what grounded the airplane?

[EmbryonicRabbit68]

Oh, I'm not saying it wasn't good, I would have absolutely loved to see Hot Tuna be amazing for six to eight hours a night, and would have seen them do that as many times as I could had I lived back then, but very few people like all the extended one hour solo-jamming and such, some people just want them to play the songs and thats it. I'm not one of those people though, I just feel better when every side has been voiced. I'm 100% for them playing as more than humanly possible, because they are indeed, super human...

[jimmie ray]

very few people like all the extended one hour solo-jamming and such, some people just want them to play the songs and thats it.

I don't even care for most overly long jams, particularly when they are repetitive or fall into disorganized noodling - such as you hear in many Grateful Dead live recordings. I don't recall ever hearing any Hot Tuna song going over 15 minutes - maybe Funky #7, with Jack incorporating a bass solo. When I used to see Jorma solo, in the early 80's, he played 2 long sets of a few dozen songs. None of the particular songs seemed long, but he did throw in some wild leads as he maintained the tempo. Many were old blues songs that I would never have heard in my life, otherwise. I've never found any other live music experience that even approached those shows!

[Steve]

I have tapes from 75 & 76 (and was at a bunch of those shows) where the songs Invitation & Walking Blues would go 15+ minutes. The couple weeks in 75 when Greg Douglas played second lead guitar lead to some truly wild- and long jams.

[jimmie ray]

I'll defer to anything Steve has to offer on the band. I've even had the unfortunate experience of being present when Barry Manilow's band "jammed" over 15 minutes at his shows, so anything is possible. My point was more that Hot Tuna jamming consisted more of hearing numerous songs within long sets, than each song being stretched out ala "Freebird".
Getting back to conflicts within JA that escalated over time, I had brought up a long time ago on this forum - how did Grace and Marty handle just standing there on stage during long instrumental sections of songs? The forum members here felt they enjoyed just listening, and it gave them time to refresh. I find that hard to believe, given they're up in front of large crowds and Grace being such a center of attention. As I wasn't there, and don't tend to watch videos, I can't say - but it would seem to be an issue?

[EmbryonicRabbit68]

Thats actually something I've thought about before, how did they get through that? Lots of bands parted with their singers because the singers got sick of the band just jamming over and over, and the singer having very little time to sing the actual songs.The Airplane, has been a mystery to me because they have two singers, but then again, maybe thats why Marty REALLY left. He couldn't go on tour again, knowing Jack and Jorma were extending their jams even more.But I do know that Grace would do tons of vocal improvs while the band did their thing, especially later on, which is one reason I feel their latter shows suffered, because she didn't let the band do their thing.It was nice early on, but during 1970, it just got in the way of everything else, I feel.Marty, however, did nothing while she did her thing, and since I've seen no actual concert live footage of them jamming because none is available, I can't say what he was doing.This is where a concert video becomes very important...

[Susan Butcher]

Why didn't she join in on piano instead of singing?