At Woburn, Jimi skipped songs from Axis: Bold As Love altogether, electing instead to ‘jam’ as he called it-kicking off his set with a spirited “Sgt. To Hendrix, performances such as Woburn were unique, shared experiences and not simply personal appearances intended to help shift units of albums or singles. The Jimi Hendrix Experience were scheduled to close the Saturday evening show where an enthusiastic crowd some 14,000 strong turned out for the performance.Īxis: Bold As Love was still a top selling album in July 1968 but Jimi had long since moved on to new challenges. While rhythm & blues was the primary focus with Gunnell drawing heavily from his own talent pool, casting John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Alexis Korner, and Geno Washington together with the more folk influenced Pentangle, Roy Harper, and Tim Rose. Woburn Music Festival featured separate afternoon and evening sets for both Saturday and Sunday.

The Experience had spent much of 1968 touring and recording in America and had not performed live in Britain since December 1967. This anticipation was fueled in part by Jimi’s absence from Britain. Jimi’s popularity had grown exponentially since those early days in 1966 and he arrived at the Woburn Festival as its eagerly anticipated headline act. Gunnell had been an early supporter of The Animals, and extended the same courtesy to Hendrix and The Experience, presenting some of the group’s earliest London engagements. Jimi’s co-managers Chas Chandler and Michael Jeffery-a fellow nightclub entrepreneur-enjoyed a friendship with Gunnell. Rik in particular, who owned three fashionable 1960’s London nightspots-the Ram Jam Club, Flamingo, and Bag O’ Nails-presented authentic, first generation American icons like John Lee Hooker and Otis Redding and some of the brightest examples of a swelling wave of emerging British talent such as The Rolling Stones, Jack Bruce and Georgie Fame. Staged by brothers Richard “Rik” and John Gunnell, who were well respected individuals in the burgeoning London music scene where they were heavily involved in many aspects including band managed, show promoters and club owners. The Woburn Music Festival was one of Britain’s first large scale, open-air rock music events. Live At Woburn presents a 100% previously unreleased concert recording capturing The Jimi Hendrix Experience in concert at the Woburn Music Festival on July 6, 1968.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live At Woburn is the eleventh release in the Dagger Records authorized ‘bootleg’ recording series.

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