Woodstock Sunday August 17 1969

Description

At the muddy miracle that was Woodstock, the most miraculous performance could have been that of Jefferson Airplane. The band was one of the first to sign on for the festival, their imprimatur encouraging many other groups to come aboard, and their stature earned them a coveted headlining spot to close the Saturday night lineup. However, as the torrential rains and the unexpected crush of half a million people continued to delay their set, the chances of delivering anything close to a quality performance seemed to dwindle. According to Paul Kantner, "We were supposed to start at 10:30 PM and we had gone up and down about four or five times on acid that night, getting ready to go, then everything got delayed for some reason. So we didn't start until 7:00 the next morning and everyone was pretty much exhausted." Despite Kantner's protests, the Airplane (with guest pianist Nicky Hopkins) delivered a blistering two-hour set that defied the elements and circumstances. Grace Slick led the charge as the band dove into a frenzied version of Fred Neil's "The Other Side of This Life": "Okay, friends, you've seen the heavy bands. Now, you're going to see some manic morning music. Believe me, yes. It's a new dawn!" What followed was an adventurous (and surprisingly tight) set that included not only the band's hits like "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love," but also songs from the album Volunteers, which was still three months away from release, including a 21-minute version of "Wooden Ships!" Indeed, the only crew members who were not up to par were those filming the concert documentary, which explains why the Airplane is not one of the acts that typically comes to mind when thinking of Woodstock; they do not appear in the film due to poor footage, and only one of their songs ("Volunteers") is included in the 3 LP Woodstock release. Today, Real Gone Music is proud to present the complete performance of Jefferson Airplane at Woodstock.