Review by Val Tapia
Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Venue: Mesa Arts Center ( https://www.mesaartscenter.com/ )
Date: October 4th, 2024
Tour: 2024 Experience Hendrix Tour
I suppose it can never be overstated that the late Jimi Hendrix remains the most influential and important rock guitarist in the history of popular music.
That was abundantly clear on Fri. Oct. 4 at Mesa Arts Center when the 2024 edition of the Experience Hendrix tour returned with its annual “who’s who” of guitarists from diverse genres of music gathering together to celebrate a musical discography that still captivates millions of rock fans worldwide.
I’m not sure if it was intentional, but the setup of Marshall amplifiers across the stage were positioned the same way as in the classic Experience photos that we’ve all seen over the years. I thought that was a nice touch, even it was merely coincidental.
Before the music commenced, Experience Hendrix tour coordinator Janie Hendrix went onstage to thank the audience for continuing to celebrate Jimi’s life and inimitable legacy.
Immediately after, the first group of musicians (featuring lead vocalist Henri Brown and Indigenous guitarist Mato Nanji) opened the 140-minute set with Foxy Lady. Accompanying the music was a plethora of photos of the Experience throughout the show via video screen on center stage.
For Stone Free, Dweezil Zappa added his unique yet faithful rendition of the song. Overall, most of the musicians on Friday night stayed true to the original recordings. Whether that’s positive or negative is up to the listener.
Rightly or wrongly, some people do contend that imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery. However, I’ll leave that for all of you to debate in the comments section below.
Making his third Arizona appearance within a year, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram wowed the audience with his rendition of (Hendrix’s take) on Howlin’ Wolf’s Killin’ Floor alongside the legendary Taj Mahal. The latter took over vocal duties on Hey Joe, the first single ever released by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Even though Hey Joe isn’t an Experience original, I think it’s absolutely fair to say that it’s the most well-known version to many rock and roll fans the world over.
After their take on Catfish Blues, both Taj Mahal and Kingfish exited stage left to a rousing standing ovation from the audience. Well-deserved by the way.
Chuck Campbell and Calvin Cooke of The Slide Brothers were up next with a version of the Elmore James 1959 classic The Sky Is Crying.
By the eighth song, Zakk Wylde was introduced to thunderous applause with his take on Manic Depression, which ended up being roughly 10-minutes.
By now, the show had a little more resemblance, if you will, to the Experience band, with the musically tight rhythm section of bassist Kevin McCormick and drummer Chris Layton doing justice to the late Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, respectively.
The rousing applause continued when Wylde (accompanied with security and one of the road crew) went out into the audience to display some guitar shredding for the fans in the back. Of course, phone cameras were immediately whipped out for that.
After traipsing through the venue aisles, Wylde returned to the stage to perform Little Wing alongside Layton and McCormick. One more song as a trio was played, a “deep cut”, according to Wylde. Of course, that was his infamous and boisterous sense of humor on display.
It was time for a 12-minute version of Purple Haze, with another walk through the aisles and even more guitar… overkill.
In this writer’s opinion, that was the problem with Wylde’s part of the set. Mind you, I’m familiar with his music and have seen him live several times over his (roughly) 35-year recording career.
For the record, his talent is immense. However, 12 minutes of Purple Haze is absolutely unnecessary. Particularly given the fact that songs like Crosstown Traffic and (inexplicably) Fire were not in the set. Cut out some of Wylde’s six-string self-indulgence, and there would’ve likely been room for both of them.
To be fair, those two songs are being played on the tour (albeit with a different lineup of musicians), depending on the city. Point being, two more songs could’ve been played in lieu of Wylde’s redundant guitar noodling.
That being said, my take on it doesn’t negate the fact that Wylde’s performance was indeed the showstopper of the night for most of the crowd. It’s important that I give credit where it’s due, no matter what I personally think of overbearing fretboard acrobatics.
Frankly, that’s the thing I appreciate most about Kingfish. His playing never takes away from the song–to his credit– as he displayed during his take on Red House.
To a point, I would say the same thing about Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who really does wear the influence of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan on his sleeve. Joining Shepherd onstage was his own bandmate, lead vocalist Noah Hunt.
I don’t want to say that Hunt “sounds” like Hendrix vocally. However, his voice fits perfectly with the Experience material. Songs like Come On, I Don’t Live Today and especially Voodoo Child (Slight Return) went down a storm, and rightly so I might add.
Speaking of Voodoo Child, it could be argued that Shepherd’s take was closer to SRV’s version from 1984’s Couldn’t Stand The Weather than the original Experience recording. For the record, that’s definitely a compliment, because Vaughan and Double Trouble unquestionably nailed this all-time classic.
Surprisingly, and perhaps disappointingly, there were no encores. Ms. Hendrix and all the musicians onstage came out and took a bow and thanked the audience for coming to the show. Then it was over— shortly before 10:00 p.m.
Overall, Experience Hendrix is a real treat to witness, and no, you don’t have to be a guitarist to enjoy and/or appreciate the incredible amount of talent on one stage. Ultimately, that’s why the tour has been a success for the better part of two decades.
The final verdict? Four out of five stars. Go see it.
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2024, All Rights Reserved
