The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival (2xLP)

Historic July 4, 1970 performance in front of his largest ever U.S. audience

About 100 miles south of Atlanta, next to a field just outside the town of Byron, there stands a plaque erected by the Georgia Historical Society marking the location of the Second Atlanta International Pop Festival, where from July 3-5, 1970, rock icon Jimi Hendrix played to the largest American audience of his career.

Despite the overwhelming attendance, estimated to be 300,000 to 400,000, the festival and Hendrix's performance have not received their due in terms of historic importance and impact — until now!

By the beginning of the 1970s, Jimi Hendrix was unquestionably one of the most exciting rock musicians of his generation, having captivated the world with his highly stylized approach to blues guitar. In "Electric Church," Paul McCartney freely admits to worshipping him, adding, "We all played guitar. We all knew a bit. But he seemed to know more than us."

Hendrix put the rock festival concept on the map with his blistering performance at California's Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, headlining 1968's inaugural Miami Pop Festival, and providing the soundtrack for the counterculture with a dazzling set at Woodstock in 1969.

Hendrix's performance at the Second Atlanta International Pop Festival was not only significant on a musical level, but also in terms of socio-political dynamics. The organizers were keen to push back against the cultural divide that was very much in evidence in the Deep South. It was assumed that rural audiences would not take kindly to "long-hair" bands, and that black and white artists could not comfortably exist on the same bill; Atlanta Pop set out to challenge those beliefs. Hendrix's music and message of universal love made him the ideal artist to represent that pushback, and, appropriately, he was the first act booked for the festival.

The audio release Freedom: Jimi Hendrix Experience Atlanta Pop Festival from Experience Hendrix L.L.C. and Sony Legacy Recordings, includes six performances not seen in the upcoming Showtime TV documentary about Hendrix's Atlanta festival set. This is a 200-gram 2LP vinyl set, plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings! The first 5,000 vinyl units will be individually numbered.