Jimi Hendrix's music had been on the radio for about three months by the time he played Toronto. The music spoke for itself, but the stage presence was just a legend, until that first gig at The Coliseum. The entire evening's entertainment could not have been better presented.
Instead of some pathetic opening acts, the concert was enhanced with the performances of The Paupers and The Soft Machine.
I have no photos of these bands, as I was saving my film for Jimi, but they all performed brilliantly.
The Paupers were the proverbial 'lambs to slaughter', the local Toronto hacks allowed to play just to kill time.
The Paupers were above all that. A four-piece psychedelic group, their tight jamming style and first-rate playing set the tone for the entire evening.
Soft Machine came next, a virtuoso trio from the UK that had been on tour with Hendrix throughout his debut North American tour.
Most of my friends were out in the hallways smoking up and waiting for Hendrix to come on stage. I remember asking people many weeks after the show what they thought of Soft Machine and most of them never heard a note from this unknown opening act.
I waited six more months before their first album became available in Canada and I wasn't disappointed. I love them to this day.
Hendrix, of course, lived up to his reputation. He was loud, gaudy and incredible.
He was amazing to hear and watch. He was the first black rock star to play exclusively to white audiences. He was flamboyant ( just like his mentor Little Richard), and he was a brilliant guitarist. No matter what turned you on, Hendrix delivered the goods.
The outlandish stage clothes, the guitar fucks, the vocal seduction, and the scream of 800 watts of distorted guitar was enough to make anyone swoon.
The other two players were excellent musicians as well. Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass gave Hendrix the solid back-up he needed to expand on his riffs.
No other later line-up provided him with the same solid foundation that he had with this original trio.
Hendrix enjoyed this performance, pulling out all the stage tricks he was known for, and playing and singing with confident abandon.
This was probably my favorite gig of all time.