50 YEARS AFTER
“I’M A KEEN DABBLER. I’M ALWAYS CHANGING PICKUPS AND REWIRING”
— ALVIN LEE
WOODSTOCK WAS ALREADY the stuff of legend when Michael Wadleigh’s documentary about the event arrived in theaters seven months after the 1969 three-day musical festival. As filmgoers thrilled to performances by the Who, Santana, Jefferson Airplane and a host of other acts, the guitarists in the audience eagerly awaited scenes of the festival’s headline act, Jimi Hendrix, and his explosive rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But well before that footage passed through the projector, many of those viewers were blown away by the sight of guitarist Alvin Lee leading Ten Years After through a blistering performance of “I’m Going Home.”
The British blues-rock act was no stranger to American audiences, but neither was it well known. The group had supported Canned Heat on tour, and its third album, , released in early 1969 had reached 61 on 200 chart. Having expanded their signature boogie rock with elements of jazz and psychedelic rock, Ten Years After were capturing fans on both sides of the Atlantic. Still, many viewers were unprepared for the sight of guitarist and frontman Alvin Lee ripping into his Gibson ES-335 with a flurry of lightning-fast blues licks. At the time, Lee was one of the fastest players on Earth, earning him the nickname Captain Speedfingers, an epithet he refused to take too seriously.
