North American Tour Summer 1970

[NealKenneth]

The more bootlegs I listen to, the more I am convinced that the North American Tour Summer 1970 was Led Zeppelin at their height of live performance.  Plant still had his full range, and the other members were all on-point and excited to play.  Shows were just starting to creep past the two-hour mark (which I consider to be the "point of no return" for most bands), so repeat listens are never a slog.

I wasn't able to find a thread dedicated to this amazing tour, so here it is.

There are quite a few nights from this tour that are frequently brought up when people discuss Zeppelin's "best show of all time."  Here are my thoughts on those.

15 August in New Haven - The first night of the tour, and a shorter, tighter set for it.  The band seems loose and eager to improvise.  Unfortunately, the quality of the recording wears on the ear, with a sound I can best describe as "crunchy."

19 September (evening) in New York - This is a marathon performance, and a recording that didn't show up until decades after the show.  There are some phenomenal performances seemingly inspired by the recent passing of Jimi Hendrix, but ultimately the second half of the show drags.  Some of the Whole Lotta Love and How Many More Times medley/ bonus performances in particular feel forced.  Indeed, this could be the exact night when Led Zeppelin passed the "point of no return" in regards to exhaustively long performances, which culminated in the back-breaking 4 hour long nights of 1975 and 1977.

4 September in Inglewood - Legendary.  One of the first, and definitely the most famous of Zeppelin bootlegs.  An excellent audience recording featuring great performances.

31 August in Milwaukee - We only have recordings of around half of the tour.  Of this night in Milwaukee, for example, we have less than an hour.  What it reveals is a doozy, however, featuring one of the best Since I've Been Loving You and Heartbreakers of all time.  The quality and length of the audience recording leaves a lot to be desired.

 2 September in Oakland - My vote for for the best night of the tour.  Everything seems to be in perfect balance.  There are nights on this tour where Plant definitely has a roughness to his voice, or the recording quality really hurts repeat listens.  Not so for this night!  In my opinion, the roominess of the tape actually enhances the sound to some degree, and almost every performance could be considered definitive.  Even Moby Dick seems to have the crowd on its feet.  When I saw there is a small possibility the show is preserved somewhere as a higher-quality bootleg, I almost couldn't believe it.

What are your thoughts on this tour and specific shows from it?  Which night is your favorite?

[tmtomh]

Definitely a fantastic period for the band, I agree. Honestly, though, I'm not terribly familiar with the lesser-sound-quality shows, and so for me Sep 4 and Sep 19 have been the gold standard. They're just monster performances, with a stunning depth and variety of moods and playing. Even though for obvious reasons the setlist didn't include anything post-Zep III (with the minor exception of Bron-Yr-Aur, which would later show up on Physical Graffiti), the sets are long and there are tons of surprises, including rarely played tracks from the catalogue as well as cover versions and all sorts of stuff thrown into the medleys. It's also noteworthy because it's one of the few periods when they did long medleys in both Whole Lotta Love and How Many More Times.

To your list I would only add the earlier summer, June 28 show at the Bath Festival. Not North America obviously, but a legendary performance that finds the band in the same basic mode as the August and September shows.

[The Rover]

August 22, 1970 was my first Led Zeppelin concert and my first concert of any band... I was 14 at the time, and I rank that show as the best LZ show I have ever seen. 

Of the years I saw Zeppelin, here's how I rank what I experienced:

1. 1970

2. 1975

3. 1977

4. 1973

5. 1971

 

 

[Strider]

I don't think the second-half of the evening show of September 19, 1970 drags at all. They raised the roof at Madison Square Garden that night from beginning to end.

[Bozoso73]

August 22, 1970 was my first Led Zeppelin concert and my first concert of any band... I was 14 at the time, and I rank that show as the best LZ show I have ever seen. 

Of the years I saw Zeppelin, here's how I rank what I experienced:

1. 1970

2. 1975

3. 1977

4. 1973

5. 1971

 

 

hi rover :-) where did you see all these shows at?

[The Rover]

August 22, 1970 was my first Led Zeppelin concert and my first concert of any band... I was 14 at the time, and I rank that show as the best LZ show I have ever seen. 

Of the years I saw Zeppelin, here's how I rank what I experienced:

1. 1970 FT. WORTH

2. 1975 DALLAS

3. 1977 DALLAS, HOUSTON, FT. WORTH

4. 1973 DALLAS

5. 1971 DALLAS

 

 

[Strider]

August 22, 1970 was my first Led Zeppelin concert and my first concert of any band... I was 14 at the time, and I rank that show as the best LZ show I have ever seen. 

Of the years I saw Zeppelin, here's how I rank what I experienced:

1. 1970

2. 1975

3. 1977

4. 1973

5. 1971

 

 

Lucky sod. You have 1971 ranked last? I would have loved to have seen 1970 of course, but 1971 is the one I really covet. Fresh songs from IV, choice material from III, including totally gonzo "Celebration Day" on the 12-string. Every boot I listen to from 1971 sounds like a killer show, topped by Orlando, Berkeley, Toronto, and the Japanese tour.

My rank of the tours I saw:

1. 1972

2. 1977

3. 1973

4. 1975

[bcarter690]

Wasn't there a rumor of the band doing a "documentary" of sorts during this tour? I understand it was aborted for an unknown reason but I wonder at which point of the tour it was aborted.

