The Led Zeppelin performances listed here are graded through my own experience, which is strongly biased by the LZ community standard of good shows. This is how I only have shows concidered above average, so there may be some gems I'll never hear. Most shows seem to suffer from a sort of disposability- listen once and put away on the shelf. This list is for the casual collector who has no interest in having all of the shows available. Keep Luis Rey's book at hand!
Here follows a list of shows which IMO are highly above average and therefore can be listened over and over again remaining to be a part of the active music collection! Providing for the fact that you are more than a regular fan. :) I have marked remarkable song performances in bold titles. Sorry about the old-skool web desing (and the funny colors!)
Note that I only have a very limited number of shows so this list is really brief and of course, 99% subjective.
The performance is good and is packed with 32 minutes of B/W Zeppelin in '69.
If you get any '69, get this! Most
people say this is the best 1969, and well, it probably is with
excellent sound quality.
I listen to this while hoovering. The highlight of the show is As
Long As I Have You medley.
The guitar is very upfront with other instrument almost unhearable and on the top of it, this source is 20+n generations off the master, so it has lots of hiss! There's a newly discovered EQ'd 1st gen source circulating.
The highlight is White Summer/Black
Mt. Side without Jimmy missing
a single note. A good laid-back Since I've Been Loving You. Check
out Moby Dick
for an interesting interruption in the source tape. (At least in
the Mandala release).
9/9/71 Hampton - 9- SB
This show is one of the only '71's I have and it is known that Zeppelin was at their highest peak in '70 and '71. Sad that there's only 3 known SB's from this year circulating (or is the VG AUD source from 9/29 a SB?). I don't know how this show compares to others, but this is very good, I would say even excellent. Immigrant Song's solos are exciting (for lack of better words, d'oh) but Heartbreaker is nearly spectacular. Without inflating all the praise words, I have to comment Since I've Been Loving You. Usually live this won't make it up par with the studio version, which is packed with great "blue mood" and energy, especially the solo. Here it takes a bit of a relaxed side. This is where the songs come alive. Nearly like organic creatures, the stuctures of this song move and twiggle. I wouldn't say this was so very good version of this song musically, but the feel is there. The quality of the tape even more adds to the fact that this is pure fan stuff. Truly an underground tape!
9/14/71 Berkeley - 6 to 8+ AUD
I'll write a review sooner or later.
One of my favourite tours not just because of No Quarter. Plant's voice is horrible most nights, but the instrumental parts can be really good. Many agree, many disagree.
1 hour of rough soundboard from the
European tour. Find this if it is the only live tape you'll get!
This is packed with energy and mood.
Stairway To Heaven is good this
night. Plant's singing tone is great, but his voice
doesn't stand the ending. The solo is very good. One of the best
performances
of this song.
Heartbreaker must be the best
version ever! Bonzo's playing is very hot, but Jimmy's solo
tops it all with an extended Bourree. This one's a must-have.
Good sounding audience tape, with good
performance. This one has a special feel and especially
Since I've Been Loving You is outstanding. Dazed is quite out of
it, which is always
good. Unfortunately there's no complete Stairway from any source,
just 2 minutes from
the audience. Very good Whole Lotta Love finishes the show.
I'm talking of the alt. mono source, so
I can't compare the sound quality
with the other sources (Custard Pie & Sweet At Night).
The performance is good, I believe no
one has ever or will disagree, altough
it's hard sometimes to pick up the music. The reason why I hardly
ever listen to this
show is because of the lousy sound quality of the tape. I
understand that my source
is inferior that the one used in 'Custard Pie', though that's not
very good either.
There are upgrades in circulation from the CP source of unknown
generation
and that's supposed to be best version of this show. Plus this
source runs waaaay too slow.
The Song Remains The Same's solos
are wonderful and the version of Dazed And Confused
that night was outstanding too. Many go on rambling about
Stairway's solo, but I must
confess I was a bit of disappointed when I first heard it. Maybe
it was because of all the
"hype" about it or the sound.. But it is above average
anyway.
I love the soundtrack! Perfect quality
and great live songs! Even if it's constructed
from the three nights, this is another must-have CD. No
Quarter is very, very
good this night. (The solo is taken from the 28th night)
JPJ's solo, intro to the guitar solo and the guitar solo are
Zeppelin flying
most high, and I dare to say this is one of the highpoints of
Zeppelin live!
This song that night is nothing but pure magic!
Dazed and Confused and the beautiful San
Francisco bit is again the best I've
heard. And third, Stairway is a great too!
At first to me the whole tour seemed to
suffer from too long, eccentric solos
mostly by Jimmy, but then it came clear to me how they should be
listened to:
Jimmys solos are an adventure. The moody stuff had been done
previously, so it
was time to move on, see where they could go! The solo sections
start the usual
way, sloppy. Then it either wanders off to nowhere or like at
good nigths, Jimmy
gets into some adventures with his solos and *they even might
have a point*!
But, the moody and atmospheric stuff is gone.
2/12/75 New York - 9+ AUD
This was the first show I heard about when reading the ng alt.music.led-zeppelin. Someone there said "you haven't heard LZ live if you haven't heard this show!" It took a while to get a hold of this show, not that it's hard but I didn't hurry.. Anyway, I wan't disappointed. '75 is not my favouritite tour, but fine enough to grab a few shows. The highlights of this show are definitely Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven and Kashmir, which very well could be the best live version of this piece. The sound is just fit for the drums, distant enough, just "there!" Dazed - far out!
Excellent Since I've Been Loving You
plus the rest of the show is very good also.
Complete review on Trampled Underground site. (Sorry, no URL)
I have only seen the 18min video tape
that is circulating, but that's enough to
indicate that this night was really great! I can't say anything
very definate..
JPJ's solo in No Quarter is the
highlight of the whole show! This one's a must-have
just because of the brilliant keyboard solo! Like said, Jimmy
starts his solo sloppy
and then wanders off, but later gets into some rather interesting
stuff.
Tangerine is played too slow which ruines the whole song, if you are wondering about this rare song.
Dazed and Confused is great!
Jimmy adds some magnificient guitar to Woodstock
Not boring at any point.
This is quite an outstanding recording.
The audience can be heard very well, but
they're not distracting at all. Actually, they bring energy to
the show and really
"live" up the whole sound. Oh yeah, the show is good.
The beginning, the middle and the end.
The acoustic set in the middle gives a
little time to breath and observe what's going
on. Plant's playing with the audience and it's very different
from other shows.
They're not distant, but there, on the stage, playing for the
audience. Usually with
soundboards the audience can't be heard at all so it gives quite
aimless sound, like
the performance didn't have any meaning at all. In audience
recordings the show is
distant or distinguished by the audience itself, like the music
and the people wouldn't
react to each other. But this, especially the acoustic set, has a
really intime feel
to it. The audience and Zep vibrate with each other.
This is an outstanding recording as well.
