A new retrospective revisits Jefferson Airplane's chaotic set at the 1969 Woodstock festival, arguing it stands out as one of the event's most memorable performances despite the band never becoming headline-grabbing Woodstock legends in the way Jimi Hendrix or The Who did. The piece highlights how the band's psychedelic sound and improvised, hazard-strewn performance captured the disorganised, free-spirited essence of the festival itself, making it emblematic of the wider Woodstock experience.

Jefferson Airplane had originally been booked to headline on the Saturday night but, owing to Woodstock's notoriously loose scheduling and poor infrastructure, did not actually take to the stage until around eight o'clock on Sunday morning, greeting the exhausted but euphoric crowd of nearly half a million people. Frontwoman Grace Slick opened with the now-famous line about "morning maniac music" and a "new dawn". Adding to the surreal atmosphere, band members had unwittingly consumed LSD roughly fifteen minutes before going on stage, yet still delivered what the article describes as a breathtaking set.