Last week was the 40th anniversary of the Monterey Pop Music Festival. In addition to Hendrix torching his guitar, the festival was really the pinnacle of ’60s music and the Flower Power generation. From Woodstock to Altamont, it was all downhill after Monterey.

But after watching the VH1 40th anniversary special last night, I was amazed how absolutely insane Otis Redding’s performance was. Redding had to follow hippie icons like The Byrds and Jefferson Airplane, plus playing to a sea of white faces was something new for him. It’s safe to say he did alright. Even more tragic is that less than six months after this footage was shot, Redding was dead at age 26.