Jimi Hendrix was a relatively unfamiliar face in the United States at the beginning of his career. Still, when the British promoters met him, they decided to invite him to England to make a new rock star out of him. Well, we can safely say that this was a good decision since Jimi turned out to be a rare talent and went on to define guitar playing. So, undoubtedly, the American promoters had their fair share of regrets.
However, the only ones who had regrets about Hendrix weren’t the American promoters. While performing at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970, one of the guitarist’s last shows, Jimi didn’t want to be the festival’s final act. However, Jethro Tull decided they also didn’t want to perform the last, so they beat Jimi to the stage and performed before him, and, well, Ian Anderson regretted not letting poor Jimi go first.
As we’re discussing the people who have regretted their previous moves and admitted they were not the kindest towards Jimi Hendrix, the one and only Jimmy Page might also have a few things to confess about regrets. Once, the guitarist almost got the chance to meet the icon, but he almost blew it.
Page discussed his career with Led Zeppelin and the other usual stuff, like being regarded as a legendary guitar player while speaking to Guitar World in the early ’90s. At some point, the conversation drifted to other musicians who have rocked the stage with their sound. While mentioning who might have swung the scene, the topic came to Jimi Hendrix. So, when the magazine asked if Jimmy Page had seen him play live or met him, the Zeppelin guitarist had a regret to confess.
“No,” answered Jimi when asked whether he had ever jammed with Hendrix. “And I never saw him play, either. This is a good story. Back in the late ’60s, I went right from working with the Yardbirds to touring and recording with Zeppelin, and that kept me very busy. In the first two years of any band, you just work solidly; if you’re going to make an impression, that’s what you have to do. We were no different.”
The rocker continued, “In fact, we probably worked for three years straight. Anyway, every time I came back from tour and Hendrix was playing somewhere, I would always say to myself, ‘Oh, I’m just so exhausted; I’ll see him next time.’ I just put it off, and of course, there ultimately never was a next time.”
Page had missed his chance to see him perform, but he had also had an opportunity to meet Jimi. The rocker said, “I’m really, really upset with myself for never seeing him. I really wanted to hear him. Now, did I ever meet him? I did actually go into a club in New York called Salvation, and he was there, but he was totally out of it. He didn’t really know who anybody was; he was barely conscious.”
The Led Zeppelin icon recalled, “Somebody was just kind of holding him up. It is just kind of a shame that I never really had a chance to talk with him or hear him… I heard his records, naturally, but it would’ve been a thrill to see how he worked things out on stage. That’s quite another ballgame, as you know.”
So, Jimmy missed every chance he had to see Jimi play live with numerous excuses, and the only time maybe the duo almost met, the late guitarist was barely conscious. Still, one might wonder what would have happened if the pair had met, jammed a bit, clicked well together, got into the studio, and recorded something together. It sounds like it would have been quite magical.
