Live at the Fillmore East and West by John Glatt

Author:John Glatt
Language: ara
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2014-12-02T05:00:00+00:00

Six thousand miles away in Europe, Janis Joplin and her new band were finally jelling. Away from the intense scrutiny and pressure of the American critics and audiences, Janis was more relaxed and delivering some of her finest performances. Her new brass section, consisting of saxophonists Snooky Flowers and Terry Clements and Luis Gasca on trumpet, were a perfect foil for her unique vocal style.

“That’s when we played our best,” said Sam Andrew. “We really hit a good gear and that’s when you sense, ‘Oh yeah, now Janis is really becoming this big star.’ ”4

The early April shows in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, and Copenhagen were all triumphs, receiving rave reviews.

“Everything came together in Europe,” said John Cooke. “The band was good. The concerts were good. It showed everybody what [the band] could be, but nobody saw it but us and the European audiences.”5

The third week of April, Janis arrived in London for a sold-out show at the Albert Hall. There was huge anticipation in England to see Janis, and reportedly a pool of musicians vied to be the first to sleep with her.

Prior to the performance, Janis met London Evening Standard music writer Ray Connolly in a bar for an interview. She told him she had been drinking Gordon’s Gin all day, after Mick Jagger had snubbed her concert, saying that if he wanted to hear black singing, he’d listen to black singers.

“She’s cut to the quick,” wrote Connolly.

As the interview progressed, Janis became drunker and drunker as her band members looked on in disapproval.

“Nobody ever asks me about my singing,” she told Connolly. “All anyone ever wants to know is about fellas and booze and sex. I want to be known as a singer.”

She also revealed that her doctor had recently warned her that her liver had become swollen from too much drinking.

“Man,” she declared, “I’d rather have ten years of superhypermost than live to be seventy sitting in some goddamn chair watching TV. And you know what I wanted most in the world? I wanted to be on the same bill with Otis Redding. It was all arranged, and then he was killed. He was my idol. I wanted him to tell me I was good.”6

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