August 11, 1968 – Jimi Hendrix Experience perform at the Coliseum Ballroom in Davenport, Iowa. Support acts: Soft Machine and local band Night People.
Set list: Are You Experienced, Lover Man, Tax Free, Red House, Foxy Lady, I Don’t Live Today, Fire
Remembers promoter Don Wachel, “Hendrix’s management called us. He was playing Minneapolis and was en route to St. Louis. His price was $8,000, which was a lot for an act in 1968. We debated over a week over it because we would have had to get at least 2,200 people to break even. It wasn’t a sure thing because his songs weren’t on the radio and general public didn’t really know who he was yet.” He goes on to say, “We took a gamble and didn’t make any money on the show. I think if we would’ve had him six months later it would have been standing room only.” The Experience was paid $19,000 for their appearance.
Regarding the concert, Wachel recalls, “The night didn’t go that easy. Soft Machine was contracted to play for $500. At show time, they demanded $1,000 or they wouldn’t go on. I said, ‘Fine, I don’t need you. We’ll do a longer intermission and go on to Hendrix.’ But both bands had the same road manager and that didn’t work. I had to pay the extra $500 to Soft Machine.” In addition, “Noel Redding was a bit perturbed because we had ‘Jimi Hendrix’ on the marquee outside instead of ‘Jimi Hendrix Experience.’ He wanted to make sure that I knew he was upset. Hendrix sat in a chair in the office and didn’t say a word about it.”
Opening act Night People was the Sunday night house band at the Col, and got to open the show. “We played first and had a pretty good following,” said guitarist Mike Stroehle in an interview published in Eyewitness: The Illustrated Jimi Hendrix 1968. “We were pretty confident. The thing that hit me was when Hendrix started, he was plunking around on his guitar, getting it set. He sounded better than us just plunking around than we actually playing.” Of the Hendrix set, he recalls, “He did a blues tune called ‘Red House’ and ‘Here Comes Your Lover Man’ which wasn’t on his album. A friend of ours recorded the show on a Tanberg reel-to-reel with a couple of microphones set up in the balcony. The original tape was excellent but that’s been lost – we still have copies.”
Bootleg
Set list: Are You Experienced, Lover Man, Tax Free, Red House, Foxy Lady, I Don’t Live Today, Fire
Remembers promoter Don Wachel, “Hendrix’s management called us. He was playing Minneapolis and was en route to St. Louis. His price was $8,000, which was a lot for an act in 1968. We debated over a week over it because we would have had to get at least 2,200 people to break even. It wasn’t a sure thing because his songs weren’t on the radio and general public didn’t really know who he was yet.” He goes on to say, “We took a gamble and didn’t make any money on the show. I think if we would’ve had him six months later it would have been standing room only.” The Experience was paid $19,000 for their appearance.
Regarding the concert, Wachel recalls, “The night didn’t go that easy. Soft Machine was contracted to play for $500. At show time, they demanded $1,000 or they wouldn’t go on. I said, ‘Fine, I don’t need you. We’ll do a longer intermission and go on to Hendrix.’ But both bands had the same road manager and that didn’t work. I had to pay the extra $500 to Soft Machine.” In addition, “Noel Redding was a bit perturbed because we had ‘Jimi Hendrix’ on the marquee outside instead of ‘Jimi Hendrix Experience.’ He wanted to make sure that I knew he was upset. Hendrix sat in a chair in the office and didn’t say a word about it.”
Opening act Night People was the Sunday night house band at the Col, and got to open the show. “We played first and had a pretty good following,” said guitarist Mike Stroehle in an interview published in Eyewitness: The Illustrated Jimi Hendrix 1968. “We were pretty confident. The thing that hit me was when Hendrix started, he was plunking around on his guitar, getting it set. He sounded better than us just plunking around than we actually playing.” Of the Hendrix set, he recalls, “He did a blues tune called ‘Red House’ and ‘Here Comes Your Lover Man’ which wasn’t on his album. A friend of ours recorded the show on a Tanberg reel-to-reel with a couple of microphones set up in the balcony. The original tape was excellent but that’s been lost – we still have copies.”
Bootleg