Jimi Hendrix’s 80th birthday celebrated at evening of live music in London

To celebrate Hendrix’s 80th birthday, Handel & Hendrix in London have curated an evening of live music. The event will take place on November 30, 2022, at St Pancras Old Church.

Rock-loving Londoners can check out a unique piece of music history in London’s West End when Jimi Hendrix’s swinging 60’s Mayfair apartment reopens next year.

The flat, on the upper floors of 23 Brook Street, close to New Bond Street has been restored to the taste of the greatest guitarist of all time and is undergoing further renovations until March 2023.

He shared the ‘Hendrix Apartment’ with his then-girlfriend Kathy Etchingham in 1968 and 1969 and the building has long been a mecca of music lovers who wanted a glimpse of a moment-in-time in 60’s London.

The apartment opened to the public in 2016 and incredibly sits next door to the place German-British Baroque composer George Frederic Handel, from 1723 until 1759.

Some of Handel’s most famous operas and compositions were written in the building, at 25 Brook Street, and both building compromise the Handel and Hendrix Museum.

The Grade-I listed museum is undergoing extensive renovations as part of the ‘Hallelujah Project’ which is due to be completed in March next year with improvements to the structure of the building, which includes restoring Georgian rooms and frontage and creating new displays on the famous musicians.

The museum plans to host concerts, masterclasses and exclusive private events with Alex Homfray, Project Director, saying: “It will transform Handel & Hendrix into a prominent cultural destination that inspires a wide audience with Handel and Hendrix’s stories and their music.

“We can’t wait to share the results with you in 2023.”

Part of a 2016 restoration of the Hendrix flat included recreating the exact listening experience Jimi would have had when listening to his extensive record collection at the third floor Mayfair flat.

This included a Bang & Olufsen turntable connected to a LEAK amplifier and two Lowther speakers that Jimi himself would have listened to.

The Foxy Lady singer first visited London in September 1966 playing in several London clubs and established himself following the release of his first two single releases, Hey Joe and Purple Haze in December 1966 and March 1967.

Hendrix returned to London, moving into an upstairs flat in 23 Brook Street after his then girlfriend Kathy Etchingham responded to an advert in one of the London evening newspapers in July 1968.

He decorated the flat to his own taste buying curtains and cushions from nearby John Lewis and other items from Portobello Road market.

He left London in 1968 but returned to Brook Street in January 1969 when he appeared on the BBC Happening for Lulu TV show and gave two Royal Albert Hall concerts in February.

In March he was back in New York and never returned to Brook Street. The flat was used as office space until 2000 when it was taken over by the Handel House Trust.

Hendrix famously gave many interviews at the flat and frequented local clubs such as Marquee, the Speakeasy and The Scotch of St James.

You can buy tickets celebrating Hendrix’s 80^th birthday event on 30 November here.