A documentary focusing on Jimi Hendrix’s performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1970 will feature interviews with Kirk Hammett, Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood and others.
It’s officially approved by Experience Hendrix LLC and receives its TV debut on the US Showtime network on September 4, followed by a DVD release via Sony on October 30.
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church explores how promoter Alex Cooley secured him for the festival bill, just weeks before the guitar icon’s death.
It includes performance footage of classic tracks plus material that was to appear later, and a version of The Star Spangled Banner that Cooley says “knocked people’s socks off.”
Atlanta Pop is often referred to as the “southern Woodstock” and “the last great US rock happening.” It took place in Georgia in front of an estimated audience of 400,000.
McCartney says: “We all played guitar. We all knew a bit – but Jimi seemed to know more than us.”
The DVD is accompanied by soundtrack album Freedom: Jimi Hendrix Experience Atlanta Pop Festival, released on August 28, featuring six tracks that don’t appear in the film.
