer some questions about the missing songs and the audio mix. Maybe the percussionists were not recorded to audio tape? Maybe some of the songs were not filmed? Maybe the original negative has been damaged or lost? Maybe the original muli-track audio tape has been lost? A small booklet with the history of this concert and DVD release could answer these questions.

I have watched and listened to this DVD about six times so far; each time I grumble at the editors for the super close-up shots of Jimi's face. I can count his molars! The entire video is one big close-up. I can only guess at what the other band members are doing, since we rarely see them. But two of the most important missing parts are Jimi's feet. What the heck was he doing with pedals and other electronics to make such as fasinating sound? I wanted to know! I think the synchronization of sound to video also is a bit lacking, but not as bad as some noteworthy messes (Yessongs).

But it was the fingers, the hands, the words and the sound that first attracted me to this DVD, and I am not dissapointed. There is no viable comparison to any living individual. Jimi left a magnificent work of art and the editors captured it for us to experience 30 years later. Pretty cool.

This video fills in a huge gap in my collection. I'd seen the Woodstock movie and always wanted to see more of Jimi's performance. This release does not disappoint. The music is phenomenal, Jimi looks and sounds great. Not much of the usual naked hippies at the waterhole footage. 99.9% of the video is Jimi on stage.

My only (minor) complaints about this video is with the way it was editted and packaged. Contrary to what the Amazon description says, there are no liner notes included. In fact there is no real information other than the song list on the cover. This is especially disappointing since the audio CD of the same show includes a fantastic liner notes book (including shots of Jimi's hand written set list and words to a song about Woodstock). I found it a bit sad and confusing that the Hendrix estate would finally release movie footage that is obviously going to be consumed by hardcore Jimi fans and not bother to include any liner notes at all (again, especially since the audio CD has top rated notes). The audio CD liner notes provide some much needed background about the musician lineup (not the Experience, but a brand new first time in public line up - Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, the songs played, problems with the PA, problems faced when it came time to edit the tapes, etc..

Also disappointing was the fact that the DVD contains only 57 minutes from the original 140 minute set. The audio CD trims out two songs and some dead air to bring the set down to just under two hours. About 90 seconds of "Message to Love" are played over the opening titles and about 60 seconds of "Hear My Train Comin" are played over the closing credits. Several of the songs also appear out of sequence from the orignal set. I would have been willing to pay an additional $10 or $20 to have had the whole show intact.

That being said, I can't rave enough about the footage that is included. This was drawn from the original footage shot by Michael Wadliegh and company (of the Oscar winning Woodstock movie fame). Jimi played in the morning so it is shot in daylight and is vibrant with light and color. Jimi's playing is unbelievable and every guitarist will want to watch this for the great tight shots of his technique. Anyone who loves his music should find this to be a great historical document that is full of some great music (especially the jams: "Jam Back at the House", "Woodstock Improvisation", and "Villanova Junction").

Buy this and if you are a real fanatic, get the audio CD box set too.

A great DVD of an even greater performance of the greatest guitar player of all time. This is the best daylight concert footage available of Jimi Hendrix. He dazzles the dwindling audience of Woodstock, those who stayed truly witnessed one of his peak performances. The sound and video of this particular version far out shine any in existence. Don't be fooled by Amazon's advertisement though, they discribe the CD not the DVD. When will they change that incorrect ad?

Being a guitarist as well as someone who is appreciative of music written and played by Hendrix, I purchased this DVD with the intention of learning more about the man. I had seen other footage of Hendrix, usually in some documentary form and even then he was shown only in fast clips. This DVD contains footage that is quite the opposite.

Within the first few seconds of watching Hendrix play, my heart rate increased noticeably. At home, by myself, watching this DVD, I heard myself audibly mentioning my disbelief of his skill countless times. The man played the guitar like some mutated extension of his own body, and at one point I wondered if he had systematically gone up every fret on every string and memorized every note and its exact location, so that when he played he could run through his library of tones in random but orderly fashion.

The camera swoops across the crowd on occasion. It is the end of Woodstock, and there are only a few people left... blankets and debris litter the field behind them (it is then that I realize that my experience at various Lolapaloozas was not truly unique). At the beginning of the Hendrix set, most of them look bored. I can't help but wonder if half of them are still there because they don't have a ride home, or if they are so exhausted from the past few days that they don't know what else to do. They couldn't possibly know that they had just taken part in a truly historic event, so the significance of the Hendrix closing set (with his hastily named "Band of Gypsies") was probably lost on them.

