By James Williams

On May 16, 1970, the unmistakable wail of Jimi Hendrix’s Stratocaster echoed across West Oak Lane. For one electric night, Temple Stadium — a football field nestled in Uptown Philadelphia — became the site of the Super Saturday Rock Festival, a once-in-a-lifetime concert featuring Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Steve Miller Band, and Cactus. It was the first and last time Temple Stadium would host a concert, and for those who were there, it was unforgettable.

According to the official JimiHendrix.com archives, Hendrix delivered a “high-spirited performance” to an Uptown crowd of about 10,000 fans. His setlist included “Machine Gun,” “Purple Haze,” “Foxy Lady,” “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Hear My Train A Comin’,” and “Freedom.” One fan later wrote online, “1970 will always be my favorite year for Jimi… stellar versions of ‘Machine Gun,’ ‘Freedom,’ and ‘Voodoo Child,’ plus a rare ‘Johnny B. Goode.’”

It rained that day, but the weather didn’t stop the music. The Grateful Dead later remembered it as “a rainy Super Saturday Rock Festival” where they sub-headlined before Hendrix closed. Journalist Chuck Langerman recalled that “music reverberated off the windows and walls of nearby Mt. Airy and Wyncote homes,” and that then–Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo allegedly called it a “hippie catastrophe,” ensuring it would never happen again.

Temple Stadium, built in 1928, held up to 34,000 fans and was home to the Temple Owls for decades. It was where Pop Warner coached the Owls to the 1934 Sugar Bowl and where the Philadelphia Eagles occasionally played in the 1930s and ’40s. But on that night in 1970, touchdowns gave way to distortion, and football cheers became Hendrix solos.

With tickets costing just $6.50, the crowd witnessed Hendrix’s final Philadelphia show and one of his last U.S. performances. Today, Deliverance Evangelistic Church stands on the site — but for those who were there, May 16, 1970, will forever be the night Hendrix turned Uptown into the center of the rock universe.