The Ledge - Rattlesnake Shake live performances

A few weeks ago I decided to listen to a bunch of live versions of "Rattlesnake Shake" to find out how it evolved in live performances. Here's a list of the performances along with the running times of the tracks.

Essen 10/9/69: 6.34 (jam just ends, doesn't return to Rattlesnake Shake)
Swedish TV 11/69: 6.41
Stockholm: 11/4/69: 10.21
Orebro 11/6/69: 8.40
Oslo 11/69: 4.58 (beginning is cut off)
San Francisco 1/2/70: 15.00
San Francisco 1/4/70: 19.59 (first appearance of Underway in jam)
Seattle 1/17/70: 21.37 (no Underway, end fades out early)
New Orleans 1/31/70: 22.27 (Underway returns, portion near end is cut)
Boston 2/5/70: 24.38
Boston 2/6/70: 25.36
Hanover 3/15/70: 20.08 (transition from "Rattlesnake Shake" to "Underway" is cut)
Vienna 3/25/70: 25.20 (wah-wah introduced into the sound)
Boblingen 3/26/70: 24.38
Stockholm 4/1/70: 22.28
London 4/9/70: 14.06 (BBC session)

Also notable - "Underway" only...
Copenhagen 3/28/70: 17.39
Stockholm 4/1/70: 14.58

It was a tough job listening to all of these but someone had to do it! :D Actually it was a lot of fun. As you can see from the track times above, it had really moved into the "epic" realm by the beginning of 1970. Interesting listening to all of these one after the other - you can hear them try out riffs that were not part of the original Then Play On tracks and then listen as these reappear more developed and played with more confidence on later shows. Also interesting how on some shows Danny Kirwan plays fairly aggressively while on others he stays pretty much in the background.

From the earliest live recordings I have, "Rattlesnake Shake" was combined with an extended coda based on the "Madge" jams. "Rattlesnake Shake" doesn't appear on any of the shows I have earlier than that Essen one, but I don't know whether they didn't include it in their set before that or whether it's just didn't get taped (specifically from the 9/4/69 Stockholm or 9/24/69 Helsinki shows). Interesting that on the Essen version, the "Madge" jam just sort of ends, and doesn't return to "Rattlesnake Shake" as all the other versions do. I hadn't remembered that "Underway" only worked its way into the long jam in early 1970. The band seemed unsure of how to combine it with "Madge" on that 1/4/70 San Francisco version, and it's interesting that it does not appear on the 1/17 version from Seattle (although the end of the track is cut off, they seem to be about ready to wrap it up). Unfortunately the transition from "Underway" back to "Madge" is cut out of the 1/31 version from New Orleans. By the time of the Boston Tea Party shows the following week, the "Underway"-"Madge" transition seems pretty well worked out, and "Underway" was a standard part of the performance in the following months.

There are some real standouts and curiosities from the Boston shows and later ones. Interesting that "Underway" became a jam on its own late in late March. The 2/6/70 Boston version might be my favorite - I think it's the most fully-developed of what I would call the "classic" performances. The Hanover peformance is smoking - some fabulous interplay between Peter & Danny, much more so than usual - too bad that one portion is cut out though. From Vienna on, Peter uses wah-wah on portions of the jams for most of the performances. I really think you can hear the occasional echo of Jerry Garcia in some of Peter's playing during these jams - not so surprising considering how many times the bands seem to have played on the same bills during this period.

The 4/1/70 Stockholm "Rattlesnake Shake" is the oddest of any of them. The jamming is almost completey unrelated to the "Madge" jams for one thing. And Danny totally drives the jamming, while Peter seems lost in his own visions. For much (most?) of the jam he seems to drift into "Underway"-type playing even though the rest of the band is rocking out. Yet at other times he's right in gear with the others. Don't know what to think about that - was he too stoned that night to play with the rest of the band or did he just not care at that point? I haven't listened to the rest of that show for awhile, but "Underway" from that date seems fine - maybe that's just the type of music he wanted to play that night?

The 4/9/70 London BBC Session is right up there with the second night in Boston as my favorite performance of "Rattlesnake Shake". Perhaps because of the constraints of the BBC format, there seems to be more focus in the playing. The shorter time offers less chance for the self-indulgent excesses that crept into some other versions. And I think the "Underway" portion is particularly brilliant, and somehow fitting of one of the Green-era band's last recordings that it just sort of fades away at the end.

Listening to all of these over a few days revealed a lot about the evolution of this piece as the band became more adventurous in their live performances. The fact that "Underway" was added to "Rattlesnake Shake / Madge" and then split off into its own separate epic says a lot - although I'm not sure yet about what! :shrug: :D