Blue Monday: Janis, Frankfurt & Stockholm, '69

Much to my surprise, it appears that my recent Joplin boot, Amsterdam '69, ended up being quite popular among you folks. I didn't know how it'd go over, but good Janis is all the reason I'll ever need to feature these shows...

The response I've gotten from last week's post has had me rooting about through my Janis bootlegs to separate the wheat from the chaff as it were. As I mentioned in my last post, Janis' boots are rife with shoddy, at times hideous sound quality.

So let's just stick with the ones that are the best of the lot...

From the same European tour that produced Janis' Amsterdam show comes her Kosmic Blues Band lighting up the stages in Stockholm and Frankfurt-am-Main.

We are rewarded by sticking with the Frankfurt show as both the sound quality and performance improve a short ways in. Playing at the legendary Hundred Year Hall to an audience that was largely American servicemen and dependents, Janis goads the audience to "get up and move!" as they head into Snooky Flowers' instrumental, Me. Coming back off this break, Janis tears into a spot-on Maybe and stays strong through the balance of the set. A later-era Ball & Chain provide some of this set's stand-out moments.

Both the Frankfurt and Stockholm shows share Summertimes that are things of beauty. Sam Andrew had followed Janis into the Kosmic Blues from Big Brother and was still on hand to lend his superlative licks through these readings. Recorded for Swedish television just a week after Janis' Frankfurt gig, Stockholm's show is further enhanced by a stand-out cover of Nick Gravenites' Work Me Lord.

Don't wonder, just enjoy...


Janis Joplin
Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
April 12, 1969


Raise Your Hands
Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)
Me
Maybe
Summertime
Ball and Chain
Piece of My Heart


Link


Janis Joplin
Groena Lund
Stockholm, Sweden
April 19, 1969



Piece of My Heart
Interview
Summertime
Me
Raise Your Hand
Work Me Lord

Link


Peace, Mudcatz