The attentive reader may have noticed, but the show from February 11 1969 I discussed previously has the addition “Late Show” in the title. That doesn't mean it's a performance on some late-night show, but rather that the Grateful Dead played two shows that day! At the time, they were still opening for Janis Joplin (whose show, unfortunately, can no longer be found today; should anyone happen to have it... I am certainly interested!) and so they did two shows on the same day. When I discussed the late show, I already gave a preview of what I thought of this early show.
And my opinion hasn't really changed, to be honest. It is a double-edged sword, anyway. On the one hand, I think it's fantastic to see that the Dead were already able to put on two completely different shows even in their early years (there is zero overlap between the two shows), but on the other hand, for this early show, it just doesn't click together quite as well. That version of Hey Jude in particular (a Beatles song I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with anyway) is actually excruciatingly bad in terms of harmonies. Fortunately, there is a healthy dose of other solid songs to balance that out (you can always make me happy with a Turn on Your Lovelight), and in any case, this is a fine show for Pigpen fans. He sets the tone right away with Good Morning Little School Girl and does his familiar thing on quite a few other songs.
Not everything can be called equally good (I don't know if it's the CD itself, but the transition from Cryptical Envelopment to The Other One sounds a bit jerky), but the banter between Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia is great to hear. For instance, there is a short break after Good Morning Little School Girl where they make some fun of Billy Kreutzmann for a bit. It has something to do with the fact that he still has to put on his shoes and that that is typical for those hicks - read: country bumpkins - like him, and when it all takes too long, Weir wants to tell a joke about George Washington's teeth. That is then cut short rather abruptly by Garcia, and I suspect it is a joke the gentlemen have perhaps heard just a little too often. Before they start Hey Jude, he manages to finish his story (why Washington isn't smiling on the dollar bill), and it turns out to be the same joke he would tell later in the show of November 15, 1969. So I suspect Weir told that story often in 1969...
I place the late show somewhere in the top ranks, but this early show ends up more in the middle of the pack. It is really great that both shows have been released in a single 2-disc release, with each show taking up one disc. It is just such a shame that the Janis Joplin show isn't included, but it was probably simply not recorded. Late show encore Cosmic Charlie was also only partially recorded.
Tracklist:
- Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
- Cryptical Envelopment
- The Other One
- Cryptical Envelopment
- Doin' That Rag
- I'm a King Bee
- Turn on Your Lovelight
- Hey Jude
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