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Pontiac Silverdome 1977


jpenzabene

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They operate out of Nashville. This has surely been beaten to death, as it is the only real clue we have regarding Pontiac video.

I would sure shop for a chevy with that honey...

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  • 1 year later...
On 12/21/2012 at 1:38 PM, ohiojerry said:

"a friend of mine said he was there and they did stairway 3 times for an oncore. is he full of shit? He also said they were booed off stage and came back out. people were leaving. the band was all phucked up and said they would never return to detroit..," wrote Mattrickelmann.

 

Yes, your 'friend' is full of shit -- "Stairway to Heaven" was played only once that night near the end of the show. The place was going nuts ... the management turned the house lights on to try and stop the music, but this only got the crowd more stirred-up ... then Zeppelin returned and performed "Rock & Roll," with the house lights still up ... I'm not kidding, I thought the roof was going to lift off the place -- as I recall, then the management turned down the lights while the band finished with "Trampled Underfoot." There were no pronouncements about never returning to Detroit nor anything of the sort.

 

In fact in late 1980 tickets were being sold (via mail order ...?) for a return Zeppelin engagement to Pontiac; of course this was thwarted by Bonham's death -- kids who hadn't yet seen them were very disappointed.

 

I don't know if I've ever posted here before, although I've been a site member for some time ... but this kind of bullshit story needs to be corrected.

 

Happy New Year to ALL!

jp

 

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On 12/20/2012 at 4:12 PM, mattrickelmann said:

a friend of mine said he was there and they did stairway 3 times for an oncore. is he full of shit? He also said they were booed off stage and came back out. people were leaving. the band was all phucked up and said they would never return to detroit

Play this for your friend and tell him to stop blowing smoke...

 

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  • 3 months later...
17 hours ago, cosmic_juice said:

Thread bump on this one too!!! Wish we could atleast get a teaser on the possible vid of this show. And if there is a soundboard it will come out last as a grand finale.

This video, along with other hoarded shows and what actually might be out there sure has gotten a lot of attention the last few weeks, on this board and over at R-O.

Sure would be nice to see a list of shows that are actually out there..., waiting for release or even collecting dust. I'd really love to know.

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14 hours ago, LedElvis75 said:

This video, along with other hoarded shows and what actually might be out there sure has gotten a lot of attention the last few weeks, on this board and over at R-O.

Considering that the hoarded Pontiac/Houston '77 rumours over the years basically started at R.O. I'm not surprised in the least :lol: I would be willing to bet fifty bucks, right here and now, that if those videos are being hoarded, it is probably somebody who is a prominent member over there who is doing the hoarding.

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1 minute ago, SymphonyX said:

Is this Denmark show complete ?  There has been rumors of other possible missing shows performed that week or month too.

It looks like it is.  But word over at R-O is the guy has ZERO intentions of letting the audio get out.  Sad.

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It's showing the day before May 3rd Misty Mountain Hop was performed for the first time and next time it was performed was October 2nd 1972 in Japan.

Seems bit odd and chance it was performed again in Denmark on the 4th.  There gotta be another show between the gap of 5/3/71 and 10/02/72.

 

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EV will probably get wind of it and offer the guy or gal a few bucks to let them have it. It will then get released as part of a box set of all previously released 1971 boots. Retail price to you $3,799. Who's gonna stump up first? 

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23 hours ago, porgie66 said:

WTF?? I will never understand this psychology. 

16 hours ago, LedElvis75 said:

Yep.  Don't get this mentality at all.  Never have and I never, EVER, will.

Let the tapes be heard!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's simple- it's the mentality of a fuckin' eight year old: "I have something you don't have! Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!" :rolleyes:

As if 99.9% of the world population gives a shit that you have an uncirculated Led Zeppelin recording...or claim to have. Which is the more likely scenario.

 

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Collectors and bootleggers are always under the impression that "Hot Rods in Pontiac" is a poor audience recording.  I can tell you from vast experience that is hardly the case.  In fact, that is probably about the best audio recording from a 1970's portable cassette deck that one could possibly expect from the Pontiac Silverdome if you were sitting in a seat.  It was the absolute worst venue to see a concert, bar none.  Unlike Seattle's Kingdome, The Superdome, The Astrodome, The Pontiac Silverdome was not designed as a multi-purpose stadium.  It was built exclusively for football.  The combination of having a cloth bellowed roof along with a non-circular design, plus the sheer vastness of the place, lent itself to a huge echo.  Nothing reflects that more than Bonham's muddled drum sound on the tape.  Unless you were on the main floor, that is what you heard, and it only got worse the farther up or away from the stage one sat.  One gets the impression by looking at the speaker setup that it was a typical loud Zeppelin show....it wasn't.  Never an, "Ooooh My Ears !" moment during the whole show.

One hilarious moment was during "No Quarter".  They had a light show of bubbles and special effects projected on the cloth stadium roof.  My buddy leaned over to me laughing and said, "That probably looks pretty cool in a normal venue".  We weren't in one, and any intended effect was totally lost.    

Even if video exists, "The Song Remains the Same" is not included.  Jimmy wouldn't let the camera man on stage until he was comfortable.  I've tried to find the point the screen went on by listening to the audience to jog my memory, but no luck.

You can hear Robert before "Trampled Under Foot" asking for the house lights to go down.  My memory suggests they never did.  The break between "Rock & Roll" & "Trampled Under Foot" was much longer than the boot indicates.  Many people were unsure of another encore, and were already heading up the aisles, including many from main floor.  Robert came on stage with the lights on and asked, "Hey....Where's everybody going ?"  I got quite a kick out of looking across the way and seeing people scurrying back down the aisles.  I'm guessing the house lights never went back off because Silverdome management wouldn't allow it.  They were the type that had to warm-up (metal-halide ?).

