Miami Pop Festival (May 1968)

Last updated
1968 Pop Festival
Miami Pop Festival (May 1968).jpg
Genre Rock, pop, etc.
DatesMay 18–19, 1968
Location(s) Hallandale, Florida, United States
Years active1968
Founded by Richard O'Barry and Michael Lang
Attendance25,000

The Miami Pop Festival is the name by which a music festival that took place on May 18-19, 1968 in Hallandale, Florida, is sometimes known. The venue was Gulfstream Park, a horse racing track just north of Miami. The event, which was officially publicized on promotional materials and in radio ads as the "1968 Pop and Underground Festival," and "The 1968 Pop Festival," was promoted by Richard O'Barry, Marshall Brevetz and Michael Lang, the latter of whom became famous as one of the four promoters of Woodstock in 1969. Decades later, the May 1968 festival began to be referred to colloquially as the "Miami Pop Festival", leading to confusion with the actual Miami Pop Festival, which took place in December 1968.

Contents

History

The festival

An estimated 25,000 people attended this event. Bands featured at the festival included The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Mothers of Invention, Blue Cheer, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Blues Image, Charles Austin Group, and Evil. The opening act on Saturday was a little-known group called The Package, and the closing act was The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The second part of what was scheduled as a two-day event, Sunday's concert was rained out, but there was at least one beneficial result — it inspired Hendrix to write "Rainy Day, Dream Away." [1]

Media

On November 5, 2013, a CD and DVD were released containing the first available audio and film of the Experience at the festival. The CD The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival contains about an hour of previously unreleased music. The DVD,Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin’ features a two-hour documentary on Hendrix’s life, including previously unseen film of Hendrix and the band at the Miami festival as well as some extras with additional footage from the festival. The documentary was also broadcast in the U.S. on November 5, 2013 by the Public Broadcasting Service as part of its American Masters series. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodstock</span> 1969 music festival in Bethel, New York, US

Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, 40 miles (65 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music" and alternatively referred to as the Woodstock Rock Festival, it attracted more than 400,000 attendees. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite sporadic rain. It was one of the largest music festivals in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monterey International Pop Festival</span> Three-day concert in California in 1967

The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Who and Ravi Shankar, the first large-scale public performance of Janis Joplin and the introduction of Otis Redding to a mass American audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Wight Festival 1970</span> UK music festival

The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 was a music festival held between 26 and 31 August 1970 at Afton Down, an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight in England. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the island between 1968 and 1970 and often acknowledged as the largest musical event of its time, with a larger attendance than Woodstock. Although estimates vary, Guinness World Records estimated 600,000 to 700,000 people attended. It was organised and promoted by local brothers, Ron and Ray Foulk through their company Fiery Creations Ltd and their brother Bill Foulk. Ron Smith was site manager and Rikki Farr acted as compere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Kramer</span> British audio engineer and producer

Edwin H. Kramer is a British recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Kinks, Kiss, John Mellencamp, and Carlos Santana, as well as records for other well-known artists in various genres.

<i>Band of Gypsys</i> 1970 live album by Jimi Hendrix

Band of Gypsys is a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was recorded on January 1, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, frequently referred to as the Band of Gypsys. The album mixes funk and rhythm and blues elements with hard rock and jamming, an approach which later became the basis of funk rock. It contains previously unreleased songs and was the last full-length Hendrix album released before his death.

<i>Monterey Pop</i> 1968 rockumentary directed by D. A. Pennebaker

Monterey Pop is a 1968 American concert film by D. A. Pennebaker that documents the Monterey International Pop Festival of 1967. Among Pennebaker's several camera operators were fellow documentarians Richard Leacock and Albert Maysles. The painter Brice Marden has an "assistant camera" credit. Titles for the film were by the illustrator Tomi Ungerer. Featured performers include Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Hugh Masekela, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar, the Mamas & the Papas, the Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, whose namesake set his guitar on fire, broke it on the stage, then threw the neck of his guitar in the crowd at the end of "Wild Thing".

<i>Live at Woodstock</i> (Jimi Hendrix album) 1999 live album by Jimi Hendrix

Live at Woodstock is a posthumous live album by Jimi Hendrix released on July 6, 1999. It documents most of his performance at the Woodstock Festival on August 18, 1969, and contains Hendrix's iconic interpretation of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and other songs from the original festival film and soundtrack album.

