Dead of the Day: 09-01-1969
Baton Rouge International Speedway
Prairieville, Louisiana
There is a very fine extant show from this date in 1979 in Rochester, New York. But our Dead of the Day is the other existing recording from September 1st at a raceway outside Baton Rouge as part of the first New Orleans International Pop Festival back in 1969. The Dead open their set with Casey Jones, playing it for just the tenth time. The song rips from the beginning, but it take the boys a few moments to find the theme, rolling along on a parallel track of sorts for a bit. The Morning Dew that bursts forth next is sweet with Pig – or is it TC? – roaring on organ. A short Mama Tried comes out next, followed up by one of the greatest versions of High Time ever, just listen to Jerry’s melancholy vocals and the harmonies the rest of the band provides, not to mention the fabulous organ. Easy Wind is no slouch either with Pig killing it on vocals and the boys laying in a rocking jam. Then Dark Star rolls out in pure ’69 form; the only thing you might say against it is that it only clocks in at seventeen minutes. Afterwards, though, we get a real treat – a fantastic romp – in the Stephen> William Tell bridge> Eleven. Following that, the Dead end their fairly short festival set with a steamy Lovelight, which, as you can imagine, has Pigpen wailing and rapping and the rest of the band jamming to the extreme.
Stories of the New Orleans International Pop Festival abound on the internet, and one thing that just about all of them include is references to seriously drunk southerners. For instance, you cannot hear it on the recording, but a number of people talk about a group of drunk guys near the front who kept yelling for White Rabbit throughout the Dead’s set. Jefferson Airplane had played right before the Dead, and, as you would expect, Grace Slick was not about to oblige the obnoxious loudmouths by playing it. By the time the Dead started their set, the drunk dudes had a few more and might not even have noticed – and certainly did not care – that a new band had taken the stage.
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