Hendrix’ Woodstock Set Coming To Big Screen

On November 26th -- the day before what would've been Jimi Hendrix's 70th birthday -- his August 18th, 1969 closing set at Woodstock will be shown in theaters globally. The press release for the Hendrix 70: Live From Woodstock event said: "Jimi's fascinating road to the Woodstock festival is revealed by way of never before seen footage and interviews with his band members such as Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell, engineer Eddie Kramer and Woodstock's promoter Michael Lang. Directed by Grammy Award winner Bob Smeaton -- known for his work on The Beatles Anthology, Hendrix's Band Of Gypsys, and Festival Express -- the documentary, which precedes the performance footage, reveals the struggle to stage the legendary festival and secure Hendrix as its headline artist."

Woodstock organizer Michael Lang said that Jimi Hendrix's manager Michael Jeffries drove a hard bargain in cementing Hendrix as the festival's closer: ["One day I went to his agent's office, to try to sort of definitively try to get this done or not, and came up with the idea of offering him two shows. I wanted him to open the festival with an acoustic set, and close with the band. And I would pay him $15,000 per set. So now, he's getting $30,000. And the other problem was that I'd established this idea of alphabetical billing and everybody getting 100 percent billing, 'cause I sort of wanted this equality between everybody. And I had no problem with any other group except Jimi again, because Michael wanted him to have 100 percent star billing, and I said, 'Well, you'll get it. So will everybody else (laughs)."] SOUNDCUE (:38 OC: . . . will everybody else (laughs))

The tracklisting to Hendrix 70: Live From Woodstock is:
"Message To Love"
"Spanish Castle Magic"
"Red House"
"Lover Man"
"Foxey Lady"
"Jam Back At The House"
"Izabella"
"Fire"
"Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"
"Star Spangled Banner"
"Purple Haze"
"Woodstock Improvisation"
"Villanova Junction"
"Hey Joe"