Jefferson Starship

When pioneering San Francisco psych-rockers Jefferson Airplane went into terminal decline in the early '70s, co-founder Paul Kantner formed the first in a confusing lineage of spin-off bands. Though Jefferson Starship would later transmogrify into the godawful Starship, its current live incarnation (featuring Kantner, keyboardist/bassist David Freiberg and a bunch of people you've probably never heard of) sticks far closer to the band's original MO. The first of the group's two Tokyo-area dates reprises 1967 Jefferson Airplane album Surrealistic Pillow in its entirety, while the second focuses on 1970's Blows Against the Empire, which paved the way for Jefferson Starship. Both gigs also feature a liberal smattering of hits from the Jefferson oeuvre, plus selections from the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service.