How David Gilmour Became Jimi Hendrix's Sound Engineer for an Iconic Show

Jimi Hendrix is a legendary virtuoso guitarist, singer and composer. He is often called "Game God", but time magazine and even awarded him the title of the greatest guitar master in history ... Hendrix to this day remains one of the most daring and inventive virtuosos in the history of rock music. He passed away very early, and his name added to the list of infamous "Club 27", but even during his lifetime, Jimi was a real phenomenon and genius ... Another guitar guru, David Gilmour is a living legend Pink Floyd! He built a dazzling career and maintained a cult status outside of the band, working as a record producer for various artists. What connects these two geniuses besides the guitar? Isle of Wight - music Festival 1970passed on the island White in England! It was this festival that turned out to be the largest of the first three: it surpassed Woodstock in terms of the number of viewers ... This was due to the appearance of such stars as The Who, The Doors, and, of course, Jimi Hendrix…

How David Gilmour ended up backstage at Isle of Wight 1970

Impressive career David Gilmour of Pink Floyd one of the most respected characters in the world of rock and roll - contains almost 60 years! The singer and guitarist became one of the most important members of the music scene when he replaced Syd Barrett as a person Floyd at the end of the sixties. Until then, Gilmour had been a respected guitarist, and after the demise of the prog rock giants, he continued to produce extensive and artistically high quality music. One thing that can also be added to his resume is, as it turns out, his association with Jimi Hendrix…

In the golden age of rock 'n' roll in the late sixties and early seventies, there was only one person that absolutely everyone was talking about: and that Jimi Hendrix. The guitarist quickly became the epitome of the counterculture movement, and with each virtuoso performance he seemed more and more aspired to be the de facto savior of the flower energy generation... He promoted world peace, championed creativity, and did it all with intimidating confidence and powerful guitar solos. … And one of the places where he really left a giant mark was the festival on the Isle of Wight in 1970 year.

Many years later the legend Pink Floyd David Gilmour shared that he not only attended the landmark show Isle of Wight, but also, inexplicably, turned out to be Hendrix's sound engineer for this iconic performance! That day the crowd of spectators exceeded 600,000 people, and we are willing to bet that 99% of them came to watch the game Jimi Hendrix… It just so happens that Gilmour was one of them. Actually, his word:

“I got to the festival site and pitched a tent on the field just by being a player. Later, I went backstage where our main roadie, Peter Watts, was trying to deal with all this chaos with Charlie Watkins from WEM (an amplifier company). They were very nervous: they had to mix Hendrix's sound. I was mixing in those days and they said, “Help! We really need help!” Well, I agreed…”

Hendrix performance

Festival Isle of Wight memorable for two disturbing reasons. Firstly, the show itself was largely ruined by technical errors… Secondly, and much more tragically, performing alongside Mitch Mitchell and Billy Coxwhich took place early in the morning August 31, was the last for Hendrix in the territory UK… Gilmour was arguably in one of the brightest and most promising bands at the moment, in Pink Floydbut he knew when the story was unfolding and wanted to be in the action. So! Watch the performance for which David Gilmour became a sound engineer Jimi Hendrix:

It is worth noting that this was far from the first time that the paths of two outstanding guitarists, Gilmour and Hendrix, crossed...

Early meetings of two legendary guitarists

After the tragic death Jimi, David Gilmour gave an interview in which he said:

“I met him before. I didn't know him, but I've witnessed his strength and skill firsthand: I've seen him play live at the Blaises club in South Kensington. He jammed with Brian Auger and the Trinity with Julie Driscoll on vocals... This little place was filled with people like the Beatles and Stones, so you know right away when something is wrong. And this guy went out and fixed the right-handed guitar the wrong way! He was an absolute phenomenon from the very beginning!”

https://youtu.be/fe82eYRjiBU

Their meetings didn't end there! Gilmour and Hendrix met again on the other side of the canal when the guitarist arrived in the French capital...

“Later I lived in Paris, and one of my jobs, besides playing with my little pop band Jokers Wild, was that I was hired to drive Jimi around Paris all evening, show him how to have a good time ... He seemed very nice. Handsome, shy…”

Finally…

Unfortunately, the two powerful guitarists never shared the stage, or even the melody... Instead, fans will have to settle for small snippets of their relationship, which never came to fruition. As for the festival, it was filmed by the director Murray Lerner, however ... was released as a film only in 2003.