Customer Reviews

Jimi Hendrix - Live at Woodstock

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4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In 1999, when Experience Hendrix (the family company that now controls Jimi's legacy) released the DVD entitled 'Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock,' they claimed that the contents of that DVD was all that remained of one of the most important musical historical documents of all time. Woodstock was a cultural moment, and Jimi Hendrix played the most important role of that moment. EH claimed that the unused footage was thrown out. I said at the time that it was untrue, as that wasn't the type of thing that anyone would have thrown out.

Happily, about that I was correct, because in the 2-DVD set entitled 'JImi Hendrix Live at Woodstock,' all of the remaining unused footage has now been released, and incorporated into the pre-existing footage.

This 2-DVD set contains the MOST of the performance that Jimi played as the headliner of the Woodstock festival, as compared to the double CD released, the only song missing on this DVD is Hear My Train A Comin'. This is because the complete song was never filmed, but it can be found on DVD 2, where the song has been augmented with backstage and audience footage taken of portions of the performance.

The reason why the entire performance was not filmed is further explained in the booklet included in the DVD package, which was once again designed by the wonderful and talented Smay Vision graphic design firm, who oversees all of the packaging design for all Experience Hendrix releases.

The BEST PART about this new 2-DVD release is the second disc. Entitled 'A Second Look,' this incorporates black-and-white video footage shot by then 22 year-old Albert Goodman, who had used one of the very first SONY CV open-reel 1/2-inch videotape units. This 'Second Look' incorporates Goodman's footage, which provides further insight into how the audience was influenced by the music of Hendrix's new group 'Gypsy Sun & Rainbows.'

The booklet features a new essay by Hendrix historian John McDermott, and also features reproductions of the three-day Woodstock ticket, Jimi's handwritten set list, as well as Jimi's 'unfinished rough-sketch of Woodstock festival,' the evocative 500,000 Halos poem, which can also be found in the hardcover book 'Jimi Hendrix: The Lyrics.'

I give this DVD my highest recommendation, as it was an incredibly important moment in all of music history, now expanded and given the respect it has always deserved.

A few years ago, I reviewed the Hendrix Woodstock DVD released, I think in 99. I thought mistakenly at the time that it was complete. I had to retract that statement.
Now the Hendrix family has released the full performance, or at least everything that exists on film on his performance at that landmark Woodstock festival.
There are 2 DVDs, one with the complete filmed version, that the promoters were able to get on such short notice. This is the completion of what we already had.
The second DVD is an actual taped real time video that someone had taken with a camera and kept for 35 years until the family got him to release it with this set. Now everything Hendrix did that was recorded is available.

The quality of the first (filmed) DVD is fine, that of the second is spotty (it was mostly in black and white) supplemented with clips from the filmed version where the video had dropouts. The video version has the only clip of "Hear my Train Coming" - the film guys were reloading at that time.

This is of great historical value, and all Hendrix fans will want to own it, simply because it has the whole thing.

Of course I never get tired of watching Hendrix play his music. Watching him play the guitar is as good as listening to him, because his visual performance is a separate entertainment in its own right.

I highly recommend this.

For Hendrix freaks, it doesn't get much better that this two-DVD set. Now for the first time, we can see Hendrix's entire Woodstock performance -- 14 songs delivered in their original sequence -- with the six-piece Gypsy Sun & Rainbows. Released in 1999, the original single-disc Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock offered an hour's worth of highlights from the show, but not the whole enchilada.

Yet there's more: The feature movie on disc 1 has been painstakingly re-edited with new camera angles, and expanded to 80 minutes with recent interviews. Those who worked closely with Hendrix -- bandmates Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding, and Billy Cox; Gypsy Sun & Rainbows second guitarist Larry Lee and percussionist Juma Sultan; engineer Eddie Kramer; and assorted managers and promoters -- all have their say about his legacy.

In a way, disc 2 is even more amazing. A 22-year-old college student managed to smuggle a clunky, tripod-mounted video camera onstage and shoot the whole show from the musician's perspective. In this footage, we watch Hendrix joking and giving directions to the band as if we were standing next to Cox and Lee, and we hear Hendrix's raps, most of which are missing from the film edition. Amazingly, this video also contains seven minutes of music -- a bluesy jam of "Hear My Train a Comin'" -- the official film crew missed.

By today's standards, the black-and-white video images are primitive, but the intimacy of this footage makes it priceless. Where the videotape runs into technical trouble, the editors have substituted 16mm film clips -- always perfectly in sync with the music and often providing alternative angles to those in the main film. Essentially, we get two views of Hendrix's spellbinding performance: a full-color, carefully edited, multi-camera edition, shot primarily from the front of the stage, plus a grainy, black-and-white cinéma vérité version shot from behind.

Disc 2 also includes three mini-documentaries. In a press conference in Harlem, held shortly after Woodstock, we watch a mellow Hendrix respond to questions from the uptight press regarding politics, drugs, and society. Cox and Lee recall the times they spent playing in clubs with Hendrix in the Nashville area, and we see a handful of photos from this period. Finally, Kramer describes in detail how he dealt with the technical challenges of recording Hendrix at Woodstock. A cool booklet with Hendrix's handwritten set list and poetry, stage photos, and a detailed essay on how the film crew captured the event completes the package. The expanded Live at Woodstock makes it perfectly clear why, decades after his death, Hendrix remains rock's most inventive and magical guitarist.

