Neil Mccormick

Eric Barrett’s memoir Experienced recounts his two years as Jimi Hendrix’s roadie from Hendrix’s rise to fame in 1968 until his death in 1970. The book vividly details Hendrix’s chaotic performances, destructive stage habits, drug-fuelled touring culture and exhaustion under exploitative management, while also tracing Barrett’s later work with artists including David Bowie and George Michael. The review praises the memoir as intimate, insightful and unusually revealing about Hendrix’s creativity, personality and declining mental and physical wellbeing before his accidental overdose.