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What live song do you skip or endure?


Guest WD52

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In My Time of Dying....how I wish they had never done it live. I alternate gritting my teeth to endure it to keep the 'entire gig experience' or, more often than not, i just skip it. Or is this some kind of heresy?

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In My Time of Dying....how I wish they had never done it live. I alternate gritting my teeth to endure it to keep the 'entire gig experience' or, more often than not, i just skip it. Or is this some kind of heresy?

It's not one of my favorites either. I usually skip the drum solos unless I'm going for a full show experience, but a lot of people do that so I'm not sure of that counts. I used to skip the long jam songs like No Quarter and Dazed but eventually I stopped skipping them. I also used to skip SIBLY but I like that song more now too. I skip Stairway a lot but that's only cuz I'm not always in the mood to hear it plus if its a show where I know that Jimmy botches the solo. I sometimes skip the '73 and '75 Rock and Rolls.

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The only two I skip almost every time are Moby Dick and Guitar Solo.  Some of the older tunes get skipped in later years, especially Rock and Roll and Communication Breakdown; although Black Dog and Heartbreaker get the boot fairly often as well.  This is because, as a general rule, I have found that the newest material gets the most interesting and soulful renditions on any given tour.

1977...I usually start those shows at Nobody's Fault but Mine since during The Song Remains the Same and Sick Again you can usually tell the band is still warming up and there isn't much variety in the performances night to night.  And it's a rare mood when I feel like continuing the show past Achille's Last Stand.  It's just such a powerful climax, and beyond that are a bunch of songs they've done a hundred times before.

Dazed and Confused is trouble because the song kept on growing whether or not they had anything new to add.  There are definitely some forty minute renditions where every second is fantastic (like 21 March in Seattle) but there are also times when it goes on that long and it just bores you to tears.  So I end up skipping to the next thing if it's a drag.  No Quarter has the same issue, but to a lesser degree.  I'm someone who finds the LA 1977 performances of NQ to be real snoozers (best one I think they ever did was 24 July 1979 in Copenhagen, and that's only ten minutes or so.)

I've said it before and I'll say it again and again and again: Zeppelin needed someone to fix their setlists.  These guys should have been doing main sets that were ninety minutes long, with encores going to two hours at most.  And Song Remains the Same should never, ever have been the opener.  Not only was this song perfect to reengage an audience after a slow tune like Ten Years Gone or Since I've Been Loving You, but putting it at the start of the set meant the band simply wasn't ready to play it half the time.  Plant's voice would almost always be incredibly rough and Page's playing was usually sloppy.  Misty Mountain Hop would have been a much better choice.

Anyway, I'm just glad we have so much to listen to that some stuff gets skipped every time. :D

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The only two I skip almost every time are Moby Dick and Guitar Solo.  Some of the older tunes get skipped in later years, especially Rock and Roll and Communication Breakdown; although Black Dog and Heartbreaker get the boot fairly often as well.  This is because, as a general rule, I have found that the newest material gets the most interesting and soulful renditions on any given tour.

1977...I usually start those shows at Nobody's Fault but Mine since during The Song Remains the Same and Sick Again you can usually tell the band is still warming up and there isn't much variety in the performances night to night.  And it's a rare mood when I feel like continuing the show past Achille's Last Stand.  It's just such a powerful climax, and beyond that are a bunch of songs they've done a hundred times before.

Dazed and Confused is trouble because the song kept on growing whether or not they had anything new to add.  There are definitely some forty minute renditions where every second is fantastic (like 21 March in Seattle) but there are also times when it goes on that long and it just bores you to tears.  So I end up skipping to the next thing if it's a drag.  No Quarter has the same issue, but to a lesser degree.  I'm someone who finds the LA 1977 performances of NQ to be real snoozers (best one I think they ever did was 24 July 1979 in Copenhagen, and that's only ten minutes or so.)

I've said it before and I'll say it again and again and again: Zeppelin needed someone to fix their setlists.  These guys should have been doing main sets that were ninety minutes long, with encores going to two hours at most.  And Song Remains the Same should never, ever have been the opener.  Not only was this song perfect to reengage an audience after a slow tune like Ten Years Gone or Since I've Been Loving You, but putting it at the start of the set meant the band simply wasn't ready to play it half the time.  Plant's voice would almost always be incredibly rough and Page's playing was usually sloppy.  Misty Mountain Hop would have been a much better choice.

Anyway, I'm just glad we have so much to listen to that some stuff gets skipped every time. :D

You make excellent points there. I always thought Wanton Song would be the perfect opener which, incidentally, was the set opener for the 98' P&P Tour. This is just a great number to warm up the band and get the audience moving. GTBT is also a great opener as well. Neither are complex arraingements yet both sound great and are fun songs. TSRTS is a tough song to play and sing, always a bad choice for a set opener.

I usually skip Moby Dick unless I know it is a special version, after a few minutes I just can't take it unless he really mixes it up. I thought TSRTS version of MD was the perfect version.

