« Back to Top Level | Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane - Port Chester 11-13-1970 Late Show (1970)

Track listing:
  1. Have You Seen The Saucers - Hijack 18:22
  2. Three Fifths Of A Mile In 10 Seconds 7:53
  3. Good Shepherd 10:01
  4. We Can Be Together 8:00
  5. Pretty As You Feel 10:20
  6. Johns Other 8:43
  7. Somebody To Love 9:04
  8. Volunteers 11:07
  9. Emergency 6:07

Notes


Capitol Theatre

d1t1-"We're gonna play some rock and roll and then Paul and Grace are gonna come out..." Jorma

A rare portrait of one the unsung heros of the psychedelic era, The Jefferson Airplane. Pioneering the sound that most "psychedelic" bands from the 60's era emulated, their genre creating music went almost entirely overlooked by popular radio in its day. Charging their lyrics with social, political, and envoirmental themes, coupled with a healthy dose of Big Brother is watching science fiction. Combine that with an outspoken, flamboyant lead female singer, and its no wonder why there is a file this thick on them in the FBI's office.
What makes this especially interesting is the close proximity to Marty "leaving" the band. Some databases indicate this happened in October of this year, yet Marty is clearly on board here. Also with the introduction of Papa John just weeks before, we can see the cracks starting to form. Jorma is way out front, from the stripped down beginnings of "Come Back Baby" to the bluesy finale of "Baby, What You Want Me To Do". You can feel the connection in the interplay between Jorma and Jack, their realization that there's more to life than "Jefferson Airplane".
A slow introduction of the band is executed, as members are brought out for succeeding songs, first Marty, then Papa John, and Will Scarlet each adding their own component, until the full band reaches the stage with the start of disc 2.
And when they do, the machine really starts to fly. "Have You Seen The Saucers" morphs into an eerie premonition of things to come. Graces' Do-Do-Do-ings on d2t1 turning "Saucers" into a starship-esque "Hijack", ending in a cascade of guitar feedback. Hearing this for the first time, literally gave me chills, as the two factions of this one band seemingly engage in a battle for dominance. ( As a tech note, this was undocumented on the discs that were given to me, and as such d2t1 is left as a single track).
And the tension just builds... Good Shepherd, We Can Be Together, Pretty As You Feel, Johns Other, each member looking for the touch of the spotlight, all the while held firmly in the Kaptains' grasp.
While they finish up with two of their strongest anthem's "Somebody To Love" and "Volunteers", they're not done yet. And again each band member seems to want to leave their mark on this performance. Four encore songs, "Emergency", "Peggy Sue" , "All Around This World", and "Baby, What You Want Me To Do", the last two without Paul and Grace (read Hot Tuna). A band that shouted "gotta revolution" in the midst of one of their own.