10 Most Iconic Moments At Live Rock Shows
3. Hendrix Setting His Guitar On Fire
The image of Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar and summoning the spirits of rock, was forever immortalised on film during the Monterey Pop Festival on the 18 June 1967.
Hendrix had just shocked the American crowd with his explosive, feedback heavy, performance of Wild Thing and ever the showmen proceeded to top the destructive exploits of The Who guitarist Pete Townsend, who was also known for destroying his instruments at the end of gigs.
Don't be fooled by this footage, Hendrix played at night, but the majority of the crowd shots were of people during the day, many of which depict a sleepy and less than enthusiastic audience. However, rather poetically it demonstrates what Hendrix symbolised at that time, a man who broke boundaries in a society that wasn't yet prepared for the musical and social renaissance that was to explode onto the world.
Much like Jim Morrison and the Doors, Hendrix was another one of those musicians that spearheaded the shift in social consciousness during the politically divided era of the '60s and '70s.
Given the current madness going on around the world, we could really use the second coming of this guy right now...