The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, Jimi Hendrix, The Californians, The Quotations, special guest star Englebert Humperdinck [Engelbert Humperdinck], at the Gaumont, Ipswich, England, April 1, 1967

This is a flier for the Walker Brothers package tour, including Cat Stevens, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Californians, the Quotations, special guest star Engelbert Humperdinck and compere/MC Nicky Jones, at the Gaumont Theatre in Ipswich, England on Saturday, April 1, 1967. 

The Walker Brothers were a Pop group from Los Angeles that had several Top 10 UK hits and were the teenage Pop fan’s dream. On March 31st, they launched a month-long farewell tour 

“’I can just hardly wait,’ says the cool Mr. Hendrix about a tour on which he and his wild Experience will fit in about as well as a trio of San Francisco hippies at a vicarage tea-party.” – Disc and Music Echo, April 1, 1967 

Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who gained mainstream prominence in the late 1960s with hits such as “Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Fire,” and is now celebrated as one of the most influential electric guitarists of all time. The Walker Brothers tour was Hendrix’s first high-profile tour since moving to the United Kingdom in September 1966. 

Although the Jimi Hendrix Experience had released two successful singles, “Hey Joe” and “Purple Haze” by the time of this show, they continued the tour as the opening act. This arrangement did not sit well with Hendrix’s fellow artists because any performer who followed his short but intense set often had to endure the audience chanting “Jimi! Jimi!” in hopes that Hendrix would return to the stage. At the Finsbury Park Astoria the night before the Gaumont show, Hendrix shocked Walkers’ fans by grinding into his amplifiers and lighting his guitar on fire. The music tabloids had a field day with Hendrix’s stage antics, which only added to the guitarist’s growing allure.