I started playing guitar when I was 8. I got into Hendrix when I was 13. I was born in 1971, so Jimi had already died by the time I was born. Fortunately his music lives on for everyone and this may be the crown jewel of his career.

When I first bought the DVD I couldn't believe I actually had this footage in my hands. I mean this was the legendary Woodstock Concert of 1969. This much footage of Jimi was not supposed to exist. Much like Indiana Jones, I felt as if I was holding the Arc or the Holy Grail for the first time.

Before popping in the DVD I read the booklet that came with it. The story behind the filming of Hendrix is reading entertainment in itself. A deal to film the concert was landed just two days prior to the show. The crew had little time to prepare. Also if the crew had not decided to reload their cameras at the time they did, the 'Star Spangled Banner' would have been a moment in time lost. They got the film rolling again just in time.

In the meantime, little did anyone know, that a college student snuck up on stage with a video camera. We smuggled his equipment on stage by walking behind a roadie carrying a guitar. As soon as he was set up everyone left him alone because he was thought to be part of the film crew. Disc 2 of this double DVD is his footage. The story goes the young man hitch-hiked out of Woodstock after the show only to be picked up by a truck driver who knew where Jimi was staying. The young student visited Jimi and showed him the footage. Jimi enjoyed it. This film has not been seen since. Stored away, locked away for almost 35 years.

If you are a guitar player, this is a must see event. What Jimi could do with a guitar was no short of amazing. Eric Clapton and Pete Townsend were terrified of him, and rightly so. Jimi commanded the Woodstock stage and was in total control of the wall of sound he blasted out onto the muddy farmland. It was his show and everyone knew it. The setlist was awesome. My personal favorite is Voodoo Chile (Slight Return). He was the master of the wah pedal. Maybe this performance was not as spectacular as the Monterey Show, but Jimi didn't have anything to prove this time around.

Hendrix fans like myself will find themselves pulling this off the shelf and popping it in the player often. Jimi may be gone, but what he left us will last forever. Hendrix rules.

This is a must have / highly recommended DVD; it really needs an extra star. For the very first time you can see Jimi Hendrix's then new band "Gipsy Sun and Rainbows" (Band of Gypsies for short)ALMOST complete live performance at Woodstock Music and Arts Fair Festival (1969).

DVD 1 is the almost complete performance except for Hear my Train a Coming. Master Mind and Gypsy Woman. I can't believe that parts of this material were shelved during 36 years (Lover Man, Hey Joe..) without seeing the light of the day.

Lots of close up to Jimi's, face, fingers, guitar, you can even learn how to play the songs (watch Red House for instance: plug your Stratocaster and start a blues lesson from the master himself). Jimi sometimes is not very "happy" with this new band. He currently shows Larry Lee the notes/tone he should be playing on and gives instructions to Jerry "high on the mountains" Velez to stop smashing the congas. Just watch the face of Jimi after playing "Fire" (Uh my god!).

Even more, at one point Jimi tells the audience "we are only jamming you can leave it if you want". There are some small portions edited such as Jimi countain the frets before starting Izabella and Jimi answering "I got mines" when someone in the audience offer him to get "high" (just before "Message to Love"); both used to appear on the previous DVD.

DVD 2 is the almost complete performance as it happens, no interruptions and in the most pure shape. The additional black and white footage is simply great (forget the technical problems) since it gives a new dimension of the performance and makes a great companion for the front images. You can even see a woman offering dope to Jimi and how he rejects it. It seems the takes from this camera were also used on "Woodstock Lost Performances" VHS/Laserdisc for Janis Joplin "Work me Lord" performance.

If you look carefully you'll see another video camera shooting from the right side of the stage, just behind Jimi. So maybe in the future we'll see a 3 DVD set containing new shots of the performance....

Please note that Mitch Mitchell wrote on his book "The Hendrix Experience" (by Mitch Mitchell and John Platt - 1993 Mitchell Beazley) that the set list was: Message to love, Hear my Train a Coming, Spanish Castle Magic, Red House, MASTER MIND (vocals by Larry), Foxy Lady, Jam Back at the House, Izabella, GYPSY WOMAN (vocals by Larry), Fire, Voodoo Chile, Star Spangled Banner, Purple Haze, Villanova Junction, Hey Joe. So there are two numbers missed (Master mind and Gypsy Woman) which is something known to Hendrix bootlegs recordings collectors.

The candid interviews give knowledge of the festival since its beginning to the end (just listen to Chip Monk saying the last words of the event "Thank you so very much" as the remaining audience starts to leave the site). Listen to Eddy Kramer impressions when he get to the festival site on Friday morning and listen to Mike Lang revealing for the very first time the former artist who was about to close the festival. The so called press conference is very interesting despite the drop outs.

