New documentary to chart the bizarre tale of how Jimi Hendrix ended up in Maui

A shot of Jimi Hendrix
(Image credit: Daniel Teheney)

A new Jimi Hendrix documentary, titled Music, Money, Madness... Jimi Hendrix In Maui, is set to be released on November 20 via Legacy Recordings.

The documentary will tell the story of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and their journey to Maui in 1970. It's a long and bizarre tale: having approached Warner Bros. for a $500,000 advance to fund the completion of Hendrix's new studio, his manager Michael Jeffery managed – at the same meeting – to convince executives to finance a film called Rainbow Bridge that was to be shot in Maui. In exchange, they would be granted the rights to its soundtrack album – consisting of many new Jimi Hendrix recordings. 

What followed was complete chaos. Thanks to a series of terrible decisions and wild mismanagement it looked like the movie was on course to become a bewildering flop. In a desperate attempt to save the film's fate, Hendrix was drafted in to film a free ‘colour/sound vibratory experiment’ on the lower slope of the dormant Haleakala volcano, with the audience arranged by their astrological signs. Well – it was the 70s. 

The documentary tells the story in full plus includes previously unseen footage of the concert itself, and will be accompanied by a new Live In Maui album. Music, Money, Madness... Jimi Hendrix In Maui will be released on Blu-ray, and will include all the existing 16mm colour film of the two performances that afternoon, mixed in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound, as extras.

Music, Money, Madness... Jimi Hendrix In Maui packages are available to pre-order now. Check out the trailer and some previously unseen concert footage below.

Briony Edwards

Briony is the Editor in Chief of Louder and is in charge of sorting out who and what you see covered on the site. She started working with Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog magazines back in 2015 and has been writing about music and entertainment in many guises since 2009. Her favourite-ever interviewee is either Billy Corgan or Kim Deal. She is a big fan of cats, Husker Du and pizza.