[Sathington Willoughby]

Lucky sod. You have 1971 ranked last? I would have loved to have seen 1970 of course, but 1971 is the one I really covet. Fresh songs from IV, choice material from III, including totally gonzo "Celebration Day" on the 12-string. Every boot I listen to from 1971 sounds like a killer show, topped by Orlando, Berkeley, Toronto, and the Japanese tour.

My rank of the tours I saw:

1. 1972

2. 1977

3. 1973

4. 1975

Yea, that's more like it. 75 at the bottom, where it belongs. 

[Strider]

Wasn't there a rumor of the band doing a "documentary" of sorts during this tour? I understand it was aborted for an unknown reason but I wonder at which point of the tour it was aborted.

You are thinking of the planned documentary centered around the 1970 Royal Albert Hall show. That's the main reason that concert was professionally filmed and recorded. But things were moving so fast for the band at that time, with recording sessions and tours following in rapid succession, that they never could sit still long enough to work on a proper documentary. The RAH footage was put away and eventually forgotten about until it was resurrected for the 2003 DVD.

[The Rover]

Lucky sod. You have 1971 ranked last? I would have loved to have seen 1970 of course, but 1971 is the one I really covet. Fresh songs from IV, choice material from III, including totally gonzo "Celebration Day" on the 12-string. Every boot I listen to from 1971 sounds like a killer show, topped by Orlando, Berkeley, Toronto, and the Japanese tour.

My rank of the tours I saw:

1. 1972

2. 1977

3. 1973

4. 1975

Well, I'm not ranking tours overall, as I haven't listened to the number of boots that many others have on this board, to try and give an opinion on that. I was ranking concert performances of specific dates that I experienced. As you were. Even within a tour, some nights are good, others are great, and some nights are just so-so (for LZ)...

[kingzoso]

You are thinking of the planned documentary centered around the 1970 Royal Albert Hall show. That's the main reason that concert was professionally filmed and recorded. But things were moving so fast for the band at that time, with recording sessions and tours following in rapid succession, that they never could sit still long enough to work on a proper documentary. The RAH footage was put away and eventually forgotten about until it was resurrected for the 2003 DVD.

I believe that the reason the Royal Albert Hall footage was filmed, though not released around that time, was due to the fact the Jimmy Page and Peter Grant thought that the concert was filmed "to dark" or something to that effect.  Meaning that they thought the entire footage was not recorded in the best possible "light" and decided to shelve the whole concert and documentary project. 

Supposedly, there was a black cloth backdrop behind the stage that made the concert and the subsequent filming footage sub-par for the likes of Mr. Page and Mr. Grant to be released as a concert film or documentary. 

https://youtu.be/DohsUDR7otk

Will someone please remind me how to post or upload the actual youtube clip and not just the link that I have provided above.  To me it is very frustrating when I try and post the actual video clip and cannot do so and end up providing just the link.  I knew how to do it before the new forum upgrade but for some reason what I did before does not work anymore. 

[Sathington Willoughby]

I believe that the reason the Royal Albert Hall footage was filmed, though not released around that time, was due to the fact the Jimmy Page and Peter Grant thought that the concert was filmed "to dark" or something to that effect.  Meaning that they thought the entire footage was not recorded in the best possible "light" and decided to shelve the whole concert and documentary project. 

Supposedly, there was a black cloth backdrop behind the stage that made the concert and the subsequent filming footage sub-par for the likes of Mr. Page and Mr. Grant to be released as a concert film or documentary. 

https://youtu.be/DohsUDR7otk?list=PLPULs6lJfcfcOG1gvtdBFCVBoTGlxf4Yt

Will someone please remind me how to post or upload the actual youtube clip and not just the link that I have provided above.  To me it is very frustrating when I try and post the actual video clip and cannot do so and end up providing just the link.  I knew how to do it before the new forum upgrade but for some reason what I did before does not work anymore. 

Click the 'Insert other media' tab, then 'Insert Image from URL' and paste there. ^This link didn't work because you loaded it from a playlist. In that case, just copy and paste everything before the ampersand or question mark. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohsUDR7otk

^Just this. 

[Melissa Amber Layton]

9 September in Boston - John Paul Jones does a mandolin tremolo during "That's the Way" and also John Paul Jones does a wicked "Organ Solo" too.

[Sticks of Fire]

There was no black backdrop behind the band at the RAH show.  With the way it was filmed it just appeared that way.  

To properly shoot the concert, the stage needed to be lit with back lights and front lights which it was not.   Spotlights on the band are sufficient enough to light up the boys but the stage area itself needed some proper lighting. 

Look at how the hall looks when a flash goes off from a photographer.  And that was just from one simple flash going off   

[chef free]

On 11/20/2015 at 2:38 PM, NealKenneth said:

  Shows were just starting to creep past the two-hour mark (which I consider to be the "point of no return" for most bands), so repeat listens are never a slog.

I

You make a great point here!  After this tour, the shows started to get much more professional and planned out, less spontaneous or risky.  Set lists got more rigid and they played less medleys and cover tunes, even the Whole Lotta Love jam became fixed to Let That Boy Boogie-Woogie.