Magic Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Experience live at Berkeley, 1970

By Harvey Kubernik

 

Magic Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live at Berkeley (First Show) was issued on October 16, 2026 on Experience Hendrix, LLC and Legacy Recordings. Produced by Janie Hendrix, original Experience recording engineer Eddie Kramer, and John McDermott, this historic 1970 concert is receiving a proper release for the first time, and will be available on 2-LP vinyl, CD, and all digital platforms.

The final lineup of the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Hendrix on guitar/vocals, Mitch Mitchell on drums, Billy Cox on bass) performed two sets on May 30, 1970, at the Berkeley Community Theatre. At this point in his career, Hendrix had decided to only tour on weekends because his primary focus was on building Electric Lady Studios, his own state-of-the-art recording facility in Greenwich Village. Demand for these two East Bay concerts far outstripped the venue’s 6,600 total available seats, leading to several thousand fans being turned away. Many swarmed the plaza in front of the theater, breaking windows and rushing the doors before the first performance. Others scaled the walls to gain entrance through the roof.

Concertgoers who had purchased tickets were forced to elbow their way through the angry mob while being pelted by rocks. Promoter Bill Graham’s security force had never witnessed this level of aggression before. The Experience, who made it inside safely via a back door, ripped through repertoire both familiar and foreign to the audience. The audio was captured onto tape by Hendrix’s front-of-house engineer Abe Jacob, who had worked with him on previous tours.”

In 2021, my brother Kenneth and I wrote Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child. I interviewed Janie Hendrix, Eddie Kramer, Abe Jacob, and Billy Cox about the May 30, 1970 Berkeley concert.

 

Janie Hendrix: Jimi had a relationship with Berkeley. When my father was in the service, Lucille (Jimi’s mother) sort of lost track of Jimi, and he ended up in Berkeley, with a wonderful family that wanted to adopt him. My dad wasn’t having any of that. “No, I want my son back. Thanks for taking care of him.” So, Jimi did have a little bit of roots there.

 

Billy Cox: By this time we’re getting used to these crowds. You know, it really didn’t have anything to do with race. It was being linked together cosmically, I guess. I was in Jimi’s head. He started off “All Along the Watchtower” in the wrong key. I started off in the wrong key with him. Because wherever he went I was right on him. Then Jimi got on the microphone and went to the original key and I was on him right then and there. When we got off the stage he said,” you were right on me like white on rice.” “No. I was right on you like a rat on cheese.” And we laughed at that.

We were cosmically linked musically, because we rehearsed, practiced at hotels, making mistakes and learning. We went to recording sessions early so we could get some rehearsal time so we could do some new riffs. And that’s the type of relationship we had.

People enjoyed the songs, more so than the old songs. Like “Foxy Lady” and “Purple Haze.”

I liked playing with Mitch. I came from a jazz influence in being from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a jazz hub like Philadelphia and New York. My uncles played horn. I was at home playing with Mitch and equally at home playing with Buddy, who was R&B-oriented. Jimi picked probably two of the greatest drummers he ever could have had.

Never had a set list. Jimi always started the song off. He was the boss. So, wherever he wanted to go, that’s where we went. Normally from “Foxy Lady” to “Voodoo Child,” to “Freedom” and “Straight Ahead.” Jimi starts it first, and we know where he is gonna go and where he went. We practiced so long, and we knew all the keys. So, if Jimi wanted to extend it, he would look back, we knew what that cue was. Maybe he would raise his hands to the left or to the right. We knew the cue. He was the boss, and we knew where he wanted to go.”

 

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The fascination with this Berkeley performance and its lore steadily grew over the years when two early posthumous releases featured recordings from that set; “Hear My Train A Comin’” made it onto Rainbow Bridge (1971) and the electrifying rendition of “Johnny B Goode” can be heard on Hendrix in the West (1972).

The 1971 concert film Jimi Plays Berkeley includes extracts of “Purple Haze” and “Star Spangled Banner,” stoking the fires further. Magic Boy finally assembles the performance in the order it was experienced by attendees.

The album provides fans with the opportunity to hear Hendrix confidently shift between familiar favorites such as “Fire” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” to then-brand-new material like “Ezy Ryder” and “Freedom” before they had been completed in the studio. Hendrix also incorporated Band of Gypsys material into the set list; “Message to Love” and “Machine Gun” were executed with returning drummer Mitch Mitchell’s unique flair. These Berkeley recordings have been newly remixed by Eddie Kramer from the original multi-track tapes and mastered by multiple Grammy Award winner Bernie Grundman.

 

Janie Hendrix, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix, LLC, commented, “Jimi called himself a ‘Magic Boy,’ so this title has a very personal meaning. He was always reaching for something new—exploring, experimenting, and pushing his music forward. At Berkeley, you can hear that journey happening in real time. He gives the audience the songs they already loved while opening the door to where he was headed next. More than fifty years later, that magic is still there. Magic Boy lets us experience Jimi’s brilliance, energy and imagination all over again.”

