You can name that tune in one note.
“Purple Haze” was a landmark in psychedelic rock, exploding onto the music scene immediately upon its release in 1967. It would influence would-be guitar heroes worldwide, and Rolling Stone would anoint it the second greatest guitar song of all time and rank it #17 on the Greatest Songs (period) of All Time.
And although it never reached higher than #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, “Purple Haze” clearly and immediately influenced Bruce.
How do we know? Because less than three months after its debut in the United States, The Castiles (Bruce’s high school band) were already covering it in concert.
Here they are–“the band of the year”–opening with it at The Left Foot in Freehold, New Jersey on September 16, 1967. When you listen to Bruce’s remarkable performance on vocals and lead guitar, keep in mind: He was still a week shy of his eighteenth birthday.
Although we have reason (via a preserved but undated setlist) to believe Bruce played it at least through his Earth era in 1968, this is the only known recording of him performing it.
Purple Haze
First performed: September 16, 1967 (Freehold, NJ)
Last performed: September 16, 1967 (Freehold, NJ)
