The Jefferson Airplane were the first band that I became a real fan of. Part of that was an adolescent crush on Grace Slick, part was a fascination with the San Francisco hippie scene, but mostly it was the propulsive, guitar-driven sound of the band and their wonderful harmonies. I was lucky enough to see them perform twice in Detroit in 1968 and 1968; I still consider their November 1969 performance at the East Towne Threater to be the best single rock performance I've seen.
The Airplane disbanded before portable taping equipment and the taper movement became widespread, so there aren't many good audience recordings of their concerts. Some soundboards of varying quality circulate and this week's Saturday Sounds post is one of them, from a performance at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA, on May 19th, 1967.
Considering the era, the recording is of decent quality. Unfortunately, there are several cuts (notably in White Rabbit and Somebody to Love), but from what I remember after more than 50 years, this recording is as close to what they sounded like live as any I've heard. The best part of the set is the jam that follows This Is My Life, starting about 45:00 followed by their first live performance of Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon.
For better sound quality, both their performances at the Monterey Pop Festival later in 1967 and at Woodstock in 1969 have been commercially released and are available for streaming.
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