<i>The Jimi Hendrix Experience</i> (album) 2000 box set by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

The Jimi Hendrix Experience is a box set by the British-American rock band the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in 2000 by MCA. The material includes alternative recordings, live performances and some rarities. Although most of the material had been released in earlier compilations, some previously unreleased material was also included.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Pop Festival</span> Music festival in Colorado, U.S.

The Denver Pop Festival was a three-day music festival promoted by Barry Fey (Feyline) on June 27–29, 1969 which was largely overshadowed by Woodstock two months later. The peak attendance was estimated at 50,000.

<i>Rainbow Bridge</i> (album) 1971 compilation album by Jimi Hendrix

Rainbow Bridge is a compilation album by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. It was the second posthumous album release by his official record company and is mostly composed of recordings Hendrix made in 1969 and 1970 after the breakup of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Despite the cover photo and subtitle Original Motion Picture Sound Track, it does not contain any songs recorded during his concert appearance for the 1971 film Rainbow Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cry of Love Tour</span> 1970 concert tour by Jimi Hendrix

The Cry of Love Tour was a 1970 concert tour by American rock guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix. It began on April 25, 1970, at the Forum in Inglewood, California, and ended on September 6, 1970, at the Love & Peace Festival in Fehmarn, West Germany. The majority of the 37 shows were in the United States, with two each in Sweden, Denmark, and West Germany, and one in England, where Hendrix was the final act at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimi Hendrix posthumous discography</span>

Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) was an American guitarist whose career spanned the years between 1962 and 1970. His posthumous discography includes recordings released after September 18, 1970. Hendrix left behind many recordings in varying stages of completion. This material, along with reissues of his career catalogue, has been released over the years in several formats by various producers and record companies. Since Experience Hendrix, a company owned and operated by members of the Hendrix family, took control of his recording legacy in 1995, over 15 Hendrix albums have appeared on the main US albums chart. Several of these have also placed on charts in more than 18 countries around the world.

The first Atlanta International Pop Festival was a rock festival held at the Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles south of Atlanta, on the July Fourth (Friday) weekend, 1969, more than a month before Woodstock. Crowd estimates ranged from the high tens of thousands to as high as 150,000. With temperatures nearing a hundred degrees, local fire departments used fire hoses to create "sprinklers" for the crowd to play in and cool off. It was a peaceful, energetic, hot and loud festival with few problems other than heat related. Concession stands were woefully inadequate. Attendees frequently stood in line for an hour to get a soft drink.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hear My Train A Comin'</span> Song written by Jimi Hendrix

"Hear My Train A Comin'" is a blues-based song written by Jimi Hendrix. Lyrically, it was inspired by earlier American spirituals and blues songs which use a train metaphor to represent salvation. Hendrix recorded the song in live, studio, and impromptu settings several times between 1967 and 1970, but never completed it to his satisfaction.

<i>Miami Pop Festival</i> (album) 2013 live album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Miami Pop Festival is a posthumous live album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, documenting their May 18, 1968 performance at the Pop & Underground Festival in Hallandale, Florida. It features eight songs recorded during their evening performance, along with two extra songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimi Hendrix videography</span>

Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter whose career spanned from 1962 to 1970. He appeared in several commercially released films of concerts and documentaries about his career, including two popular 1960s music festival films – Monterey Pop (1968) and Woodstock (1970). A short documentary, Experience (1968), also known as See My Music Talking, was also screened.

<i>Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival</i> 2015 live album by Jimi Hendrix

Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival is a posthumous live album by Jimi Hendrix, released in 2015. It documents his July 4, 1970, performance at the Atlanta International Pop Festival. The festival's audience, subject to a wide range of estimates from 200,000-400,000, was the largest U.S. crowd to which Hendrix played during his career.

<i>Songs for Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts</i> 2019 box set live album by Jimi Hendrix

Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts is a chronologically sequenced collection of American musician Jimi Hendrix's 1969–1970 New Years recorded performances at the Fillmore East in New York City. It was released as a box set of five-CDs on November 22, 2019 and an eight-LP set on December 13.

<i>Live in Maui</i> 2020 live album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Live in Maui is an album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience documenting their performance outdoors on Maui, Hawaii, on July 30, 1970. It marks the first official release of Hendrix's two full sets recorded during the filming of Rainbow Bridge (1971). The two-CD and three-LP set was released on November 20, 2020, along with a video documentary titled Music, Money, Madness ... Jimi Hendrix in Maui.

References