The original videotape consists of four fragments, not in the correct playing order.
The first consists of the first 8:44 of "Directions." The second begins with the
remainder of "Directions," but the audio track is missing from the first 2:54; also
included are "Honky Tonk" and the first 9:30 or so of "What I Say." The third fragment
on the videotape is actually the conclusion of the show -- the last 11:52 of "Funky
Tonk" and the closing "The Theme" with applause. The fourth fragment (which belongs
between the second and third) consists of the last 2:58 of "What I Say" followed
by "Sanctuary," "It's About That Time," and the first 13:30 of "Funky Tonk."
There is some debate about the venue for this performance. The Electric Factory
opened on February 2, 1968, and quickly became a premier venue for rock acts. Owner
and proprietor Larry Magid reminisced, "It changed my life and the lives of many
people and became a symbol of the new age of values, consciousness and morality.
Opened with the Chambers Brothers, then played Jimi Hendrix, Big Brother and the
Holding Co. with a young Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
in the first month. My personal favorites were the Band and Miles Davis shows."
(Philadelphia Weekly December 26, 2007). In addition, Magid managed a concert
promotion agency called Electric Factory Concerts that put on shows in a variety
of Philadelphia venues, including the Tower Theatre and the Spectrum. Around this
time the Davis group opened for Santana at the Spectrum, but from the grainy, poorly-lit
video of this performance, the venue looks and sounds like a small venue rather
than an auditorium. Thanks to Jeff Zeitz and Kirk Tennant for discussion about the
venue, Enrico Merlin for supplying the date, and to Jan Lohmann for discussion about
the details of the performance. See
this poster
for confirmation of the date and venue.
Around this time the Davis ensemble performed at Princeton
University's Alexander Hall (November 14), and at Suffolk Community College's
Brookhaven Gym (two shows on November 25).
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