Will ever be an ultimate video release with all THE MUSIC performed at Woodstock? I mean all the 210 songs performed at the event. I'm dreaming on the full sets by Santana, Ten Years After, Ravi Shankar, Sweetwater, Incredible String Band, Bert Sommer, Mountain, Johnny Winter, Sly and the Family Stone and CSN & Y....

I'm sure a great pile of film cans are shelved somewhere (hello Michael Wadleigh, D.A. Pennebaker?).

I was quite excited at the prospect of seeing the "complete" footage of Hendrix at Woodstock. What a disappointment.
At first I blamed the camera operators for zooming in for close-ups when they could have shown Hendrix's fingerwork on solos. After all, "idiot camera syndrome" was pretty prevalent during the 60s.
However, a viewing of the original Woodstock motion picture reveals that there were other camera angles available. For instance, during "Voodoo Child (A Slight Return)" the movie shows full-frontal guitar action where the newer "complete" release opts for close-up nostril shots. It's the equivalent of focusing on a quarterback's helmet while he's running a full-field touchdown. Jeez.
The original film was also released in widescreen format, while the newer version is in "pan and scan." This would've been OK if the editors had just panned and scanned. There were many shots where Hendrix was standing to the far left of the frame, fully visible in widescreen but barely visible in the new aspect ratio.
In my opinion, the makers of this DVD have squandered a golden opportunity to present a historic performance in its entirety.
It's a damn shame.

Much has been written about the short life but still-influential career of Jimi Hendrix. I've previously written about him in my reviews of the Criterion Monterey Pop box set and particularly in my review of the 1973 Jimi Hendrix documentary. His performance at the Woodstock festival is rivaled in its impact only by the Monterey one, but most people know it for his instrumental deconstruction of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as that's the part of it that featured in the film of the event. ("Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" was amongst the extra performances included in the 1994 Director's Cut reissue.)

Due to traffic, rain and other delays, Hendrix had to play at nine o'clock on Monday morning instead of midnight on Sunday. By the time he appeared on stage, much of the audience had left. Hendrix was backed by his Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, with his old army buddy Billy Cox on bass. The lineup was augmented by a rhythm guitarist, Larry Lee, and two percussionists, Jama Sultan and Jerry Velez.

About fifty minutes of Hendrix's set has been released on video and DVD before, but this two-disc "Deluxe Edition" shows us the entirety of it. It's topped and tailed by "The Road to Woodstock", featuring interviews with recording engineer Eddie Kramer, co-promoter Michael Lang (who fascinatingly wanted the festival to end with Roy Rogers singing "Happy Trails"), publicist Michael Goldstein, tour manager Gerry Stickells, the late Experience bassist Noel Redding (a noticeable non-participant in the 1973 documentary), Jama Sultan, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Larry Lee, and Sha Na Na vocalist Rob Leonard (who preceded Hendrix on stage) This fifteen-minute feature makes up the first chapter on the DVD and does an admirable job of putting the event into context not only of Hendrix's career but also of the time and place - the Woodstock area of New York State, as Kramer points out, having been a favoured artistic enclave since the 1920s. After the show, we return to our interviewees for a few minutes.

In between we have the footage of the Woodstock set, filmed by Michael Wadleigh and his cameramen. If you've seen the Woodstock film, it's much as you'd expect: filmed in 16mm (though presented throughout in 4:3, not using the multiple split screens of the feature film).

No doubt student guitarists would like to see more of Hendrix's hands to study his technique, but for most people this piece of rock music history is extremely well presented.

This DVD is worth at least $30 and I got it for under $11. Thanks Amazon. Jimi was an amazing player and I am so happy that this has been released. I wish all the footage from Woodstock would be released on DVD. Hell, I'd pay $200 at a minimum for it. The extras on here are great too. I really like the press confrence in Harlem, you get to see another side of Jimi that is not often seen. He's so soft spoken and seems to be such a nice cat. It's a shame he left us so early. But hey, the good die young and there's no rhyme or reason for that. Some of the footage in this DVD looks as if you're looking at a 35mm photo. This is just simply an amazing performance and a wonderful DVD. GET IT NOW!!

While I share all the other reviewers thumbs-up on this re-issue, I did notice that the stereo audio track was somewhat different from the 1999 truncated (i.e. edited down to 50 minutes) DVD version. I did some A-B testing with 2 DVD players and lo and behold this is what I found: While both versions of the stereo audio track were mixed by Eddie Kramer, the 1999 Dolby Stereo soundtrack is mastered at 448 kbps, while the 2005 is at 198 kbps. The result is that the 1999 version has less compression and more dynamic range and headroom. It does make a big difference when you play them side by side! I guess they had to do this in the 2005 version to accomodate the longer playing time and the 5.1 soundtracks, which the 1999 version did not have. I guess I'll have to keep both versions.

I know a guy who paid close to $100 for a vinyl bootleg of Hendrix's complete set at Woodstock. And now for a 10th of that, you not only get to see the complete set (minus the non-Jimi number). The nice part is that they have the video that was also shot that morning. The film also seems to give a more truthful view of what the audience looked like when Jimi closed the festival. If you like Hendrix, this is essential viewing. Get it for the shelf.