Audience

CDR

1

DVD 465; lineage: early show. ATM 23. Unknown audience recording.

From Chris Dixon's 30th Anniversary Series © C S Dixon

January 22, 1999 marks 30 years since the two Experience shows at the 'Stimmen der Velt' show at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria. This is the last tape we have of two shows in one night until the BOG shows, and after the grueling pace of this European tour, they can hardly be blamed for stopping the practice (only one such night appears in the record of the Experience's last US tour, that being Memphis 4/18 w/ one show on tape). Anyway, this night finds the band very 'on', IMO, and they stay that way through both shows. The mix on this tape is really pretty good at the core, though it is blurred by the hall acoustics. Sounds like the taper was well off axis of Jimi's amps (gtr almost too low at times!) and near one of the PA speakers so the vocals are reasonably clear. Even Noel's vocals are audible for once!

Show starts with the sound of hammering. I hear this at the start of many Jimi shows and always take it to be the roadies hammering nails into the stage to keep Mitch's bass drums from sliding around (BTW this Jan. tour leg marks the first appearance of two bass drums in Mitch's kit). Jimi does say something here about "fixing the drums". Remember, Stickells has said that they'd typically get to a venue only an hour or so before the show! Anyway, after some pounding, some tuning and some announcements in the native tongue, we're off....

'Come On' gets ever shorter solo guitar intros and outros. This is the end of it's brief run as the show opener. It will appear later in the set on the next night, then only a handful of times thereafter.

'Hey Joe' gets the "...recorded in 1733...in the Ben Franklin Studios...". Still no extended intro.

As Jimi starts the guitar intro to 'Hear My Train' you hear an audience member saying "Voodoo Child, Voodoo Child !", no doubt expecting the long jam from side one of the 'Ladyland' album ('HMT' was unreleased at that point). The more sparse playing on the intro really highlights the amount of hall acoustics on the tape. Sadly the tape here is cut, jumping from the first vocal chorus to the last couple of minutes of (nice) soloing before the last verse. Jimi sings "..come back to this town.." instead of "...come back and buy this town...". We do get some more full-on soloing at the very end, at least...

'Spanish Castle Magic' a particular highlight here IMO. After the vocals Jimi does a great initial few minutes of soloing before breaking it down to some unaccompanied explorations, starting with some clean-but-chunky low-string riffing and working higher from there. He settles into a two chord ascending riff with additional chordal explorations. A drum solo follows and Mitch is playing very well, too. Noel joins in, then Jimi, for the final lines- once again they do not return to the "hang on my darling" lyrics.

The sound system is clear enough that on 'Foxy Lady' we can even hear Noel's 'stage whispers' of "...Foxxxy.." answering Jimi on the verses! Slightly extended solo here.

'Stone Free' is our first documented live performance since the Dusty Springfield TV appearance seven months earlier. With a very short (but sweet) solo, this clocks in at barely over three minutes, a little less than the original single! Again, Noel's backing vocals of "..Stone Free!.." are clear.

At the very end of this show's tape we hear Jimi say (I think) "..give us 10 minutes.." though I'm sure it took longer than that to change audiences...

'AYE' makes it's return as the opener, our second to last live recording of this song (last from Newport Pop June 69, where it's part of a medley). A nice healthy version of almost 12 min, Jimi starts with a full minute of legato single string lines (starting with his last 'Leader of the Pack' quote!). A typically fiery solo follows the verses and features some very 'modal' sounding playing with some 'outside' note choices. This gives way to some percussive effects from Jimi on the guitar neck (doesn't sound like drumsticks but more like drumming fingers). His rhythmic effects sound almost conga-like in places. He takes it down to a whisper and Mitch joins in quietly before Jimi restates the intro and does the final verse. Jimi slips in some nice octave runs near the end.

'Lover Man' makes its first recorded appearance since the 10/68 Winterland run. Gets an extended middle solo and a little extra one-chord vamping before the traditional ending. The Experience would only play this 4 more (documented) times but it would go on to be a regular feature of the 1970 shows.

'SOYL' has Jimi soloing over the first chorus, then over one more verse and chorus before dropping out for a bass solo. Noel really seems to be getting comfortable with a solo spot by this time. After a few 'power chords' he switches to some nice 'hammered on' licks. You can also hear him getting into using the volume control on the bass to swell some notes into feedback (gee, who'd he get that from?) or add a sort of tremolo to same. Jimi joins in and again slips in the 'Outside Woman Blues' riff. By the end the guitar seems a lot louder, suggesting perhaps a change in the taper's position?

'Spanish Castle' gets an 'Arrgh' here, unfortunately- Jimi starts into a great solo but the tape runs out and thus ends the song, and our record of this night....

465

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