Two items: a vibrant original color 5.5 x 11.5 handbill for a concert featuring Jimi Hendrix, The Walker Brothers, and Cat Stevens at the Finsbury Park Astoria in London, England, on March 31, 1967, which features a lineup of The Californians, Compere Nicky Jones, The Quotations, and Engelbert Humperdinck as the special guest star; and an original ticket stub for the concert, 2.5 x 2.5, issued as “J” and “M47.” In overall fine condition, with horizontal folds to the handbill.
On March 31, 1967, at the Finsbury Park Astoria, Jimi Hendrix set his 1965 Fender Stratocaster on fire on the opening night of the Walker Brothers tour. The Hendrix spectacle, according to Keith Altham’s concert review in the New Music Express Magazine from April 8, 1967: ‘The Jimi Hendrix Experience are a musical labyrinth—you either find your way into the solid wall of incredible sound, or you sit back and gasp at Hendrix’ guitar antics and showmanship, wondering what it’s all about. The sounds are something new—you either dig it or you do not…Finale to Hendrix’s act came about when his guitar burst into flames by ‘accident’ we are assured, and precipitated the entrance of a security officer who sprayed detergent from a canister all over compere Nick Jones.’
