“I had to play on this piece of s**t for the rest of the set – I always cringe when I think about it”: Harvey Mandel on his “nightmare” Woodstock experience
Harvey Mandel has looked back on performing at Woodstock just after he’d joined Canned Heat in 1969 – a set he still “cringes” about due to some gear gremlins.
Mandel joined the band following the departure of Henry Vestine, and was on stage with the group just three days later at the legendary festival. At the time, Mandel had to use Vestine’s gear, leading to some mishaps during their set.
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Speaking to Guitar World, Mandel recalls: “We flew in via helicopter, which was really far out because you could see all the people at this whole thing. When I got up on stage, I had a Strat I’d been using at the time, and they had their custom amps; I was using Henry Vestine’s. During the first song the amp blew up. They gave me another one, which sounded terrible. I had to play on this piece of shit for the rest of the set – which to this day, I always cringe when I think about it.
“It was kind of a nightmare; it was not sustaining. I couldn’t get a good sound out of it, and I didn’t have a bunch of pedals to compensate. I did the best I could. It was still a great thing to play for an audience of that size; had I been able to play through that first amp, I would have sounded a thousand times better.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Mandel adds, “I didn’t realise at the time how iconic that gig would be. Nobody did! It was pretty mind-blowing. I was kind of nervous; it was scary getting up on stage and seeing that massive audience. But it turned out good!”
Harvey Mandel’s new record Snake Walk is due for release this spring. He is playing two shows on 23 May at Biscuits and Blues in San Francisco – tickets are on sale now.
The post “I had to play on this piece of s**t for the rest of the set – I always cringe when I think about it”: Harvey Mandel on his “nightmare” Woodstock experience appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
