The year legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix rocked Glasgow twice

Appearing at the Odeon in April 1967 were Jimi Hendrix and Cat Stevens, supporting Englebert Humperdink and the Walker Brothers.

That year, legendary guitarist Hendrix came to Glasgow twice – in December, he was at Green’s Playhouse (which eventually became the Apollo) for two nights.

In total, he was on stage for less than 90 minutes, but the welcome for the young singer - who was born on this day in 1942, was uproarious. Many years later, in an interview with our sister newspaper The Herald, former Sensational Alex Harvey Band manager Eddie Tobin recalled: “Hendrix actually opened the set with feedback.

“There was a young Glasgow girl in the crowd shouting ‘Jimi! Jimi! Jimi!’ over and over again while this went on. Hendrix was facing his Marshall amp. He walked backwards towards his mike and spoke sideways into it.

“He said ‘I hear you baby’ and launched into ‘Purple Haze’. The crowd just went crazy.

“The way he said it blew me away. I just thought to myself, ‘this guy is the king of the castle!’”

Earlier that year, at the April gig on that odd mixed bill, Hendrix was still relatively unknown and only on stage for 20 minutes, something he would later complain about.

“Our billing position was all wrong,” the Herald reported him as saying. “I was setting the stage on fire for everyone else.”

Other venues had warned the singer to tone down his act, that it was too “vulgar” - on the day of the Odeon concert, reported The Herald, the Daily Express said Rank Organisation theatres were on the verge of banning him.

It continued: “A defiant Jimi and his manager – former Animals bassist Chas Chandler - said they had no intentions of toning down the act. So, audiences at both the 1967 shows in Glasgow saw the full array of his guitar wizardry and showmanship – including playing guitar with his teeth and setting the instrument on fire.”

This was Hendrix’s first UK tour, and later in the summer the band released its debut album, Are You Experienced? By the time he came back to Glasgow, he was huge and police officers had to protect him outside venues from screaming fans.

Again, Hendrix was on a busy bill, alongside The Move, Pink Floyd, Amen Corner and others. And he still only had about 30 minutes on stage.

In the Herald, Eddie Tobin recalled: “Glasgow really bought into the whole Summer of Love thing. People were actually walking around wearing flowers in their hair. It was just a wonderful time to be a music fan. The Beatles were at the very peak of their creativity and all these great acts were touring.

“If you were a musician you had to go and see Hendrix. He was the most exciting new act in the business. We had seen all the others; many of them were bloody good acts but Hendrix was different. We had caught glimpses of him on the telly and we knew he was going to be sensational.”

After the gig, legend has it the band partied the night away at the Albany, Glasgow’s hotel hotspot for the stars. And despite the fun they had, the Jimi Hendrix Experience never played in the city again.

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Born in Seattle on this day in 1942, Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army, but was discharged the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville then Nashville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs as part of the Isley Brothers’ backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965.

He moved to England in late 1966. His biggest hits include Hey Joe, Purple Haze, and The Wind Cries Mary. In 1969, Hendrix was the world’s highest-paid performer and he headlined Woodstock. He died in London from a drugs overdose on September 18, 1970, at the age of 27.

Did you see Jimi Hendrix in Glasgow? Send us your memories, we would love to share them on our Times Past pages.