Live Gems

[Dormouse]

I would like to start a discussion of some of the rarer live Airplane recordings that some of you may have heard in person, on recording, or even have in your possession. Share your experiences with these great performances!

I have the Airplane performance from October 26, 1969 that is wonderful. Craig Fenton describes the version of Eskimo Blue Day as the best version ever. Personally, I think their performance of Greasy Heart is their best.

[bear melter420]

go to wolfgangsvault.com . it's a cool site with lots of recordings from live shows. one of my favorites is mau mau from 10/25/69. i just realized that that is the day after what you just said. but anyway, there are so many amazing versions of songs on that site that i have not been able to find anywhere else

[JoeD80]

Why was Live at the FillMore East released (crap) and were these recordings ignored?

My guess is that Live at the Fillmore East was released because 1998 was the 30th anniversary of its opening and those were recordings taken from Jefferson Airplane's first shows there. Record companies like to do stuff that means something more than just releasing good live shows...yeah, you don't always get good live albums that way but the company sells more (or at least they think they do).

As for good live shows, I am currently listening to the show from September 14th, 1970. There's a couple of issues with the mic not picking up vocals on We Can Be Together and Greasy Heart, but otherwise the show is great, and it's pretty exciting to hear Jorma & Jack play on the full version of "Starship." (this performance of "Starship" was released on the expanded edition of "Blows Against the Empire")