David Gilmour: I Mixed Hendrix's Isle of Wight Set
"They said ‘Help! Help!’ so I did."
David Gilmour has revealed that he was one of the people behind the boards during Jimi Hendrix's legendary performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.
In a recent interview with Prog magazine, the Pink Floyd guitarist detailed the hitherto unknown role he played in the set.
“I helped mix the sound for Hendrix at the Isle of Wight in 1970," Gilmour said. "Not a lot of people know that.
"I went down to go to it and I was camping in a tent, just being a punter," he continued. "I went backstage where our main roadie guy, Peter Watts, was trying to deal with all the mayhem, with Charlie Watkins of WEM.
"They were very nervous; they were going to have to mix Hendrix’s sound. I did some mixing stuff in those days and they said ‘Help! Help!’ so I did.”
You can read Gilmour's full conversation with Prog in the magazine's new issue, which is on sale now.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
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