Another myth/tale I’d heard was that Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend had a guitar “duel” before the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival over who’d play first, The Who or Jimi Hendrix Experience. Both were relatively new to the US audiences, esp. Jimi.
The Who had especially destructive stage antics, Townshend would smash his guitar and Keith Moon would often use pyrotechnics to blow up his drum kit. Jimi would play with his guitar (tuned/turned sort of upside down as he was a lefty and learned to play by watching righties) behind his back and play with his teeth (not at the same time).
Pete Townshend (on Hendrix):
“I was really scared of him. Not as a person, but as a performer. I just thought, ‘I’m not gonna follow him!’”
Townshend described it as a Mexican Stand-off yet he “won”, not by some guitar duel but a flip of a coin. So The Who went on first and played a literally chaotic, explosive set, Moon merely kicked over his drum kit and Townshend of course smashed his guitar.
All Jimi did was play a stunning, electrifying set concluding with the song “Wild Thing” during which he knelt down in front of his Stratocaster, poured lighter fluid on it and set it on fire. Then smashed it to pieces.
You’ve all likely heard or seen pictures of the iconic moment so it really happened. I was unsure of the “duel” about who goes on first.