Hear My Train a Comin': Hendrix Hits London

Great guitarist? Sure. But crowds were equally wooed by Jimi Hendrix's fashion-forward attire. In 1967 he began to wear a "Westerner" brand wide-brimmed hat that he outfitted with a swathe of purple fabric, decorated brooches, silver bangles, and occasionally a feather. Beginning in late1968 he began to favor bandanas instead, later taking to the stage in fanciful costumes that featured trailing sleeves, long fringe, and glass beads.

Pictured: Jimi Hendrix "Westerner" hat.

Photo by EMP staff.

Never a fan of conformism, Jimi Hendrix was a pioneer of the "Peacock Revolution."  The guitar icon favored brightly colored brocade, silk, and velvet items purchased from psychedelic dandified boutiques around London such as Dandie Fashions, Granny Takes a Trip, Hung on You, or Mr. Fish. This extreme form of menswear, complete with ruffles, feathers, and frills, butted up against the establishment and celebrated the swinging london look with unabashed adornment.

Pictured: Jimi Hendrix jacket purchased from Dandie Fashions on 161 King’s Road in Spring of 1967.

Photo by EMP staff.

Hendrix's show at the Saville Theatre in Westminster would be his last before leaving England to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival. During his nine-month stay, Hendrix had taken the swinging London scene by storm. To mark his gratitude for the warm welcome he'd received in the UK, the wave of which would propel him into superstardom once back on American turf, Hendrix hand-painted his Stratocaster, lovingly inscribed a poem to it, and then smashed it to pieces.

Pictured: Fragments from the guitar played by Hendrix at the Saville Theatre, June 4, 1967.

Photo by EMP staff.

On April 8,1967 the Walker Brothers tour opened at the Finsbury Park Astoria Theatre, giving impressionable young teens firsthand exposure to Hendrix's bad-boy behavior, like setting his guitar aflame at the end of his act. Fellow musicians included "nice boys" like The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, and Englebert Humperdinck, whose suave performance followed Hendrix, wrote music journalist Keith Altham for the New Music Express Magazine, "like Dr. Jeckyl following Mr. Hyde."

Poster for The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Finsbury Park  Astoria Theatre, London,  March 31, 1967.

Photograph by EMP staff.

Considered one of the greatest drummers in rock ‘n’ roll history, The Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell inspired a rabid fan base of his own with his jazz-infused style of playing. Following his audition in October of 1966, Mitchell went on to drum on every released Hendrix single and all three albums produced up until 1969 when The Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up.  

Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, and Noel Redding, Paris, March 1967.

Photograph by Alain Dister.

Loan courtesy of Dee Mitchell.