Lost in the misty (purple) haze of the '60s, an urban myth suggests one of rock's biggest ever names woke up in the middle of one of Cardiff's most popular parks...
If an island is ever mentioned in relation to the world’s most famous guitarist, it’s probably the Isle of Wight.
However, as a rock fan, one of my all-time favourite Cardiff tales involves Jimi Hendrix and a tiny islet at the opposite end of Roath Park.
This may seem like a preposterous story, but maybe that makes it all the more likely to be true, that rock god Jimi Hendrix once woke up on an islet in Roath Park Lake after a heavy night out in the Welsh capital.
This suburban myth appeared online in 2006 when a feedback-swathed rendition of the Welsh national anthem, in the style of Hendrix’s famous Star Spangled Banner, was “discovered” by a Cardiff-born chap called Martin Davies. (That recording was even played on Newsnight before it turned out to be a hoax .)
What we know is that Seattle-born James Marshall Hendrix (1942–1970) visited the Welsh capital twice in his short life, in spring and then winter of 1967. This would have been just before and after the so-called Summer of Love, which in Cardiff may have just involved slightly more cwtching than usual.
On his first visit, in April 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared low down on the bill at the Capitol Cinema among acts The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and Engelbert Humperdinck.
By the time he returned to the ’Diff on Thursday, November 23, 1967, he headlined at a sold-out Sophia Gardens Pavilion.
Cardiff’s very own Amen Corner supported Hendrix on the six-band billing that evening. Also in attendance were Pink Floyd (with Syd Barrett) and The Nice (who became Emerson Lake and Palmer) – an amazing line-up, even if their cramming two shows into one evening meant the sets were ridiculously short.
Jimi was quickly gaining a reputation for his feedback-drenched, screaming-guitar psychedelic blues-rock, his Carnaby Street-infused Americana, and his rousing sensuality. For some of those who caught a glimpse, life would never be the same again.
In the audience that night and “absolutely thunderstruck” was 15-year-old Llandaff resident Nick Kent, who went on to become one of the country’s pre-eminent rock critics, Iggy Pop’s confidant and Chrissie Hynde’s boyfriend. Yet his journey started here: with Howell’s girls trying to grab Jimi’s, er, instrument.
Nick Kent recalled the gig vividly in a 2010 interview with Vanity Fair.
The audience that Jimi Hendrix played to was all 15-year-old schoolgirls. [Jimi] came on and behaved incredibly flamboyantly, and he just hypnotised them, obviously with his guitar playing but [also with] his whole performance. He was like a leopard.”
Given that this, Hendrix’s second visit to the capital, was in winter – far too cold for messing about on Roath Park Lake – the chances are that Hendrix’s visit to Roath Park Lake occurred after his first visit, April 1967.
Hendrix gig Nov 1967 (from BBC Wales website.
The event took the form of two shows, one at 6.15pm and another at 8.35pm - with all the bands squeezed into a time slot that headline bands would take for themselves these days.
Amen Corner had a couple of hits in the year before this show, but were yet to have their smash hits Bend Me, Shape Me and (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice. The band's Allan Jones, now a venue owner in Cardiff, recalls: "I reckon the first two bands would have got 10 minutes each - can you believe that? Then The Nice would have been 15, then us with 20 minutes, then The Move. Then there's a break for another 20 minutes and Hendrix would have got half an hour, that's all.
"There were a lot of good bands on there; it was a great, diverse bill. Floyd were very cool, The Nice were also very cool, there was us and The Move and then Hendrix at the top. It was a heck of a bill. It appealed to a lot of people, not just Hendrix fans. He was the star, there's no question about that, but as a bill it's surprising it worked so well."
The gig was sold out, with up to 4,000 rock fans crammed into the venue. Among the crowd were young ladies who got a little more than they paid for. Renowned journalist Nick Kent, in his biography Apathy For The Devil, says, "The best bill I've ever witnessed. Four mind-boggling performances... There was a sexual bravado about Hendrix live that night that was so palpable it made my jaw drop."
One local girl in the audience was Pat Mills. "I remember the tickets were 12 shillings and sixpence which for as a schoolgirl was really expensive. There was the local band Amen Corner, and we also wanted to see the other bands like Pink Floyd and The Nice, but in the end it was Hendrix that everyone went for.
"We were all intrigued by this guy who played his guitar with his teeth. He played Wild Thing, Purple Haze and Hey Joe among others. The venue was packed with a great atmosphere. I remember getting a load of autographs and meeting Keith Emerson after the show."
Allan Jones remembers that there was something about Hendrix. "He was definitely the star. You'd only have to see him once and you'd know; he was phenomenal. He had this persona about him that had never been seen before. He was a mixture of Little Richard, Otis Redding and as a guitar player... as a package he had all his roots sorted; everything from blues to jazz to psychedelia."
Jones was part of a tour that was epoch-making in musical terms. He looks back on the time with great fondness: "It was all brilliant. I don't think we had a bad night on that tour. It was just a privilege to be on the bill, and to get the chance to finish playing and watch Hendrix twice a night for 30 dates. That's pretty awesome, something to be thought about and relished."
Credit - Tony Woolway
