Jimi Hendrix’s Full Band of Gypsys Debut Concerts Now Available

Jimi Hendrix: Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East ConcertsJimi Hendrix debuted his new group, The Band of Gypsys, with four concerts over New Year’s Eve 1969 and New Year’s Day 1970. All of the performances were recorded, allowing the guitar legend to cherry-pick his favorite tracks for the album, Band of Gypsys. Now the entirety of the four shows is available in a new box set called Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts.

Hendrix, along with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox, tapped into a new energy. “I looked out in the audience, and as far as I could see for ten or fifteen rows, everyone was in awe,” Cox said in an interview with Guitar World. “It was like they were frozen in time. Jimi was doing some playing that he didn’t do when we rehearsed it. We were all in another vibe, so to speak. After we were through with it, the whole Fillmore East erupted.”

The release includes 43 tracks over five CDs or eight LPs, including over two dozen tracks that have never been released commercially or have been “newly remixed plus the full extended versions of songs originally released on the 1970 Band of Gypsys album.” The package is filled with unseen photos, remembrances from bassist Billy Cox and liner notes by author/journalist/filmmaker Nelson George.

Listen to the trio throw down on “Ezy Ryder” from the second set of December 31st, 1969:

Songs For Groovy Children is available on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).

Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts Track Lists:

12/31/69 (First Set)

  1. Power Of Soul
  2. Lover Man
  3. Hear My Train A Comin’
  4. Changes
  5. Izabella
  6. Machine Gun
  7. Stop
  8. Ezy Ryder
  9. Bleeding Heart
  10. Earth Blues
  11. Burning Desire

12/31/69 (Second Set)

  1. Auld Lang Syne%
  2. Who Knows%
  3. Fire
  4. Ezy Ryder*
  5. Machine Gun%
  6. Stone Free
  7. Changes*
  8. Message To Love*
  9. Stop*
  10. Foxey Lady

1/1/70 (First Set)

  1. Who Knows
  2. Machine Gun+
  3. Changes+
  4. Power Of Soul%
  5. Stepping Stone%
  6. Foxey Lady+
  7. Stop%
  8. Earth Blues+
  9. Burning Desire%

1/1/70 (Second Set)

  1. Stone Free%
  2. Power Of Soul#
  3. Changes#
  4. Message To Love#
  5. Lover Man
  6. Lover Man*
  7. Steal Away*
  8. Earth Blues%

1/1/70 (Second Set)

  1. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)%
  2. We Gotta Live Together#
  3. Wild Thing%
  4. Hey Joe*
  5. Purple Haze*

*previously unreleased
+first time on CD/LP/streaming (previously only available as part of concert film)
#longer, unedited versions of previously released material, and newly remixed
%back in print on CD/LP for the first time in a decade, and newly remixed

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  1. What a blazing tempo, sheesh.