This three day run, featuring Jefferson Airplane opening a bill which featured the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and legendary bluesman Muddy Waters, would be the second time Bill Graham presented concerts at Winterland. The exact same lineup had been presented at this larger venue the previous weekend. The performances were so well received and attended, that Graham decided to repeat his success with three additional shows on this weekend.
This late show set from the Saturday night shows begins in similar fashion to the early show with another short jam that segues directly into an…entire summary
Signe Anderson - vocals
Marty Balin - vocals, percussion
Paul Kantner - vocals, guitar
Jorma Kaukonen - lead guitar
Jack Casady - bass
Spencer Dryden - drums
This three day run, featuring Jefferson Airplane opening a bill which featured the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and legendary bluesman Muddy Waters, would be the second time Bill Graham presented concerts at Winterland. The exact same lineup had been presented at this larger venue the previous weekend. The performances were so well received and attended, that Graham decided to repeat his success with three additional shows on this weekend.
This late show set from the Saturday night shows begins in similar fashion to the early show with another short jam that segues directly into an electrified cover of Fred Neil's "The Other Side Of This Life," followed by their cover Dino Valenti's "Let's Get Together."
The next two songs focus on material from their debut album, with lovely versions of "Don't Slip Away" and "Come Up The Years." These two songs were debuted the previous night and are welcome new additions to their live repertoire.
Kaukonen fronts the group for a take on "Kansas City," a bluesy cover song he often favored as his showcase song during 1966. The interplay between Jorma and Jack is utterly unique here. Although this song had a ubiquitous presence in the 1966 setlists, the arrangement remained elastic enough to allow Jorma to improvise freely and no two versions are the same. Even at this early stage, Jorma was looking beyond tightly structured material and the seeds of Hot Tuna are being sown.
The second known live performance of the rarity, "It's Alright" (debuted in the early show), is next. This song would only be performed a few times and, although recorded in the studio, would remain unreleased until the Early Flight rarities compilation LP was released in the 1970s. It is unknown why this song was relegated to the cutting floor, as it fits right in with the material being developed for the Surrealistic Pillow sessions and stands up well in comparison.
The remainder of the set contains two more tracks from the first album. First is Marty Balin's slow blues, "And I Like It," expanded to nearly 8 minutes here. Considering who else was on the bill this night, it took courage for Balin to attempt this bluesy number. Balin's vocal delivery has become more aggressive than any earlier versions of this song and it's a strong, confident performance.
After encouraging the audience to stick around for sets by the other groups on the bill, they close with the ever popular "It's No Secret." Bill Graham takes the stage to acknowledge the individual bandmembers, followed by an intriguing announcement stating "gonna set up for Muddy Waters and we'll close it up with The Butterfield group joining Muddy."
Read more about Jefferson Airplane in Crawdaddy!:
"Rediscovering Rock and Roll, A Journey: Chapter 13"
"The Golden Road: A Report on San Francisco"
"Good Riddance to the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love"
"Alexander 'Skip' Spence: Oar"
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