RAINY DAY, DREAM AWAY: The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival

May 18 2025

By Steven C. Pesant.

Fifty-seven years ago, on May 18, 1968, the air in Hallandale, Florida, was thick with anticipation. It was warm and muggy by mid-Spring standards in the area, but the skies shone bright. At Gulfstream Park, a horse racing track just north of Miami, the inaugural Miami Pop Festival was about to unfold marking a pivotal moment in rock history as the first rock festival on the east coast. And headlining the event, was none other than The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The Miami Pop Festival was the brainchild of promoter Michael Lang, who would later co-create the iconic Woodstock festival in 1969. At just 24 years old, Lang envisioned a music festival that celebrated the burgeoning counterculture movement. He partnered with Richard O’Barry, Marshall Brevetz and a team to bring the Miami Pop Festival to life.

Lang was relatively new on the Miami Scene. He dropped out of New York University in 1967 and moved to Florida. It wasn’t easy getting started when Lang opened one of the city’s first psychedelic head shops, and faced significant pushback from the conservative locals who first pushed him out of the Coral Gables area within a week of opening. He later resettled in the Coconut Grove area which he described as “a little friendlier. It was an artist town, a lot like Woodstock with a lot of musicians, a lot of painters and sculptors.”  

As a budding entrepreneur in the counterculture scene, Lang’s operation was sort of an adjunct to the San Francisco and New York scenes. “Everybody was totally ensconced in the music scene,” he explains. “The music was talking about whatever else was going on in our lives, so we were all very much part of it, and big fans.  As an extension of what we were doing in the shop, we started doing local concerts, so music was always sort of a part of what I was involved with and always loved it.”

“As the concerts became more prevalent—these ideas started floating around—I guess inspired by Monterey Pop in a way.  Rick O’Barry and I decided that it would be a really good idea to do a festival and called it Miami Pop.”

When initial plans to host the event on lands owned by the Seminole tribe weren’t coming together quick enough, the duo met Marshall Brevetz, who would join and help finance the event and spearhead a tight production schedule. Together they eventually landed on Gulfstream Park as a suitable venue and the surprise acceptance by the venue operators who agreed to rent the facility for the event.

“I think we took them by surprise. From inception to completion, we had a month to put this thing on.”
~ Michael Lang

“I think we took them by surprise,” remembered Lang. “From inception to completion, we had a month to put this thing on.  It was just promoted as a concert and they didn’t have a lot of experience with concerts in general. But they were used to having crowds and there was parking.”

After returning to New York for a quick meeting with the William Morris agency, they were able to complete the booking for the festival in one weekend.  It was an interesting line-up covering The Mothers of Invention, Blue Cheer, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker and others.  Lang admits they were really lucky in securing The Experience, “I think Jimi just happened to have an open date.”

Preparing for the event involved some challenges—Gulfstream Park wasn’t a concert venue, had no staging, and limited sound facilities.  “We learned it as we went along,” described Michael Lang during interviews for the film Hear My Train A Comin’. “We sort of improvised things.  We put together six flatbed trailers, made three stages and put them on the track. We went to Criterion Recording Studios—which was the big studio in Miami at the time—and pretty much stripped all of their sound equipment, PAs, and stuff.  Here we were.”

Eddie Kramer recalls preparations for the event and Jimi requesting he come along to record the show.  “We were in the middle of Electric Ladyland recording and we get the call.  Alright. We gotta go down to Miami and I get down there and go to the gig. It’s a horse racing track with a big pond in the middle and all the fans are up in the stand and down close to the stage. It was probably the first concert I ever recorded live.”

ABC News who was on site with Hendrix in New York before the festival also traveled to Florida to continue their filming of Hendrix in the studio, on the road and live in concert for an extended feature they had planned.  Sadly, the professionally filmed feature was never completed and the unaired film footage has never been discovered and deemed lost.

The festival attracted an estimated 25,000 attendees, all eager to witness the convergence of musical legends in a single venue with artists scheduled to perform an afternoon and evening show on each day. The setting was quintessentially Floridian—humid, sun-soaked, and alive with anticipation. As the day unfolded, the atmosphere buzzed with the eclectic sounds of the 1960s, setting the stage for what would become one of the most electrifying performances in rock history.

“Just go find a helicopter and get over here!”
~ Michael Lang

“[Jimi’s] arrival was kind of interesting,” recalls Lang. “We were waiting for him to show up and he wasn’t showing up and I was trying to find Gerry Stickells [Jimi’s tour manager]. We were calling all over the place trying to find them.  They missed our pickup, the car that was sent, never connected.  It was getting late, so finally, I think my conversation with Gerry was, ‘Just go find a helicopter and get over here,’ which he did.”

“It was a pretty dramatic entrance, so it worked out pretty well for us.  He just flew in over the stage and landed backstage.”

For those in the audience this was exciting times, both on an off the stage.  As journalist Stephen K. Peeples recalled in the July/August 1998 issue of Experience Hendrix magazine; “part of the fun was watching all the goings-on backstage between and even during sets. The layout allowed us to clearly see the artists’ helicopters landing on the green behind the flatbeds, and limos pulling up to the stage stairs, bands and roadies and promoters scurrying everywhere.”

“Buzzing intensely, we looked down on three flatbed trailers parked on the dirt part of the racetrack, facing the grandstand bleachers. Each flatbed was stacked with scaffolding and the biggest sound systems we’d ever seen or heard, recalls Peeples. “While one band played on one stage, the other two stages were being broken down and set up. It was non-stop bands from mid-afternoon to midnight, maybe 15 or so over the two-day gig. Way ahead of its time.”

