10 Most Iconic Live Music Performances Of All Time

In the summer of 1969, after his set had been cancelled due to rain, Jimi Hendrix took to the stage in front of thousands of onlookers at Woodstock at 9am on a Monday morning and delivered possibly the most famous rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner in history. Never one to hold back on his political views, Hendrix distorted take on the national anthem was incredibly unsettling, holding onto notes longer than he should have, applying more pressure to his Stratocaster’s tremolo bar than usual and extending the length of the song to just under four minutes, twice as long as its usual length. The lyrics did not change, but the crowd had never heard a version of their beloved national anthem played like this before. To add to the sheer gravitas of the situation, it was reported than Hendrix had not slept the night before, that the rest of the band had not practised the song and had no inclination whatsoever that they would even be playing it.

Renowned critic Greil Marcus noted at the time that ‘I always think of it as the greatest protest song ever, but it’s not just a protest song, it’s an incredibly layered, ambiguous piece of music.’ Hendrix was outspoken on a number of social issues, namely police brutality and the Vietnam war, and the discussion to this day is still on-going, whether this performance was a protest, an anthem of hope, or somewhere in between.