Carlos Santana recalls the moment he impressed Jimi Hendrix: ‘I’ll take it’
Carlos Santana recalls the moment he impressed Jimi Hendrix
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It was supposed to be another stop on the road for Jimi Hendrix — but a festival marred by violence and chaos would become the rock legend’s final official concert performance.
Eric Barrett, who was Hendrix’s roadie and confidant from 1968 to 1970, has written a memoir, “Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond.” Barrett went on to spend nearly five decades working behind the scenes with other iconic artists, including Madonna, David Bowie and Aerosmith.
“We were playing on the Isle of Fehmarn, and the Hells Angels had taken over,” Barrett recalled to Fox News Digital. “There was no control. It was a scary place to be. We had two cars there waiting to get us off the island and go back to London. But the Hells Angels didn’t want us to get off the island. They wanted the boys to stay and party. And then it got violent.”
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Jimi Hendrix is the subject of a new book by his roadie and tour manager, Eric Barrett, titled, “Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond.”(David Redfern/Redferns)
According to Barrett’s book, hundreds of Hells Angels descended on the island and took over the venue. He wrote that many fans who had been camping out were “beaten and robbed” as festival security was chased off. Hendrix, he said, took one look at the mayhem and retreated to his room “alone, sober.” The outlaw motorcycle club had taken over.
The next day, Hendrix took the stage and was met with boos. He told the hostile audience, “I don’t give a f— if you boo, as long as you boo in key, you mothers,” before chuckling. When he was done, Hendrix told the audience, “Thank you, goodbye. Peace!”
“Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond” by Eric Barrett is out now.(Diversion Books)
Barrett ushered Hendrix and the band off the stage toward the waiting cars. Barrett was eager to get out. But then the bikers surrounded them.
“I saw a Hells Angel about to hit [tour manager] Gerry Stickells over the head with this baton,” said Barrett. “I put my arm up to take the blow. I nearly passed out from the pain, but imagine if it had landed on Gerry’s skull? We managed to get inside the car. Jimi kept looking at me because he saw me take the blow. He just said to me, ‘Are you OK, Eric? Are you OK?’ He kept asking me if I was OK. That’s just the kind of man he was. And… that was the last thing he ever said to me.”
Eric Barrett was Jimi Hendrix’s roadie from 1968 to 1970.(Courtesy of Eric Barrett)
On Sept. 18, 1970, paramedics arrived at Monika Dannemann’s apartment at the Samarkand Hotel in London and found Hendrix unresponsive. He was 27.
Stickells broke the news to Barrett.
An exterior view of the former Samarkand Hotel in London, where Jimi Hendrix died in 1970.(Future Publishing
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Barrett. “I remember walking around London in a fog. It was a stupid, tragic accident. He took too many of [girlfriend] Monika Dannemann’s sleeping pills. She supposedly had these incredibly powerful German tranquilizers. And she said he took nine of them. She couldn’t wake him. She called Eric Burdon of The Animals, who was a good friend of Jimi’s. He screamed at her, ‘Call the f—–g ambulance!'”
From left: Friends Jimi Hendrix, Eric Burdon and Noel Redding.(Sygma
“What I’m being told was the ambulance guys … laid him on his back, and he threw up,” said Barrett. “He asphyxiated. That was the accident. The pills were the accident. Tragedy was him dying.”
Jimi Hendrix performs at the Isle of Wight festival on August 29, 1970.(Jean-Pierre Leloir)
In the book, Barrett wrote, “The paramedics arrived but couldn’t revive Jimi. They carried him out on a stretcher to the ambulance, assuring Monika that he was going to be all right. Either lying in bed on his back or on the way to the hospital, Jimi threw up on himself. The post-mortem concluded that Jimi had died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates.”
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Monika Dannemann is seen here outside the building where Jimi Hendrix died.(Brian Aris/Mirrorpix)
“… I flashed back to the time I took too much Mandrax, and my girlfriend couldn’t wake me up,” he wrote. “It was easily done and could’ve happened to any of us in Jimi’s group of friends. That it happened to Jimi himself was heartbreaking. But I’ve never heard anything to make me think Jimi’s death was anything other than what it appeared.”
Rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix is seen here with Eric Barrett at Heathrow Airport after flying in from New York on his way to the Isle of Wight pop festival.(PA Images
Barrett firmly rejected the rumors and conspiracy theories that have surrounded Hendrix’s death for decades. Among them was an allegation by former roadie James “Tappy” Wright, who wrote in his 2009 memoir, “Rock Roadie,” that Hendrix’s manager, Mike Jeffery, confessed to killing Hendrix, The Guardian reported.
