Jefferson Starship Rocked Charleston, WV!!

I had seen singer Mickey Thomas (Jefferson Starship, Starship) do his version of Starship in concert (review here), but I had not seen Jefferson Starship in concert.

For anyone who is confused, here is some history: the band was first Jefferson Airplane in the 1960s and early 1970s. Then the band morphed into Jefferson Starship in the mid 1970s. Then in the mid 1980s, the band morphed into just Starship. Then the band briefly was Jefferson Airplane again in 1989. Then the band became Jefferson Starship again in the 1990s and has remained that way ever since, although as I said, singer Mickey Thomas has Starship too.

Fascinating, but all very cool.

Anyway, I saw Jefferson Starship do a free concert in Charleston, WV and wow were they great.

As you can imagine with so many band name changes, there is probably personnel changes too? Yes indeed.

Sadly, some have passed away (Paul Kantner and Marty Balin), others have retired (Grace Slick), but this band keeps on trucking, playing the Jefferson Starship, Starship, and even some Jefferson Airplane songs too to all the fans who come to see them.

This band really cooks. Classic members David Freiberg (vocals (PHENOMENAL singer at almost 87 years of age) and guitar, who was also in Quicksilver Messenger Service before he briefly joined Airplane and joined Jefferson Starship) and Donny Baldwin (drums, who also in the Elvin Bishop Band, playing on the hit “Fooled Around And Fell In Love”) are in this lineup. The rest of the band includes singer/guitarist Cathy Richardson, who has been in the band for 18 years and is a PHENOMENAL singer, Jude Gold on lead guitar, and Chris Smith keyboards.

As I said, this band really cooks.

If you are a fan, you have to go see this band. Yes it’s not the complete original lineup anymore, but they really deliver the goods.

This was a very stressful week for me, and this concert was very much needed for me and I loved every second of it.

Thank you Jefferson Starship for all the great music and please keep bringing the music to the people because we need you.

Opening band, Of The Dell, from Huntington, WV, were very good too. Lots of great vocals and catchy songs.

Thank you all for the great night.