6/7/1969 is the third show in the run and is a bit of a mystery as the Dead only performed one set worth of material while the other shows in the run found them playing two sets, thus it is unclear whether a set is missing from 6/7/1969. How insane is that?
6/7/1969 notes
The dead opened the show acoustically performing a brisk Dire Wolf flowing into Dupree’s Diamond Blues and Mountains of the Moon, which were both classics of the Dead’s staple. Though the Dead did not have a ton of songs in their repertoire in 1969, their ability to interchange many of the songs from electric to acoustic hinted at their versatility.
The Dead transitioned into Dark Star with their electric instruments and though plugged in they lack the fire of the DS to night’s prior which could be due to the band recovering from the epic dosing which had likely occurred the night before. DS becomes Saint Stephen and The Eleven and at first the boys still lack that spark that gets you all excited and causes you to forget that they’re playing songs you’ve heard over and over again, but then somewhere in the Eleven they manage to pull it together.
Sittin’ On Top Of The World swoops into Cold Rain and Snow, a song not played as much as one would hope,. This Cold Rain and Snow is much quicker than the one the Dead would come to play in the future. From there, the band slides into Doin’ That Rag which was delivered with much of the good humor the song relies on in both the playing and the singing and the band jammed with force to the song’s conclusion before giving way to Weir’s Me and My Uncle with great fluid guitar lines provided by Garcia.
Turn On Your Lovelight, the song that closed many a Grateful Dead show of the era, and every night of the June Fillmore run weighed it at 21 minutes which was 26 minutes shorter than the previous night’s Lovelight and this one featured a special treat in Janis Joplin whose vocals can first be heard 4 minutes and 20 seconds in. Joplin excites not just the crowd but Pigpen who start howling behind her. Joplin and Pigpen trade off the improv rap portion and both singers sound increasingly older than their ages which were both in the 20′s at the time of the show.
The lack of energy of this show as compared to others from around this time leads me to believe that 6/6/1969 may have indeed been the night a few members of the Dead were dosed. Of course, sometimes a recording doesn’t connect a listener with the experience of an audience member present but the band seemed to peak in The Eleven with nothing coming close to rival except for perhaps when Joplin took the stage. A weird Saturday night gig all in all.
The show can be streamed here.
