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I was trying to think of a good show to remember Pigpen on the 40th anniversary of his death. I thought of this 69 show that I had taped from a Grateful Dead hour in the mid-90s. This version of Schoolgirl showcases Pig at the top of his game.

The show opens with a standard 69 Hard to Handle with Jerry on slide. These 69 versions are pretty crude compared to the powerhouse renditions they started playing in spring of 71. They really dig into the jam in Doin That Rag, in fact, this is probably the most jammed out I've ever heard this tune. Jerry emphasizes the G at the end of Rag in a similar fashion to the famous 3-1-69 Doin that Rag.

Now the reason I dug out this show, a showcase version of the Sonny Boy Williamson classic, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl. This is up there with the very best versions of this tune. Pigpen sings with passion and takes 3 smokin harp solos, encouraging Jerry to take the jams to the next levl. Phil and the drummers are also at their very best. This is so down and dirty that Pig assures us the he doesn't care if she's only 15 years of age! He'd probably get arrested for just saying that in these overly politically correct days, or at least featured on an Episode of 'To Catch a Predator' lol.

Morning Dew, Top of the World and Lovelight are all very solid. The only low point in the show comes when Bobby tells the terrible Yellow Dog story. Not only is this a stupid joke, Bobby screws the timing up when delivering the punch line.

Booby makes an announcement promising a second set after Lovelight so I assume this list is incomplete. Judging from the high quality of whats here, I would love to hear the missing material. It seems likely there is a missing Dark Star as they don't play it the following night and in 69 it was rare that they failed to play Dark Star for two consecutive nights at the same venue.

I'm going to give it four stars based on whats here, if the missing material is up to the same level it would probably warrant five stars.

- March 9, 2013RIP Pigpen