The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jimi’s band featuring drummer Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass, gave their last performance on June 29, 1969. The band appeared for a set at Barry Fey’s Denver Pop Festival, an event that ended in near disaster.Fans began rioting towards the end of the band’s set and they were rushed off the stage as police in riot gear moved in on the crowd. Tear gas was administered and the trio was smuggled away from the scene in the back of a rented moving truck. The truck was at one point surrounded by rioting fans and nearly crushed. Redding was the first to leave the band, and his departure caused their split. In addition to the unsettling experience in Denver, Redding had become dissatisfied with his role in the band as a bassist and left to start a new group, Fat Mattress, in which he played guitar.