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'77 Guitar solo


JesseNoah

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Which dates did page play "dixie" as part of his harmonized guitar solo? Also, what are some of your guy's favorites? It may be boring and self indulgent, but I am enjoying listening to them!


I just wish I could remember when it was that he played the little snippet of dixie :sos:

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Which dates did page play "dixie" as part of his harmonized guitar solo? Also, what are some of your guy's favorites? It may be boring and self indulgent, but I am enjoying listening to them!

I just wish I could remember when it was that he played the little snippet of dixie :sos:

I don't know the answer to your question, but I loved what Jimmy did in 1977. For me it was one of the highlights of the 1977 tour.

Going into ALS and Kashmir from his solo pcs was great. It was also cool that No Quarter (with Dazed and Confused retired) turned into even more of an epic in 1977.

Edited by the chase
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To be honest I can't really remember any specific dates that jump out at me, and '77 is my favourite tour! If I'm being honest I usually tend to skip them. As an audience member says on the famous 21/6/77 recording 'We've had the guitar lesson!' or something to that effect. What would have been awesome was the bow solo segueing into In The Light. The theremin didn't really work without the backing of Jones and Bonham and the call and response with Plant that became a staple of the live versions of Whole Lotta Love. The only one that sticks out for me is Seattle, because of the video. It was cool to watch it.

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I see dazedjeffy beat me to the punch, but yes, there are 13 known Dixies in existence. As other 1977 shows become available, more might be discovered...but until now, this is the Baker's Dozen. The longest versions are from the Houston and Ft. Worth shows: 31 seconds. The shortest, six seconds, is from Kentucky.

April 20, 1977 Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, OH

April 23, 1977 The Omni Atlanta, GA

April 25, 1977 Freedom Hall Louisville, KY

April 27, 1977 Richfield Coliseum Richfield, OH

May 18, 1977 Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum Birmingham, AL

May 21, 1977 The Summit Houston, TX

May 22, 1977 Convention Center Arena Ft. Worth, TX

May 26, 1977 Capital Centre Landover, MD

June 10, 1977 Madison Square Garden New York, NY

June 11, 1977 Madison Square Garden New York, NY

June 19, 1977 Sports Arena San Diego, CA

June 21, 1977 The Forum Inglewood, CA

June 25, 1977 The Forum Inglewood, CA

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Whilst I appreciate the actual live experience of seeing the laser pyramid was exciting, it still doesn't excuse the utter noise, and to be fair, poor guitar playing that this showcased. As Dazed was dropped form the set it seemed the logical way of Jimmy playing his trademark bow solo, I understand that, and it did pre introduce Achilles fairly well. But come on. Tom is right a Theremin solo without the groove and Plant wailing? It didn't work. And yes from the Eddie show " We've had the guitar lesson!"

This is a band with an extensive catalogue and talent which is without question. The band could have introduced a few more songs from Presence or maybe some more from PG. Of course you had to "be there" or really wasted to appreciate what was going on at the time. Zeppelin were quite rightly the best live band going at that time.They broke every attendance record in the book, but for me I would take a 2 1/2 hour set of great rocking tunes pre 77 then a 3 hour set of over indulgence.

I have to also question Black Mountain Side/White summer on the set list. Again it did segue well into Kashmir but it was over long and quite frankly out of place. I remember it being played at Knebworth on the 4th, it didn't work there either or on the Tour of Europe in 1980.

Listen I'm not a hater - far from it. But you really have to think: Did Punk have a case to answer?

Edited by chillumpuffer
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May 18, 1977, Birmingham, is about as "Dixie" as one can get.

Of course the crowd goes fuckin' nuts.

Then "Dixie" morphs into a snippet of "The Star Spangled Banner".

Like badgeholder wrote, you probably would have had to have been there.

During Jimmy's solo I left my upper tier seat and managed to get within a few feet of the stage (Jonesy's side) before "Achilles" blasted off.

Got to witness "Stairway" and "R and R" within eye contact distance of the band.

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Whilst I appreciate the actual live experience of seeing the laser pyramid was exciting, it still doesn't excuse the utter noise, and to be fair, poor guitar playing that this showcased. As Dazed was dropped form the set it seemed the logical way of Jimmy playing his trademark bow solo, I understand that, and it did pre introduce Achilles fairly well. But come on. Tom is right a Theremin solo without the groove and Plant wailing? It didn't work. And yes from the Eddie show " We've had the guitar lesson!"

This is a band with an extensive catalogue and talent which is without question. The band could have introduced a few more songs from Presence or maybe some more from PG. Of course you had to "be there" or really wasted to appreciate what was going on at the time. Zeppelin were quite rightly the best live band going at that time.They broke every attendance record in the book, but for me I would take a 2 1/2 hour set of great rocking tunes pre 77 then a 3 hour set of over indulgence.

I have to also question Black Mountain Side/White summer on the set list. Again it did segue well into Kashmir but it was over long and quite frankly out of place. I remember it being played at Knebworth on the 4th, it didn't work there either or on the Tour of Europe in 1980.

Listen I'm not a hater - far from it. But you really have to think: Did Punk have a case to answer?