 

Eddie Kramer: Thank God Abe Jacob recorded so many great live Jimi shows during his career. And Jimi wanted to make sure the shit sounded good. I recorded Jimi at Woodstock and Miami Pop. And you had to be on your game. ‘Cause you only had one shot. (laughs).

Berkeley 1970 is definitely up there as one of the finest. Abe Jacob actually did the basic recording. Of course, Abe and I go back many years, and we would always talk about stuff like how to record Jimi. I was very lucky to have him do some of those shows. I never had the opportunity to record Jimi live but I always did all the mixing with him of course, starting with Band of Gypsys which we did together and was very interesting.

There is a history there of working together. I know what is needed to make it sound right. Certainly in today’s market you want it to not only have the vintage feel, but it’s gotta punch, you know.

I think Jimi reacted to audiences and areas of the country, wherever they were. With a different attitude because the audiences were different. Jimi was a guy who fed from the audience. And if the audience was receptive and giving back.

What happens at the Fillmore East, or Berkeley 1970, or wherever there is a great theater with fabulous acoustics, he’s like a sax player. A great jazz sax player would walk around the room and just blast to find the best place for that sound to come back.

 

Abe Jacob: Bill Graham did the Berkeley 1970 show. He was a very dynamic individual. And he had a terrific personality. Sometimes it wasn’t the personality you wanted to deal with. But his philosophy was always for the audience. He would do anything he did for the band and for the artist as long as they gave a performance to the audience. He told me, “Bands have management and agents. Everybody else has somebody representing them. I’m here to represent the audience.”

For Berkeley 1970, we got the Wally Heider truck. It was in the San Francisco area where I was from it naturally worked out that I would be in the truck and Mike Neal would be doing the mix inside the theater. We kept it simple. When we toured the sound system for the Jimi Hendrix Experience was eight microphones. I mean, that was it. Miking was a little different for recording because we obviously had to mike the guitar and guitar to put it on tape, which you didn’t in the live venue. Pretty much the drums, two vocal mics, some audience mikes for ambience and that was it. We had eight tracks available and everything went on a separate track so it made it easy for Eddie Kramer to mix it later on. I just put a mike in front of what they played.

The basic philosophy was that the sound that came off the stage was what you wanted to present to the live audience and, also what you also what you wanted to present when you recorded it.

The one memory I have, and it has been reported, was that it was such a small room, people trying to get in, and we opened the back doors of the recording truck, and people gathered outside the theater to listen to our monitors in the truck. And it probably prevented a riot.”

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This century I’ve met Janie Hendrix a few times, conducting lengthy interviews with her. Janie’s team has done a stellar job in overseeing, producing, and issuing audio, visual, and literary gifts of her half-brother, Jimi Hendrix.

Last decade, I asked Janie about Jimi’s father, Al Hendrix, whom I spoke with over 20 years ago at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.

“First of all, my dad had a wonderful saying that I’ll always remember. And that is, ‘Jimi never played a note I didn’t like.’

“So, the type of person my father was, he was all about work ethic. He was all about you commit to something, you do that. And from buying Jimi’s first guitar, kind of watching him, ‘You’re serious, you do want to play. I’ll get you another guitar. Okay. You’re serious. I see you really do want to play now. I’ll get you an electric guitar.’

“The root of that comes from grandmother and my dad. My dad was a man of few words, but what he said was profound when he spoke and I always find myself hearing his voice. Not weirdly. The different sayings that he would say and Jimi embraced that. And he was quote shy, and when he was a kid he stuttered, so he didn’t speak a whole lot. And I think that also enabled him to choose his words wisely when he did speak.”

Janie Hendrix discussed Jimi’s lyrics. An aspect of Hendrix not examined much.

“When I was a child, I was always fascinated by my brother Jimi’s handwriting. It was an art form in and of itself. I remember the feeling of being captivated the first time I saw his handwritten lyrics. Thinking how beautiful, how complicated both the writing and the words were on paper. Even now they offer such an insight into who my brother was and is. To know Jimi’s hand was on that pen that wrote those words and out of his spirit comes these words in forms of songs or poetry. And it’s almost like touching a holy grail,” Janie exclaimed.

“The time he’s on the road, in a hotel, he didn’t always have a notebook that he was carrying around. So, he grabbed what he could. Tablets by the phone in the hotel. Some things are written on yellow pads. He didn’t write a lot of lyrics in the studio.

