Jefferson Starship Revives Magical Era
Rick Langenberg
Long live rock ‘n’ roll and musical nostalgic celebrations!
In a time with great divisions over politics, religion, the course of government and much more, locals and area entertainment buffs agree unanimously on one subject: the value of great rock revivals.
Our hub, similar to a trend occurring nationwide, with the invasion of classic rockers and supposedly some last-act shows, such as the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Beach Boys, U-2, Deep Purple, America and many others, the Pikes Peak area has gotten submerged with old-time rockers. The advent of the Ford Amphitheater has been a game changer for live musical performances in the area and attracting big names from the past.
The latest reincarnation act to hit our region was the Jefferson Starship, who made their first landing in the region in nearly 10 years at the impressive Phil Long Music Hall at Bourbon Brothers (adjacent to the Ford Amphitheater). If you haven’t checked out this venue, give it a try. The intimate setting and huge dance floor are a quality that enthralls many performers.
The Jefferson Starship (JS) responded with an impressive performance on Feb. 15 that showcased the band’s colorful history, dating back to the Summer of Love and one that encountered many times of great jubilation and yes, musical crashes. No one, including me, thought the band could survive the death of former San Francisco counterculture, musical patriarch Paul Kantner, who played a big role in the group’s reformation in the 1990s. When Paul passed away, the Jefferson Starship would surely die again. However, this is a group that has endured maybe 20 different lives, not to mention multi-varied social and personal dramas.
But I was badly mistaken, even though they offered a different style than past performances in the Pikes Peak area
Last weekend, the band responded with a more polished look and sound, with an initial Starship lift-off, featuring an amazing opening video, with the various former and current members garbed in space outfits soaring over majestic mountain landscapes.
This show stuck to the Greatest Hits theme and relied somewhat on the amazing talent of veteran, and we mean ultra-veteran, old-timer David Freiberg, the only remaining member of the original Jefferson Starship, who recently celebrated his 86th birthday. David can still sing and play with the best of them. Besides JS, he played with Quicksilver Messenger Service and even toured occasionally with the Grateful Dead.
And lead singer Cathy Richardson displayed a flamboyant stage persona that would have made Grace Slick, the former iconic singer that propelled the flight of the Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship into national stardom in the 1960s, 1970s and even 1980s, quite proud.
In an interview prior to the performance, Cathy made it clear she doesn’t try to replicate Grace, and tries to be herself, which includes her own stellar time as a theatrical performer in an off-Broadway production dealing with the life of Janis Joplin.
However, she definitely commanded the stage in a Slick-like fashion and along the way, unveiled some great stories, such as the first meeting between David Crosby and Janis Joplin, after Crosby was deported from Mexico to Texas. “He had to be the first person deported from Mexico to the United States,” quipped Richardson.
But this is part of the charm of Jefferson Starhip, a band not devoid of colorful stories.
Their performance capped the highlights of the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and the Starship. Yes, all these iterations get confusing at times, but when they are packaged together like JS did at last week’s performance, it really works.
The band really shined with Miracles, the Marty Balin love song that really turned JS from a San Francisco counterculture favorite to actually one of the top bands of the mid-1970s, We Built this City, and their songs from the early 1980s. Another surprise was a modern acoustic remake of the old 1967 Airplane song, Embryonic Journey.
The only complaint I had was a little too heavy on the “lovey-dovey stuff” and the later tunes from the Starship and the Mickey Thomas version of the group, who actually played occasionally in Cripple Creek. Those songs were apparently deeply despised by former band leader Kantner.
Cathy told me that following Kantner’s death, they tried to progress more from somewhat of a “niche following” to one that engaged more fans, even though they may lose a few from the old ponytail, hippy crowd. Kantner definitely loved more of the quirky Jefferson Airplane and progressive JS songs, even though some of today’s concert-goers weren’t all that familiar with these tunes.
However, when everything was said and done, the revived JS appeared to engage the audience the best at their Springs’ show with their 1960s classic favorites, White Rabbit, Somebody to Love and an absolute gem of an encore, with Volunteers of America (Definitely not the type of song you would hear at a Donald Trump rally). “Be nice to one another,” pleaded Frieberg, prior to Volunteers.
Yes, the spirt of the 1960s is still alive at times, even in the Pikes Peak region.
So, as we gripe about such issues as gun control, immigration, government intervention and more, the one sure way to unite is through live music. As Paul Kantner once said in the song Wooden Ships, “Go Ride the Music.”
