Jimi Hendrix Plays Live at Blackpool Opera House

ABC Odeon Cinema – 14 & 15 April 1967

Continuing with the UK package tour featuring The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Californians, The Quotations, and MC Nick Jones; The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed two shows at the Odeon Cinema in Blackpool. Hendrix later said in an interview, “Although I wasn’t scared starting my first big tour, we did wonder how they would accept us, there being so many different acts and us probably the most extreme of all. In Blackpool, the police slipped Mitch and Noel through side doors and took me around the block five times before helping me in. I lost some hair, but I might have lost the lot if they hadn’t been guarding me!”

Blackpool Opera House – 25 November 1967

The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed here as part of a 16-date UK package tour, which also featured Pink Floyd and The Move. At the time Hendrix was well on his way to becoming a major star, with his first three singles (“Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” and “The Wind Cries Mary”) being top ten hits. The set times were: The Experience played 40 minutes, The Move played half an hour, and Pink Floyd played between 15 and 20 minutes.

Opera House Setlist:
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Fire
Hey Joe
The Wind Cries Mary
Purple Haze
Wild Thing

Photo of Jimi Hendrix with colleagues backstage on the opening night of his UK tour on 31 March 1967. From left: Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens (holding gun), Gary Leeds (Walker Brothers) and Engelbert Humperdinck. Although this photo was taken at Finsbury Park Astoria, this was the same UK tour lineup that played at Blackpool’s Odeon. © Alamy