On July 3 through 5, 1970, an estimated 200,000 people (and some estimated up to 600,000) came together at the Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron, GA for the second Atlanta International Pop Festival.
The crowd saw a long list of some of the best acts of the day including the Allman Brothers Band, Grand Funk Railroad, B.B. King, the Chambers Brothers, Mott the Hoople, Poco, Procol Harum, Rare Earth, Mountain, Spirit, Johnny Winter, the Bob Seger System and Jimi Hendrix.
Even with such a lineup, not much was documented about the festival, including Hendrix’ performance which occurred at about midnight on the Fourth of July. Hendrix returned to his rendition of The Star Spangled Banner to accompany fireworks in front of the, to date, largest crowd of his career.
Jimi Hendrix:Electric Church, a new film on his Atlanta performance, will debut on Showtime September 4 at 9 PM. The Hendrix estate in association with Legacy Recordings will release the DVD and Blu-Ray of the film on October 30 with additional content not in the broadcast.
The film details the efforts by Atlanta promoter Alex Cooley to create the definitive music festival. Cooley secured such talent as Bob Seger, BB King and the Allman Brothers, but Hendrix was the critical component he needed to elevate the three day festival to a major cultural event. Electric Church features interviews with Hendrix’s Experience band mates Billy Cox and the late Mitch Mitchell as well as Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Rich Robinson, Kirk Hammett, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, festival organizer Alex Cooley and many others. The film contains breathtaking, color 16mm footage of Jimi Hendrix’s Independence Day appearance, a mere ten weeks before his untimely passing. Standout performances include such Hendrix classics as Hey Joe, Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Purple Haze, as well as confident, compelling versions of songs such as Room Full Of Mirrors, Freedom, and Straight Ahead that had not yet been issued by Jimi on an Experience album, but were intended to be part of the album he was working on that summer. The Star Spangled Banner, played against a backdrop of exploding fireworks, is another highlight, which Cooley recalls as having “knocked peoples’ socks off.”
A separate 2-CD and 2-LP set, Freedom: Jimi Hendrix Experience Atlanta Pop Festival, will be out before the Showtime broadcast on August 28. The release includes six songs not included in the Showtime documentary.
The track list:
Disc 1
Fire
Lover Man
Spanish Castle Magic
Red House
Room Full Of Mirrors
Hear My Train A Comin’
Message To Love
Disc 2
All Along The Watchtower
Freedom
Foxey Lady
Purple Haze
Hey Joe
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Stone Free
Star Spangled Banner
Straight Ahead
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