THOUSANDS of music fans braved the showery weather and converged on Walpole Park on Saturday (31) for the first night of the Ealing Blues Festival.

The highlight was a performance by Are You Experienced, Europe’s leading Jimi Hendrix tribute band.

Guitarist John Campbell closed the first day in dramatic style by re-creating the incendiary finale of Hendrix’s famous performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival, when he set his guitar on fire and smashed it up.

Jimi Hendrix had a strong connection with Ealing. His distinctive sound was forged with locally-made Marshall amplifiers and his longest-serving drummer was Hanwell resident Mitch Mitchell – a one-time Saturday assistant in the Marshall shop at 76 Uxbridge Road.

Mitchell was a regular performer at the Ealing Club, opposite Ealing Broadway station, and prototype Marshall guitar amplifiers were first used in public for club sessions.

Earlier, guitarist Robin Bibi left his Big Band on stage to plunge into the crowd to play his guitar, Hendrix style, while standing on a table in the audience.

On the first day, other strong performances came from Emma Wilson with the Paul Cook Band, Connor Selby , Jade Like the Stone and UFO Steel Bane.

Part of the pared-down 2021 Ealing summer festivals season, the second day of the Blues Festival will be this coming Saturday (August 7). The second day of the Ealing Jazz Festival will be the following day.

For details of the blues, jazz, comedy and more that make up the Ealing Summer Festival go to https://www.facebook.com/ealingsummer. 

Tickets at https://www.ealingsummerfestivals.com/

For more information about the Ealing Club: https://www.ealingclub.com/