Barrett strongly disputes Wright’s account and rejects any suggestion that Hendrix was murdered.
Manager Michael “Mike” Jeffery is seen outside Marylebone Register Office in June 1965.(Mirrorpix
“I don’t believe for a second that Mike Jeffery was the cause of Jimi’s death,” he said. “I just don’t believe it. The circumstances don’t add up. And I was told by so many people that Tappy only wrote that to try and sell books. But I’ve never believed it. I will never believe it. I was there, and right now I’m probably the last man standing. All the lads are passing. So no, I wouldn’t believe that for a second.”
Jeffery died in a plane crash near Nantes, France, in 1973.
<img src="https://comicvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Eric-Barrett-Jimi-Hendrix-Hollywood-Bowl.jpg” alt=”Jimi Hendrix performing next to Eric Barrett at the Hollywood Bowl.”>
Jimi Hendrix and Eric Barrett are seen here at the Hollywood Bowl.(Chris Boyd)
Dannemann died in an apparent suicide in 1996, two days after she was found guilty of contempt of court in a long-running legal dispute with Kathy Etchingham, another former girlfriend of Hendrix’s. She was 50.
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German painter and former figure skater Monika Dannemann holds a palette and brush as she works on one of her paintings in London, England, circa 1970
Barrett said that shortly after Hendrix’s death, he lied to reporters about Hendrix’s drug use.
“I was, what, 24 when he passed?” said Barrett. “I didn’t want to besmirch his memory. So I lied. I just wanted people to see him in a good light. But I came to realize as I got older that I didn’t have to lie. Yes, he took drugs. Did he take heroin? I’ve never seen heroin anywhere near him. I’ve worked on many backstages for almost 50 years. I know it’s a drug that has killed a lot of musicians. But I don’t believe Jimi was taking it. He smoked pot. He took a lot of LSD. He took pills. But I don’t believe he was into heroin.”
Eric Barrett watches over Jimi Hendrix as he performs in Zurich.(Johannes Bruell courtesy of the Marcel Aeby Collection)
Looking back, Barrett described Hendrix as “a wild man” on stage. The musician was famous for playing the guitar behind his head and with his teeth. He would also smash guitars and amps during encores and, on occasion, set his guitar on fire. But when the shows were over and audiences had long since left, Hendrix was a “quiet, mild-mannered, polite young man.”
Rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix plays his Fender Stratocaster with his teeth at his last concert on Sept. 6, 1970, on the Isle of Fehmarn, Germany.(Michael Ochs Archives/
“He talked to everyone,” he said. “He was very charming. And he was shy. People were in awe of Jimi. And when he had his guitar around his neck, over his shoulder, he was comfortable. That was his crutch. But I also remember Paul McCartney walking towards him, and he’s gasping, ‘It’s Paul McCartney!’ He was just a shy man who didn’t know how to take the accolades of his talent.”
“At the Shokan House before Woodstock, trying to teach a very stoned Jimi to ride,” said Eric Barrett.(Willis Hogan Jr./David Pearcy Collection)
“I have so many memories of that wonderful man,” Barrett continued. “I remember we were all staying in Benedict Canyon and it was my birthday. We were all hanging out by the pool, and Jimi came out in no shirt, just velvet pants. He goes, ‘Eric, Eric!’ I responded, ‘Hey Jimi, what do you need?’ He smiled and went, ‘Happy birthday, man. Here’s some money. Go and buy yourself something you really want.’ He gave me $500, which was a huge amount back then.”
Jimi Hendrix and Eric Barrett at Benedict Canyon.(Courtesy of Eric Barrett)
“I went to North Beach Leathers, a place I’d seen Jimi had bought some clothes from. I bought myself this long leather coat, spent all my money on it. It was the best gift I ever bought. When I came back, he loved it. He went, ‘Wow, that’s a coat! I wish I had seen that before you.'”
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Rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix performs onstage with his Fender Stratocaster electric guitar at his last concert on Sept. 6, 1970, on the Isle of Fehmarn, Germany.(Michael Ochs Archives/
Barrett said he carries “beautiful memories” of Hendrix. One in particular has never left him.
“With Jimi at TTG Studios in Los Angeles,” said Eric Barrett. “He replaced my tambourine with a beer.”(Michael Ochs)
“I was on a plane with him after a show,” he said. “Jimi looked at me and said, ‘Eric, what do you think, will they remember me?’ I was flabbergasted. I went, ‘Will they remember you? You’re huge over here.’ But he was so insecure. ‘Are you sure, Eric? What if the kids don’t come?’ I just told him, ‘When it comes to success, you have nothing to worry about.’ That was Jimi, a gift to the Earth from the Lord. And I miss him.”
