10 Legendary Rock Shows In Music History

Almost any number of Jimi Hendrix’s performances in his prime could qualify for a list like this. While he may not have been from another planet, Hendrix certainly played like he was whenever he hit the stage, as the shy kid in interviews was stripped away to reveal an amazing rock god underneath it all. As he moved out of the club circuit though, Hendrix had something special prepared for the Monterey Pop Festival crowd.

Before Hendrix had even come on, he knew he was going to have to compete with the Who for the grand spectacle, knowing that Pete Townshend had a habit of ending their show by smashing a guitar. Hendrix had put his own six string through its fair share of turmoil, but what he did here felt like a sacrifice to the musical gods.

During the ending of his cover of Wild Thing, Hendrix goes haywire on his guitar before slamming it down to the ground, grabbing lighter fluid, and setting his guitar up in flames. While this moment has been recreated many times over in magazines, seeing Hendrix pull this off felt so natural coming from him, knowing that he couldn’t do any better than what he had played just a few seconds before. You can call it over the top if you wanted to, but this is what happens when you have someone who has become totally one with their instrument.