It began on April 25, 1970, at the Forum[d] in Inglewood, California, and ended on September 6, 1970, at the Love & Peace Festival in Fehmarn, West Germany.

[a] The majority of the 37 shows were in the United States,[b][c] with two each in Sweden, Denmark, and West Germany, and one in England, where Hendrix was the final act at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.

Following Noel Redding's departure from the Experience on June 29, 1969, Hendrix called on Billy Cox, an Army buddy and early bandmate, to play bass.

[7] In July, Hendrix, Cox, and Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell moved to a rural retreat in upstate New York and began rehearsing with an expanded lineup, which included rhythm guitarist Larry Lee and percussionists Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez.

[9] After a couple of gigs and recording sessions,[10] it became apparent that the group, sometimes referred to as "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows" after a comment Hendrix made at Woodstock,[11] was not making sufficient progress.

[12] Hendrix still wanted to experiment with a different backup but return to the trio configuration, so drummer Buddy Miles replaced Mitchell with Cox remaining on bass.

Hendrix's tour manager, Gerry Stickells, believed "Jimi's own lack of commitment to the Band of Gypsys concept [was] its fatal flaw".

[15] Hendrix expressed his dissatisfaction with the subsequent Band of Gypsys live album and Cox saw it as a stopgap measure to meet a contractual obligation.

[24]With the March–June 1970 releases in the US and UK of the Woodstock film and soundtrack and Band of Gypsys, Hendrix remained one of the biggest rock concert attractions:[25] "I'd like to play some festivals but I wish they would break up the events a bit for the audiences.

[32] Hendrix was able to get his manager, Michael Jeffery, to agree to limit his concert appearances to three-day weekends, so the group could return to New York City to record during the rest of the week.

[41] Hendrix also continued to perform popular songs that dated back to the Experience, but not yet recorded to his satisfaction, such as "Lover Man", "Hear My Train A Comin'", and "Roomful of Mirrors".

[46] Biographer David Moskowitz identifies the songs performed on July 26 at the Sick's Stadium in Seattle, Washington, as representative of the Cry of Love repertoire:[47] Despite being one of his best-selling singles, Hendrix usually ignored requests for "All Along the Watchtower" during his tours with the Experience.

"[48] However, Hendrix occasionally surprised him – at a May 16 gig at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cox recalled: Just before we went onstage, Jimi said we were going to start the show with "Sgt.

[49] In Europe, Hendrix reached back to his early career for a couple of performances of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" and the Muddy Waters tribute "Catfish Blues".