Jimi Hendrix
The Rainbow Bridge Concert

THE REVIEW

The Rainbow Bridge Concert was the last great live event in Hendrix's history. A concert for a chosen few, at the foot of the Haleakeala volcano crater, in Maui. July 30, 1970.

As we all know, our guitarist passed away a few months later. For this reason, this concert, originally intended as the closing sequence for the experimental film 'Rainbow Bridge Vibratory Color/Sound Experiment', was shrouded in a mystical aura probably equal to that of the famous Woodstock performance. I don't know why it remained in the drawers of Purple Haze Records before reemerging as a double CD. Most likely, the answer lies in the audio quality, which leaves much to be desired despite digital adjustments. And the performance?

The cover speaks of a 'sacred grail for Hendrix fans and collectors'. I fear I must disagree. The Experience (in the version with Cox on bass) plays just to play (naturally remaining at superhuman levels), Hendrix is in pieces and it is evident in his voice, very weak and terribly recorded. The guitar has a sickly sound. The acoustics are terrible, the feedback is not what it used to be, but an annoying resonance that The Lefty no longer bothers to manage. Forget the fret noise of the live performance at the Isle of Wight, or the 'force' of the first strum, or the 'crack crack' of a poorly shielded jack. Despite this, the performance retains its charm, indeed, it acquires a tone of extreme suffering that justifies the commercialization of such a product.

The band offers two shows, performed a few hours apart from each other. In the second performance, Hendrix uses a Gibson Flying V instead of the traditional white Strat. Not that it affects the sound quality. The repertoire encompasses a bit of what the audience wants to hear and a bit of what the group wants to play. To clarify, the first show opens with 'Lover Man', a song Hendrix loved to perform live, concluding with the much-anticipated 'Voodoo Chile' (in which he barely touches the wah-wah). More space for free improvisation in the second set, where we find the highlight of the concert, the unleashed guitar of 'Jam Back at the House', based on the little-known instrumental 'Beginnings'.

Let it be clear, this is not yet another 'scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel' operation, nor is it the best Hendrix live available, but rather a little gem for fans, to be cherished as a memory of their favorite guitarist, saddened and suffering, a genius unforgettable and unforgotten.