James Marshall Hendrix

Digging out an old thread here, but what a job finding one where Jimi is the subject and not a fleeting mention in someone's listings... Would have been quicker to start a new one but wasn't sure how much "legs" this item would have. So, here goes: -

On a page I follow on Facebook, came across this snippet folks may find interesting. For background, The Dawnbreakers were a 1960s North England band who were always "there" or "there-abouts" but never quite managed to breakthrough.  Club-A-GoGo was a legendry 1960s Newcastle nightclub & music venue, sadly long assigned to history, but made it's mark.

1967  The Dawnbreakers played the Club A Go Go
“In January 1967 after playing at the Club A Go Go in Newcastle they were asked by Hilton Valentine (The Animals guitarist) to play at De Lea Lane Studios, London the next day. After they finished they began to pack up their gear and in walked Jimi Hendrix to record material. The band asked to sit behind the mixing desk. After his gear was set up and a couple of soundchecks, Jimi knocked off the released version of “The Wing Cries Mary” in one take!
Two months later the Dawnbreakers bumped into Hendrix again. The band often worked for a Bradford agent named Benny Netherwood who ran a Sunday Blues/R&B club in a large private Hotel on Ilkley Moor called The Stony Lea. He always tried to book new bands that he thought would make it one day and at the lowest possible price – it was always a risk. He’d booked Jimi Hendrix direct from his manager, Chas Chandler, 18 months before for a fee of £30 and asked us to go as support on the night for £50! Peter told Benny that there was no possible chance that Hendrix would honour the contract but was completely wrong.”
“Around 5.30pm we got a frantic telephone call from one of the Hendrix roadies who asked how he could get the trucks near to the hotel entrance to offload and set up. We all rushed outside only to find a sea of heads in front of us covering the entire car park and spilling out onto the main road in one of the most expensive and sought-after areas of the Yorkshire Dales. I suggested calling in the police but Benny just scowled at me and said ‘Are you serious?’ We all went outside and tried to clear a path for the vehicles which could only be seen in the distance down the hill which led into Ilkley town centre just over a mile away. Benny was screaming to them all – ‘If you don’t make way for the roadies, you won’t even see Hendrix play tonight!’ Eventually, others joined in to help and three trucks finally got to the car park and a team of roadies started off-loading and setting up. Towers of speakers that would fill Wembley stadium were set up all around the moderate-sized room and the first mixer desk we’d ever seen was placed into position in the centre of the room. The guy in charge told Benny that Hendrix and the band were flying into Leeds and Bradford airport and then taking taxis to the gig.
With 15 minutes still to go, the Hendrix trio were carried into a make-shift dressing room and Benny came to me, pressed £100 into my hand and asked us to start playing the moment the doors were opened in order to get the punters in quicker. We started up as the doors opened and the girls on the door got to work, the bar opened and got besieged with thirsty fans within seconds. I have never seen a room fill as quickly and all available seats were taken in minutes.
Benny was well-aware of what was taking place as he wrung his hands together and gazed skywards hoping that his £2 entry fees would continue all night long. He also was well aware that the house limit was 400. There were already over 1,000 fans in that room by then and adjoining rooms and corridors were filling to capacity whilst Benny sat at the back of the room and prayed.
It was 8.30pm when the sirens sounded outside, by then the bar had sold out of every drop of liquid and the staff had left. Police came in as fire engines tried to get into the car park. We were told to stop playing immediately and one policeman was shouting down a walkie-talkie that he estimated another 3,000 fans were still queuing up the hill all the way from Ilkley. Soon afterwards, Benny disappeared from sight and we started to pack away our gear. The police escorted Jimi and his Experience into nearby police cars and then they disappeared.”