“His messages were locked in those lyrics. Some things had many meanings. Like, ‘Spanish Castle Magic.’ When he says, ‘It takes half a day to get there by dragonfly.’ He’s talking about a metro bus here in Seattle that drove him from the central district to almost Tacoma. It was a metro bus but he named it the Dragonfly. He talks about the clouds. And the thing about Seattle we have the fluffiest clouds, these blue skies, these really puffy clouds and he totally describes this fantasy place. But part of it is his reality and what he lived here in Seattle. But then, it’s to one’s interpretation what it is and a lot of times to what he is saying.

“You can totally see him evolving. And the different interests he had. And, yes, in the very beginning he was very much into science fiction which I don’t think ever left him. He was also into colors and he was into prisms, and how colors affect you as people. He also wanted people to wake up. Be active and pro-active and be a part of what is going on. You can hear and see and read all of that in his lyrics where he was constantly evolving into. Really, I think of Jimi as a prophet in many ways. Because what he was saying to people is something that really, if they listen, people of today still need to hear the same message.”

“Putting out Jimi’s music is splendid all in itself. But the lyrics I think give a whole other facet who Jimi is. You hear Jimi’s recordings on the radio, or the Pandora Hendrix channel, or an Mp3 player, and you hear it. But to actually read and ponder and mediate and concentrate and take yourself into a whole different realm by reading the lyrics because sometimes the lyrics get lost in the music. The beat. We get caught up in the rhythm and we may not be listening to the words that are being said.

“I saw five concerts. And for me, I get to know more and more, better and better, as if I was there or he’s still here, every day that I work with his music. Reflecting on some of the things I would see when Jimi came home. Like the funny talks at the dinner table. Jimi loved my mother’s chicken teriyaki.”

In 2012, I conducted an interview with Janie Hendrix. She really provided insights into the ongoing documented Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix mutual admiration society.

“Jimi really loved the lyrics of Bob Dylan. And he was one person who I met who really admired Jimi.

“Years after Jimi died my dad got a phone call. I had come home from college and he said, ‘You’ll never believe who called today.’ ‘Who?’ ‘Bob Zimmerman. Bob Dylan.’ I did the same thing. ‘What did he want?’

“‘Well, he called, and said, ‘first of all, I want to give you my condolences for Jimi passing. And I know you’ll find this odd that its ten years later and I’m finally calling but I’ve picked up the phone so many times in the last decade and I just couldn’t bring myself to call you and talk to you. But Jimi was more than somebody that admired my music. I admired him. He was a friend. And it just hurt, extremely when he died. And just wanted to pick up the phone to call you and give my condolences.’

“Wow…Of course my dad was very emotional and it made him cry. ‘Why thank you for calling.’ And Dylan said, ‘The next time I am in Seattle I’d like you to come to the concert.’ ‘OK.’

“So, a few years later, Bob Dylan came to town and he invited us to the show and we went backstage. And, here is my dad, late seventies, and a little camera on his wrist and he’s got arthritis and not walking very well.

“But we get backstage at The Paramount in the green room. And he’s reaching for his camera, and Bob Dylan doesn’t like to take pictures, so his bodyguards almost attack my dad (laughs).

“‘I’m sorry. I would like to have a picture with you.’ And Bob Dylan had on his slip-up hoodie and pulled the hood off and said, ‘It’s OK. Come on.’ So, I took some pictures of them. I mentioned, ‘Jimi always said he loved your lyrics.’ And he said, ‘I loved his guitar playing.’

“At the concert we also had been given seats and chairs at the side of the stage, and the guitar player nods at me, and I nudged my dad as they were getting ready to play “All Along the Watchtower.” And Bob Dylan made it a point to say, ‘I do it the way Jimi did it to honor Jimi. Even though it was a song I wrote.’”

 

© Harvey Kubernik, 2026

 

Harvey Kubernik is the author of 21 books, including 2009’s Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon, 2014’s Turn Up the Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll in Los Angeles 1956-1972, 2015′s Everybody Knows: Leonard Cohen, 2016′s Heart of Gold: Neil Young and 2017′s 1967: A Complete Rock Music History of the Summer of Love.

Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story of The Band: From Big Pink to The Last Waltz. In 2021 they penned Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child for Sterling/Barnes and Noble.

Otherworld Cottage Industries in 2020 published Harvey’s Docs That Rock, Music That Matters. His Screen Gems: (Pop Music Documentaries and Rock ‘n’ Roll TV Scenes) was published in February 2026 by BearManor Media. Kubernik is researching a narrative study on the Beatles scheduled for a UK publisher with a planned summer 2027 publication date.

Harvey spoke at the special hearings in 2006 initiated by the Library of Congress held in Hollywood, California, discussing archiving practices and audiotape preservation.

In 2017, he appeared at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, in its Distinguished Speakers Series and as panelist, discussing the forty-fifth anniversary of director Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in 2023. Kubernik attended the 1976 event celebrating The Band.

 

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