In august 1970 Jimi played a gig here in England at the Isle of Wight festival. The festival itself was poor and not too well organized ( see the video and you'll get the drift ). The performance by Jimi was not up to the quality of some of his other live gigs - BUT, bear in mind that he was on stage in the middle of the night, that the gear was picking up a local radio station and he was probably not too happy to be there because of other aspects of his life. From here the band went to Germany and back to England for a deserved rest because Billy Cox had a nervous breakdown from a gig on the Isle of Femannagh. This show was a catastrophe and was the last time Jimi played a gig. He died on September 18th 1970 following an overdose of sleeping tablets combined with an excess of red wine.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of a man who changed rock guitar and indeed my life as a musician forever - I am eternally grateful for the music he produced - much of which is as fresh today as it was all of those years ago when it was recorded. Forget the bad gigs, everyone has those, just listen to Jimi at the peak of his career and the amazing things he did with a strat - there are few if any that have walked in his shoes quite so inspiringly since....

Tony McKenzie.

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