But the crowd changes quite a bit as the show goes on. At first, Hendrix seems as if he is some crazy showboating guitarist with a knack for rockin' out the blues. But then it intensifies with unceasing persistence. Mitch Mitchell, the drummer, is banging out incredible rythms while looking like he has just run a marathon, but he keeps going, feeding off Hendrix. Hendrix falls in and out of solo-induced trances - or possibly trance-induced solos - while occasionally looking to his band mates for signals to fall back into verse. At one point he drifts so far away he is lost in minutes of feedback-ridden wailing and crunching when he suddenly pops out of it and decides to introduce the rest of the band, as if he regretted his apparent selfishness of sound and wanted to give his colleagues a chance. By then, there are people in the crowd that are bouncing about with limp arms in that way that is so utterly hippie. There are a few young men with thick-rimmed glasses watching Hendrix with mouth open, moving ever so slightly to his every string-bending note.

And then he falls into Voodoo Child, a fast paced version full of 4-5 mintue jams that put Phish to shame. By now the show is at full intensity, and at one point Hendrix says "You can leave if you want to... we're just jammin'." He falls in and out of the song, collapsing into The Star Spangled Banner. I've heard the audio of this before, but the film changed my entire perspective on it. On the verse 'And the rockets red glare', Hendrix starts ripping random tones out of the Fender that I suddenly recognized to be launching rockets, followed by sounds of 'the bombs bursting in air'. Amazing. And *then* he goes into Purple Haze. I was so absorbed I forgot where I was and I felt light-headed. And then he is lost again, playing with the guitar as if he was at home in his basement, experimenting with tones and chords, and they fall into a jam from it, where somehow everyone in the band knew when and where it would start and end.

Phenomenal. I've had the "Who is the best guitarist ever" debate before. I've gone back and forth from Santanna to Clapton to Page to Hendrix. No more. I have decided. It is Hendrix, and I don't care if anyone thinks it is cliche. The man was an anomaly... someone who knew the guitar like his own hands, and never thought twice about it. So the reader of this review is asking: "Should I buy it or not?". I say: "Buy it. View it. Be glad that even though you weren't at Woodstock, you at least have this to give you some idea of what it was like."

This is an excellent dvd, judged on it's own terms.

The only problem is, it is only around an hour and only contains about half of the songs that are included on the cd set of the same name... This dvd leaves off some of the best songs from the cd...

Having said that, it is worth it to actually see Hendrix play at Woodstock, and the sound is pretty damned good. There is just enough footage of the hippies and the festival itself to give a flavor of the event, but nothing to intrude on the music. If you want more of the flavor of the festival, rent the director's cut of "Woodstock". This dvd is nice because it doesn't have any documentary crap to interfere, it's just pure Jimi. Worth having.

i purchased this video a few weeks ago. I have been careful in selecting music dvds b/c i've read so many horrible reviews about dvds that appear to be music videos but only talk about making music (e.g. stevie wonder/songs in the key of life, hendrix/live at the filmore east). hendrix live at woodstock is NOT one of those videos. the sound and video are excellent. lots of music. lots of style. if you want to witness the quintessential performance of a true genius, you need this video!!!

I am happy to announce that this DVD is a joy to watch repeatedly. The sound is immaculately re-engineered by Eddie Kramer (who handled the concert sound in '69). The editing is superb! You get to watch Hendrix w/o the distraction of overly quick cutting or poor shot choices. The Hendrix Estate should be really proud of this one!My only complaint is that "Hear My Train A'comin" is , for some reason, absent from the playlist, although he did play it at the show.

I'm giving this 5 starts because its Hendrix.

It seemed like the first part of the concert Hendrix was struggling to get things going. But once he did, that was all she wrote!

When I was 11 years old, I snuck into a theater to see Woodstock. I had little interest in the other performers (although I liked many of them very much). I was really only interested in Hendrix. When he finally appeared, I was overwhelmed by the power of his performance. Listening to that unbeliveable music, watching his hands; nothing in the rest of the festival could compare to it. It was beyond mere loud rock music. It was something akin to a religious experience. Now, almost four decades later, the power of that experience remains undiminished.

To this day, I can't listen to his Star Spangled Banner without getting chills. In that moment, in that short piece of unexpected unrehersed music, Hendrix grabbed the whole of the USA by the neck, looked it in the eye and said "You broke your covenent with God, and your promise to your people!" Who else could have bore the weight of such a musical statement?

We should be grateful that a Hendrix once walked the earth. With all due respect to Beck, Reid, Vai, and others; when we speak of the realm of heavily amplified electric guitar, in the end, there is only Hendrix.
There will never be another like him.