One thing to remember: Robert was in pain this tour, recovering from his 1975 accident in Greece. He needed breaks onstage, which is why the inclusion of the acoustic set for the first time since 1972 (not including Earl's Court) was necessary for their most grueling tour schedule to date (and I think most of us agree that with the start of the 3rd leg being an exception, his voice was in top form throughout the 1977 tour).

Robert needed to relax with his feet up backstage during No Quarter, Over The Top and the Noise Solo, etc... This sometimes get overlooked as a reason why the long solos from Jimmy, Jonesy and Bonzo during the 1977 tour.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I saw an outrider show in 88 and the scaled back bow section and noise segment was good. it was sandwiched between, the chase and dazed and was a cool moment in the show. So I know you really have to hear it live to appreciate it, but still, the live 77 versions on tape sound too long. Always liked the 15 seconds of dixie though, with the effect. It's perplexing, because page had almost a punk rock skill with editing his own guitar solos on the zep records. Even as a young kid, there were never any boring moments for me when listening to any of the guitar solos, except for tea for one at times.

Also, in regards to the outrider tour, pages white summer, in midnight moonlight, was very memorable, the whole crowd clapped along for a section of it. It was enjoyable to hear that song live, played well and realize what it must have been like at zeppelin shows.

Page in 88, maybe the longest songs, with instrumental combinations, were like 15 min or so. The plant88 shows had versions of, in the evening and in the mood, which were like 12/14 mins, so they finally did scale things back and added extra songs.

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On Plant's '88 Non-Stop Go tour for Now and Zen, there weren't any songs played for 12-14 min. There was no improvising at all with that band. I recorded two of the shows over the summer of '88 and had to flip the tape at the same point of the same song, both shows. Very consistent. I agree that Page's '88 Outrider Tour show was as close to a Zeppelin style show we would ever see from any of them. The bow/noise solo was a sight to be seen and is pretty much the reason why that part of our beloved '77 boots are widely regarded as "have to have been there" segments.

And you know how it is? is correct about why the '77 shows had rest periods for Plant. The problem is that Over The Top and the noise/bow solo's frequently backed up to each other and last way too damn long - some of the OTT's were 25-30 min. long! That along with a 15-20+ min. Page solo really killed the shows momentum, IMO - but then again, "you had to be there"....

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Maybe it was 8 to 10 mins then. In the mood, was one of the extended songs, from what I remember. With, in the evening, I think there was some kind of intro they did...and was the first zep song in the set. I agree, 12/14mins sounds too much.

It certainly was great seeing pages trademark guitar playin in 88, bootlegs and youtube cannot capture the vibe...and I take that into account when listening to zep bootlegs.

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On Plant's '88 Non-Stop Go tour for Now and Zen, there weren't any songs played for 12-14 min. There was no improvising at all with that band. I recorded two of the shows over the summer of '88 and had to flip the tape at the same point of the same song, both shows. Very consistent. I agree that Page's '88 Outrider Tour show was as close to a Zeppelin style show we would ever see from any of them. The bow/noise solo was a sight to be seen and is pretty much the reason why that part of our beloved '77 boots are widely regarded as "have to have been there" segments.

And you know how it is? is correct about why the '77 shows had rest periods for Plant. The problem is that Over The Top and the noise/bow solo's frequently backed up to each other and last way too damn long - some of the OTT's were 25-30 min. long! That along with a 15-20+ min. Page solo really killed the shows momentum, IMO - but then again, "you had to be there"....

you have a point. The "Had To be There" angle really has a lot of merit. I wasnt old enough to have attended a 77 show but If I had you can bet I wouldnt have wanted it to end. As boring as some of the parts of the solos were during this time I could still listen to the sound of John's drums for ever. The sound of Jimmy's Guitar and John's drums give me goose flesh so bad its like drugs. In fact I consider Zeppelin's music to be a highly potent drug. :yesnod:

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Like many have said I'm sure I would have dug seeing the bow solo live, but it's hard to listen to while sitting in your car in a traffic jam. It does create excitement to the ear for Achilles, and at times skipping it gives me a feeling of robbing the "experience" of enjoying a bootleg and show, but man from a purely audio standpoint it grates the nerves.

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Well, Page was more into it in 1977- I guess... Drugs really seemed to take a whole lotta out of his playing in 1979-1980 :dont: I´m listenning to Brussels Affair right now, since I dusted my Lp-collection. Band sounds bit tired, but I still like it very much. Somehow especially In Through The Outdoor-material sounds good to my ears!!! :bravo:

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One thing to remember: Robert was in pain this tour, recovering from his 1975 accident in Greece. He needed breaks onstage, which is why the inclusion of the acoustic set for the first time since 1972 (not including Earl's Court) was necessary for their most grueling tour schedule to date.

Sounds plausible on the surface, but if it were true don't you think one of the band members would have substantiated it by now? Aside from that, we must remember it was an era of excess and self-indulgence; the scaled-down approach of 1980 was long overdue. I've said it before, within every bloated '77 show is a killer 90 minute concert just dying to be heard. Given the choice between a three hour noise fest or a tight 90 minute showcase I would have suggested the showcase format. However, as we know now, that would have been like suggesting the skinny ties of 1980 in 1977.

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