“The next hour was a flood of light show visuals, feedback, and otherworldly sounds we couldn’t believe could emanate from an innocent-looking upside-down Strat.”
~ Stephen K. Peeples

As the festival’s headliner—The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed two sets on May 18, 1968 that were recorded and subsequently compiled into a posthumously released album The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival released in 2013.

“They jumped onstage and plugged into two huge stacks of amps, and just erupted,” recounts Peeples. “The next hour was a flood of light show visuals, feedback, and otherworldly sounds we couldn’t believe could emanate from an innocent-looking upside-down Strat.”

The mid-afternoon set kicked off with a striking rendition of the Hansson & Karlsson classic “Tax Free,” a song that the trio had only performed live a few times before this festival appearance.  While The Experience’s Axis: Bold As Love album had been released just a few months prior, Jimi elected to focus attention on songs from Are You Experienced,including “Foxey Lady” and “Fire.”  

Before the trio ended their afternoon set with the ageless classic “Purple Haze,” they debuted the new song “Hear My Train A Comin’,” another blues-infused number beaming with a sense of longing and introspection. Hendrix’s vocals were raw and heartfelt, mirroring his elegant guitar playing. The performance was a testament to his ability to convey deep emotion through his music and as Peeples recalls, the music featured “lots of outrageous improv within the basic song structures.”

The Experience’s evening show featured six stellar cuts all drawn from Are You Experienced, including Hendrix’s cover of the Billy Robert’s classic “Hey Joe.”

The explosive solos on “Fire,” “I Don’t Live Today” and “Foxey Lady” highlighted the next three performances before delving back into the blues with an extended rendition of “Red House.” The set finished with Hendrix leading the trio through another fiery cover of “Purple Haze” that highlighted the song’s psychedelic overtones with Hendrix’s amplified virtuosic guitar work and the band’s tight rhythm section.

Unfortunately, the festival’s second day was marred by severe weather, including torrential rain, hail, and high winds. “By the time Sunday rolled around, the skies opened and it was just torrential downpours,” recalled Michael Lang. In the wake of the nearly 4½” of rain that flooded parts of the racetrack; the bulk of the second day’s festivities was scrubbed and the festival was cancelled leaving the promoters in a financial mess.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a great time and of course you know, big financial troubles, but it was certainly worth it.”
~ Michael Lang

With word of the cancellation making the way through all the performers, Hendrix’s team frantically gathered their gear and scrambled to pick up their promised payment and headed back to the Castaways Hotel in the artist limousines.  Kramer joined Jimi in one of the limos enroute back and recalls watching Hendrix pull out some paper to pen the lyrics to “Rainy Day, Dream Away” which he would eventually record at the Record Plant in June 1968 and release on Electric Ladyland in October that year.

Despite the financial issues that resulted, Lang does confirm, “I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a great time and of course you know, big financial troubles, but it was certainly worth it.”

“the vibe was significant, the thrill of watching someone explore uncharted music territory, of witnessing something profound and future-bound. We consider ourselves very lucky to have witnessed this epochal event.”
~ Stephen K. Peeples

For Peeples and his buddy Charlie who attend the show together, he fondly remembers the day explaining, “Gulfstream is a memory my friend Charlie and I both revere. Much more than the minute details, the vibe was significant, the thrill of watching someone explore uncharted music territory, of witnessing something profound and future-bound. We consider ourselves very lucky to have witnessed this epochal event.”

The Miami Pop Festival of 1968 was more than just a music event; it was a cultural milestone that showcased the power of music to unite and inspire. Jimi Hendrix’s performance remains a testament to his genius and the enduring legacy of the 1960s counterculture. And for Michael Lang, the festival served as a stepping stone to his role in creating one of the most iconic music festivals in history.

Drawing from the lessons learned in Miami, Lang and his team organized the 1969 Woodstock festival—and subsequent anniversary editions in 1994 and 1999—which would go on to become a defining moment in music history. Despite facing numerous challenges, including logistical issues and unexpected weather, the festival attracted over 400,000 attendees and featured performances by artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Santana, The Who and many others.

To learn more about The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s May 18, 1968 performance at the Miami Pop Festival be sure to watch the documentary film Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin’. This critically acclaimed film unveils previously unseen performance footage and home movies taken by Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell while sourcing an extensive archive of photographs, drawings, family letters and more to provide new insight into the musician’s personality and genius. Recently uncovered film footage of Hendrix at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival is among the previously unseen treasures featured in the documentary.

Also available on CD and limited edition 2LP vinyl release is The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival.  This fiery live concert album features 10-songs from the two May 18, 1968 performances at this historic Florida music festival.

# # #

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival is the first-ever release of one of the guitar virtuoso’s most sought-after performances, as originally recorded on site by Hendrix’s long term sound engineer, Eddie Kramer. Never available in any form, Miami Pop Festival is being released as a single CD and a limited edition numbered double 12″ audiophile vinyl set (all analog cut by Bernie Grundman, pressed at QRP on 200 gram vinyl). Miami Pop Festival, May 18, 1968 at Gulfstream Park, Hallandale, FL

Tracklist:

1. Introduction
2. Hey Joe
3. Foxey Lady
4. Tax Free
5. Fire
6. Hear My Train A Comin’
7. I Don’t Live Today
8. Red House
9. Purple Haze
10. Fire
11. Foxey Lady