Woodstock is cited as Hendrix's greatest performance. Played to 300,000 people in 1969, Jimi extended his 'Experience' group from three to six members to expand his sound. When watching the dvd, its easy to see how it was in that era.

Hendrix's band of gypsies are really tight as a unit from the opening Message to Love, classic songs like Fire, Loverman and Purple Haze, to the classic Voodoo Child. Of course, Woodstock will always be remembered for Jimi's take on the Star Spangled Banner.

The 'Second Look' dvd basically extends the performance with less cuts and including Hear My Train A Comin' for the first time. The bonus features are very small in numbers with Billy Cox (Bass) and Larry Lee (Rhythm Guitar) talking about their Nashville Roots and memorabilia of the Woodstock festival. I find the press conference is a treasurable piece of footage and Eddie Kramer's (Hendrix's record engineer)talk about the festival is very interesting.

Woodstock is a fantastic introduction to the style and music of Jimi Hendrix. Whether people say songs are missing etc, it does not really matter as a whole since this is the DEFINITIVE Hendrix dvd.

Buy it now :-)


*BUY IT*   January 16, 2006
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

This DVD is amazing - it's Hendrix at his best! Buy it, watch it and own the best live music performance you will ever see.


All of the existing film footage?   October 30, 2005
 25 out of 30 found this review helpful

Forgive me for being a skeptic but before buying this, I knew what to expect. I knew Larry Lee's songs would not be in there, the string break during Red House would not be included, Larry Lee's solo during Voodoo Child would be cut and all of the clips between songs would be cut.

But of course ALL cameras managed to simultaneously down their tools during these parts. So I believe it is false advertising when they say "...Features all of the existing film footage from Jimi's unforgettable August 1969 Woodstock concert newly re-edited and presented uninterrupted and in it's original performance sequence".

I could perhaps understand why they would do this with the main first DVD. But the "Second look" second DVD, I expected more. I hoped to see the full concert uninterrupted by the simple black and white camera at the side of the stage, but I wasn't suprised when they chopped chunks out of that as well.

I am perhaps being over-critical about this however, as this remains a fantastic DVD with many interesting features and the more vibrant colour breathes new life into the set - Especially in the newly released tracks. I would have easily rated this 5 out of 5 if I was satisfied they used all of the existing footage, but I don't believe they did. Perhaps in 5 years there will be another Hendrix at Woodstock DVD, again with "all" existing footage...


Incomplete, but extraordinary.   September 27, 2005
 49 out of 49 found this review helpful

It is incomplete but otherwise extraordinary. Let me explain, through the late 70s and 80s I was one of the largest collectors of Jimi's material in the world. I stayed at Al Hendrix's house in Seattle as well as Noel Redding, Kathy Etchingham and Monica Danneman's house, met Mitch Mitchell and many others, put on the UK's largest Jimi Hendrix Convention in 1984 and had a collection second to only perhaps one or two. My priorities changed in 1985 when I became a Christian. I had Jimi's complete Woodstock gig on audio tape in superb quality just over 20 years ago. For 36 years it was rumoured that the entire gig was filmed but I had to make do with my excellent audio recording. Anyway for me the highlights of the gig were the last 30 minutes from Voodoo Child onwards AND two numbers called 'Gypsy Woman' and 'Call Me Mastermind'. These two songs were sung by Larry Lee and Jimi took a step back and played some remarkable rhythm guitar. Gypsy Woman is the Curtis Mayfield number and Jimi's rhythm is absolutely exquisite as it is on Call Me Mastermind. It made such a pleasant musical break from the otherwise high octane funky blues rock lead guitar which Jimi displays practically all the way through with a touch of flamenco at the end. I really was looking forward to these two numbers so that the world could hear Jimi's awesome rhythm playing and not just his lead work which everybody already knows.
This was the only time Jimi played these two numbers live in concert and the powers that be have omitted them - That's why I am disappointed. I suppose contractual reasons have come into play since they are not Jimi's songs.
I guess I like complete Jimi Hendrix concerts and there is not one that exists on DVD to this day. However for those who are not bothered by this it is definitely 5 STAR. OK, this is Jimi's set list at Woodstock:
1.Message to Love
2.Hear my train a'coming
3.Spanish Castle Magic
4.Red House
5.Call me Mastermind
6.Lover Man
7.Foxy Lady
8.Jam Back at the House
9.Izabella
10.Gypsy Woman
11.Fire
12.Voodoo Child
13.Star Spangled Banner
14.Purple Haze
15.Woodstock Flamenco Improvisation
16.Villanova Junction Blues (Gorgeous beyond belief)
17.Hey Joe

So what we have missing on the DVD are: 'Call me Mastermind' 'Gypsy Woman' the incredible call and response intro to Hear my Train a'comin' and much banter between the songs which does make it a two hour concert.
However although the extended and experimental band are under rehearsed Jimi really does play some extraordinary guitar which even today nobody has matched. Jimi's fretting technique is astonishing - and notice how he hardly ever looks down at his hands on the neck, a pure natural. Villanova Junction Blues is one of those pieces why Jimi is cited as the greatest and most creative electric guitarist of all time. This really is 5 star all the way.