Why has Warner Bros. blocked Stairway from this boot on u-tube ?  If they're going to bother, why wouldn't they block the whole thing ?  Noticed they did the same on the TSRTS Stairway recently.   

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Bong-Man said:

Collectors and bootleggers are always under the impression that "Hot Rods in Pontiac" is a poor audience recording.  I can tell you from vast experience that is hardly the case.  In fact, that is probably about the best audio recording from a 1970's portable cassette deck that one could possibly expect from the Pontiac Silverdome if you were sitting in a seat.  It was the absolute worst venue to see a concert, bar none.  Unlike Seattle's Kingdome, The Superdome, The Astrodome, The Pontiac Silverdome was not designed as a multi-purpose stadium.  It was built exclusively for football.  The combination of having a cloth bellowed roof along with a non-circular design, plus the sheer vastness of the place, lent itself to a huge echo.  Nothing reflects that more than Bonham's muddled drum sound on the tape.  Unless you were on the main floor, that is what you heard, and it only got worse the farther up or away from the stage one sat.  One gets the impression by looking at the speaker setup that it was a typical loud Zeppelin show....it wasn't.  Never an, "Ooooh My Ears !" moment during the whole show.

One hilarious moment was during "No Quarter".  They had a light show of bubbles and special effects projected on the cloth stadium roof.  My buddy leaned over to me laughing and said, "That probably looks pretty cool in a normal venue".  We weren't in one, and any intended effect was totally lost.    

Even if video exists, "The Song Remains the Same" is not included.  Jimmy wouldn't let the camera man on stage until he was comfortable.  I've tried to find the point the screen went on by listening to the audience to jog my memory, but no luck.

You can hear Robert before "Trampled Under Foot" asking for the house lights to go down.  My memory suggests they never did.  The break between "Rock & Roll" & "Trampled Under Foot" was much longer than the boot indicates.  Many people were unsure of another encore, and were already heading up the aisles, including many from main floor.  Robert came on stage with the lights on and asked, "Hey....Where's everybody going ?"  I got quite a kick out of looking across the way and seeing people scurrying back down the aisles.  I'm guessing the house lights never went back off because Silverdome management wouldn't allow it.  They were the type that had to warm-up (metal-halide ?).

Why has Warner Bros. blocked Stairway from this boot on u-tube ?  If they're going to bother, why wouldn't they block the whole thing ?  Noticed they did the same on the TSRTS Stairway recently.   

 

 

That's awesome Bong Man! Thanks.

Can you give more details about the sound during the show?  You say there wasn't a "Oh my ears, man!" moment... Just how loud and clear was it and how'd Bonham's stainless kit sound?  I've heard the stainless gave off a much more pronounce "boom" sound... His drums in Cleveland on the 28th sound absolutely spectacular.  Did the Silverdome just make his kit sound worse (muffled), like you say?  Lucky bastard having seen Zep Live!  Wow. Envy you, Bong Man.

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^^

One of the reasons I joined this board back in 2002 was because there were very few people participating at that time who actually saw the band.  That would thankfully change, but I actually went through about a year where people doubted the existence of a screen.  Lol....they wouldn't believe someone who was actually there.

Stupidest move of the night ?  Telling my date to leave her camera in the car.  I was going by past experience at the Dome, and figured it would just be confiscated.  Security never checked her purse.  Always appreciative of those who took pics and shared....you know who you are.

I'm in the circle somewhere.....a little more to the left.  I never actually saw John Bonham except for the screen, and when his drum platform pulled out to center-stage for "Over the Top".  Don't know what else to tell you about the sound.  I can tell you the stadium echo actually lent itself to the sound on "Kashmir".  "Sick Again" was as pathetic in person as it sounds on tape.    

    

 

1977_04-30_PontiacSilverdome_crowd-venue_LI.jpg

Edited by Bong-Man
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I was playing the first couple numbers from 4/27/77 Destroyer... TSRTS and then The Rover/Sick Again at a tailgate party at Notre Dame last fall when a guy started yelling from 3 aisles away, "That's Zep in 77! That's Zep in 77!"  Came over and had me play the entire Disc 1 and then Achilles as he pounded beers, telling me all about the Pontiac show he attended "3 days later!"  Had a blast with the guy.

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15 hours ago, Bong-Man said:

^^

One of the reasons I joined this board back in 2002 was because there were very few people participating at that time who actually saw the band.  That would thankfully change, but I actually went through about a year where people doubted the existence of a screen.  Lol....they wouldn't believe someone who was actually there.

Stupidest move of the night ?  Telling my date to leave her camera in the car.  I was going by past experience at the Dome, and figured it would just be confiscated.  Security never checked her purse.  Always appreciative of those who took pics and shared....you know who you are.

I'm in the circle somewhere.....a little more to the left.  I never actually saw John Bonham except for the screen, and when his drum platform pulled out to center-stage for "Over the Top".  Don't know what else to tell you about the sound.  I can tell you the stadium echo actually lent itself to the sound on "Kashmir".  "Sick Again" was as pathetic in person as it sounds on tape.    

    

 

1977_04-30_PontiacSilverdome_crowd-venue_LI.jpg

Christ, that venue just looks immense- even the stage and the video screen look tiny. Woulda sucked to have been sitting up in the nosebleeds, I'd imagine. Seeing the Stones in '81 at the Kingdome...my aunt and uncle and I had good seats as I recall but the band still looked like fuckin' ants!

And, no, the Pontiac audience recording isn't that bad- the known gen (1st, I think) copy that circulates is a vast improvement over the old Hot Rods In Pontiac boot. I did a remaster of the recording a couple years back that I reckoned was even more of an improvement IMO.

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