Did you ever see Jefferson Airplane live?

I’ve been listening to quite a lot of Jefferson Airplane lately and I’ve found most of their live output sounds quite sloppy and often out of tune.

Anyone see them live in their heyday? Do the live recordings sound bad because of technology in those days? Was it the case of not being able to hear themselves on stage? Drugs and/or alcohol?

Of the 400+ concerts I have seen in my life Jefferson Airplane/Starship wasn’t one one them. Not too much into their music and I can’t stand Grace Slick. My opinion of her is Pit worthy.

The poor quality of their live recordings may very well be due to drugs and alcohol as band members, especially Slick, were known to abuse both.

I saw them live in the early 70s. It was a perfectly fine concert and I remember enjoying it, though nothing about it stood out particularly.

I saw them twice, once at Woodstock, then a bit later around the time “Volunteers” came out, at the Music Hall in Boston.

First, no one could ever say that Jack Casady has ever been a sloppy or out-of-tune bass player. Far from it.

That being said, I would venture that they had their sloppy, out of tune moments. Paul Kantner was probably the problem. He wasn’t nearly the musician the rest of them were.

Listen to live Grateful Dead, Quicksilver, Country Joe, Big Brother stuff from that era, I don’t think you’ll find the Airplane to be any more egregious than those other groups.

I’m a Jorma and Jack man myself. If I have the Airplane playing, they’re the ones I’m paying most attention to.

I never had the pleasure of seeing JA live. I’ve heard any number of live recordings, both official and unofficial. Of course, it’s possible that an official live album has been cherry picked, edited, remixed, and all that stuff for the best presentation. Unofficial stuff is just what it is, which is a big part of the appeal. My sense of it is that a tight, well-rehearsed set was not necessarily the top priority. That’s not to accuse them of not caring if they sounded downright sloppy; maybe “loose” would be the term they would prefer.

Grace Slick was an awesome talent, no doubt about it. But she did have her off nights.

The Airplane was absolutely one of my favorite bands on record and I got to see them live twice. On the same day.

When I was in college, they played the downtown auditorium and some friends and I went there. It wasn’t memorable. Iron Butterfly was the band to see live.

But when we got back to campus, the Grateful Dead were still playing one of their endless concerts. (Yes, some idiot booked them for the same day.) I met a guy leaving who had an untorn ticket and used it to go in. It took the Airplane the same amount of time to get there and they joined the Dead on stage. You know what? Still wasn’t memorable.

I think so.

Born in 1969, I’ve never seen the Airplane live, not even in the late 80’s/early 90s whenever it was reunion tour. But I’ve seen Hot Tuna lots and lots of times.
(See avatar…)

I saw them in the mid-70s in Maryland. Thoroughly enjoyed the show.

I walked in near the end of their set at Knebworth, 1978,
Don’t remember them - i was there for Genesis !
I see what you mean about Grace Slick; from that link …

…The best of the support acts was undoubtedly Jefferson Starship, who initially were in doubt to appear after having just had their equipment completely trashed by an outraged tutonic crowd after aborting a show in Germany because Grace Slick was “indisposed”.

However , substitute gear was found and the band ( sans Grace ,who had been sent back to the states in disgrace due to her erratic behaviour ) played a lengthy set which featured many of their best songs from the Volunteers era as well as others from Dragonfly . Within a year veteran vocalist Marty Balin had left the band as well and The Starship was never the same after this .

They were one of my favorite bands in the early 70s. I finally got to see them in 1974 in a theater in Kansas City. The opening act was a little-known band by the name of Kansas. They played for a little over an hour and absolutely kicked ass. Everybody was blown away by their set.

Then Airplane/Starship came onstage. Grace Slick was drunk as a skunk. She forgot lyrics, laughed hysterically, and was a general mess. They played for an hour and left without an encore. Totally disappointing.

Caught Starship in the late seventies. Good show, except for the mow-ron exhorting Ms. Slick to display her mammaries.

“I can’t stand Grace Slick. My opinion of her is Pit worthy.”
How can you not love someone who tried to spice a White House punch bowl with acid?!

I was literally thinking this when I read the thread title. A lot of mediocre concerts I saw in the 80s have run together in my mind, and I feel like I saw them, but nothing more concrete than that.

Sounds like she really put the ‘psych’ in ‘psychedelic’.

uh, because that’s uncool. To put it mildly. It’s assault.

“Nixon started it!”

In any case, unless Grace had called on Owsley Stanley right before the bash, she couldn’t have been carrying enough to do any damage. Dropping a couple of hits of blotter acid into a 3-5 gallon punchbowl would dilute the dosage down to nothing, even given the mega-doses that were out there back in the day. It might have even mellowed out Kissinger.

But That Would Be Wrong.

There’s no way to know how much acid Gracie was or wasn’t carrying. It’s a great story, nonetheless.

When I saw the Airplane at the Music Hall, the opening act was Chris Smither. Poor guy, sitting there with just his acoustic guitar, and extremely non-psychedelic. It didn’t go well.

Wow, that’s suprising. Chris Smither is a treasure.