Notice to the congregation: the Jimi Hendrix Experience performance film “Electric Church” will be unspooling in cinemas across North America in February and March.
Although the documentary has been available on DVD and Blu-ray since 2015 (and on Showtime), this run marks the theatrical debut of the film, recorded two months before the guitarist’s death.
The Experience played the final night/morning of the second Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron, Georgia, on July 4, 1970. While not considered a career highlight for Hendix, with the gig beset by technical issues and curious tunings, there is much to like about the performance. Hendrix was accompanied by Billy Cox (bass) and Mitch Mitchell (drums).
Several screenings of “Electric Church” feature guest speakers. The Jan. 31 theatrical premiere at the Arclight in Hollywood has co-producer Janie Hendrix and a Q&A session with music engineer Eddie Kramer, producer/director John McDermott and festival footage director Steve Rash.
Kramer, as usual, did the audio mix for the project.
Feb. 25 sees Experience member Cox sharing his memories for an audience in Nashville.
And Experience Hendrix boss Janie Hendrix does a Q&A for a Feb. 13 screening in Seattle.
There are at least 76 screenings set, with other stops including New York, Toronto, Phoenix, Long Beach, Monterey, Buffalo, Albuquerque and El Paso.
The second Atlanta International Pop Festival came the summer after Woodstock with a crowd estimated to be as large as a half million people, but probably more like 250,000. Hendrix was the star but had plenty of competition: Other acts included the Allman Brothers Band, Spirit, Lee Michaels, Ten Years After, Johnny Winter, Mountain and the Chambers Brothers.
The Hendrix film, shot in 16mm, includes “Woodstock”-style footage of the festival and interviews with performers, promoter Alex Cooley and various locals of Byron, a small Georgia town about 100 miles south of Atlanta.
The Atlanta festival and Hendrix’s set had been pretty much forgotten until recently. “The film sat undeveloped in my barn for over 30 years,” says Rash, who directed the footage on that blistering hot weekend. A documentary about the festival itself has seen a few screenings, but no distribution.
The Experience’s songs include “Purple Haze,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” “Freedom,” “Straight Ahead” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” Sony and the Hendrix family also released a concert album of Hendrix at Atlanta.
Personal note: I was there, sweating it out with the rest of the South’s hippie population. Hendrix went on way late, and sounded off the whole time. Or maybe we were just too exhausted to listen properly after three days of good times and great music. So many amazing bands: Hendrix wasn’t one of them that long day and night. After watching the film, I suspect sound man Kramer did some serious sweetening on the music. Regardless, “Electric Church” is a must-see, especially in surround sound in a cinema.