If any city was ripe for Jimi Hendrix, it was London. His arrival in September 1966, with the Swinging Sixties still at their swingiest, coincided with a period of musical exploration and cultural upheaval. Cream had just formed, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was mere months away, and the city was alive with artistic experimentation and youthful rebellion. Hendrix, with his psychedelic sound and incendiary performances, became a symbol of this cultural revolution.
Hendrix would record Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love in Barnes, south west London. He'd set his guitar alight for the first time at the Finsbury Park Astoria in the north east. And all over Westminster and Soho, he'd terrify local musicians and blow the minds of anyone fortunate enough to see him play.
