The Cry of Love Tour

The Cry of Love Tour was a concert tour by American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, which ran from April 25 to September 6, 1970, in the United States and Europe. The tour turned out to be the last on which Hendrix performed before his death in September, and featured many songs that he was working on for his double album First Rays of the New Rising Sun. Though the band did not feature original bassist Noel Redding, the trio of Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell (drums) and Billy Cox (bass) was often billed as "The Jimi Hendrix Experience".

Band members

The original Experience broke up in June 1969, after bassist Noel Redding left the band. Hendrix subsequently formed Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, which famously performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. After only two more performances, the band split up; Hendrix kept bassist Billy Cox and formed the Band of Gypsys with drummer and vocalist Buddy Miles. After a similarly short run, the trio disbanded, and Hendrix and Cox re-recruited drummer Mitch Mitchell to form what was often billed as "the Jimi Hendrix Experience". The band was later dubbed "The Cry of Love", a name taken from the tour and the album on which they performed.

• Billy Cox – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Jimi Hendrix – lead vocals, guitar
• Mitch Mitchell – drums

Set list

The set lists on the Cry of Love Tour consisted largely of new songs being worked on by Hendrix, including "Lover Man", "Room Full of Mirrors", "Machine Gun" and "Ezy Ryder". A number of songs from his original albums with The Jimi Hendrix Experience were still present, however, such as "Fire", "Red House", "Purple Haze" and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)".

The following is the set list from the band's May 9 concert at the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, which serves well as a sample set list for the tour.

1. "Fire"
2. "Lover Man"
3. "Hear My Train A Comin'"
4. "Foxy Lady"
5. "Room Full of Mirrors"
6. "Red House"
7. "Freedom"
8. "Ezy Ryder"
9. "Machine Gun"
10. "The Star-Spangled Banner"
11. "Purple Haze"
12. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"

• "Fire" and "Lover Man" were regularly used as the first songs in performances, and "Purple Haze" and "Voodoo Child" were regularly used as the last. A number of concerts featured "Spanish Castle Magic" as the opening song, and in the later dates songs like "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)", "Stone Free", "Hey Joe" and "All Along the Watchtower" were introduced. "Straight Ahead" and "Midnight Lightning" also made their live debuts, both at the May 30 Berkeley concerts.

Tour dates

• ^1 A small charity event for Timothy Leary, not part of the tour.
• ^2 A small invited audience for a scene for the film Rainbow Bridge. Not part of the tour.
• ^3 Jimi Hendrix was unable to perform at the concert. After playing a couple of sets, the concert was cancelled. Leo Kottke did his best to fill in before the cancellation.

References