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As with Sue, unless I'm going for a 'full show experience', I usually skip just about any version of "Dazed And Confused" longer than twenty minutes, "Stairway", The "Song Remains The Same"/"Rain Song" section in '75, Noise Solos, lengthy "White Summer"'s and the "Rain Song"/"Hot Dog"/"All My Love" trifecta in 1980.

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I know that this might sound crazy and/or insane coming from a fan of Led Zeppelin since about 1983 but when listening to live Led Zeppelin (as I am doing at this very moment - 5/25/75), I never skip a song or any song for that matter. 

Why would I?  It's Led Zeppelin.  My favorite band with the four best musicians to ever walk the Earth.  The Music and Chemistry that these Four created live on stage and in the studio is and without a doubt the best Music that was made in the 20th Century.

Edited by kingzoso
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I know that this might sound crazy and/or insane coming from a fan of Led Zeppelin since about 1983 but when listening to live Led Zeppelin (as I am doing at this very moment - 5/25/75), I never skip a song or any song for that matter. 

Why would I?  It's Led Zeppelin.  My favorite band with the four best musicians to ever walk the Earth.  The Music and Chemistry that these Four created live on stage and in the studio is and without a doubt the best Music that was made in the 20th Century.

This is true for me as well, but there are a few songs i skip, no matter how much I like the band.

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Immigrant Song, even the studio version.   I love the song but lot of times burnt out listening to it. 

Immigrant Song / Heartbreaker were their best 1-2 openers IMO. Rock and Roll / Sick Again I like only because of Jimmy's jamming in SA. R&R I've heard so many times - our (UK) local had it on the jukebox back in 74 -  import 45, b-side Black Dog - must have spent a fortune wearing that disc out. So R&R is kind of worn out its welcome for me. The album track Song Remains The Same I love! The Song Remains The Same live deserved to be played further within the set, once they'd got into the groove enough to do it justice. I also loved The Train Kept A Rollin opener from back in the day and was pleasantly surprised that they brought it back for the Euro 80 tour.
Oh yeah, went off track a bit there......tracks I jump over are Moby Dick or Dazed and Confused if either last more than 20 minutes. To be honest, anything beyond that length is a bit self indulgent, but I do listen to the less rambling versions. Most times I do listen to No Quarter as once you get past JPJ's noodlings and Page and Bonzo join in, it can be a great experience.

Edited by Jukkin
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  • 7 months later...

This is a really interesting thread to read! I am surprised by many of the choices, all of which I never skip ( except the noise solo ). I'm a drummer so every version of Moby Dick is interesting to me, but I understand completely why non-drummers would hurry to cue forward on that track.  But, IMTOD and Dazed? TSRTS.... SIBLY??!! Never.

I almost always skip Babe I'm Gonna leave You,  Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp , Hot Dog ( always) and occasionally skip White Summer/Black Mountainside (especially in 77).  I also often pass on No Quarter bloated middle JPJ/JP solos from 77.

I must say when Plant starts screeching "Oh My Jesus" live...I  fast forward. I can't stand that !  Awful, always awful.

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I skip Moby Dick most of the time. I sometimes skip Kashmir because some of the live versions just sound like hell to me (depends a lot on whether Jones' mellotron is in tune), and I usually skip Stairway because the studio version to me is simply perfection, so any live rendition just never seems to measure up. Sometimes I'll skip Rock and Roll in the '75 shows since Robert's voice is so often just hosed at that point and warms up later on.

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38 minutes ago, Jimmy's Dragon Suit said:

WOW! I am blown by the number of people that skip the live versions of In My Time of Dying. Bonzo and JPJ are getting down with their bad selves! So fucking funky!

I must admit, I've trimmed the live version of IMTOD  with audacity to a more enjoyable 6' length. This version works really well on my personal Zep live  compilations

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Always skip:

  • Trampled Underfoot
  • Celebration Day
  • Hot Dog
  • Moby Dick (but I will listen to the banter, generally)
  • '77 noise solo

Endure:

  • Rock and Roll
  • The sluggish renditions of Kashmir (some here and there from '77)
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Whenever I get a new bootleg I listen to the entire show, drum solos and all, at least the first 4 or 5 times I play it.

After that, I may make an editorial decision to skip the "Moby Dick" in the future. For instance, I have heard all 4 Landover, MD shows from 1977 many times. By now, I know that all the "Moby Dicks" from this run are long, slow, and boring to listen to without the visual aid of actually being there. So I skip "Moby Dick" from these shows now.

But that is it. I listen to everything else with no skipping.

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  • 1 month later...

A few people have mentioned finding it hard to listen to IMTOD all the way through. I feel the same. There's a pretty good section from Jimmy in there but once Oh My Jesus shows up that's it. I appreciate that they enjoyed playing their version of delta blues or Cajun, Zydeco or whatever. But they already had When The Levee Breaks which is in a similar vein but a better song (IMO). It only got played a few times back in 71 (I think) and then was gone forever. Shame. I think it is one of JHB's best studio works, just amazing drumming and doesn't have the vocal gymnastics that IMTOD has.

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3 hours ago, Jukkin said:

A few people have mentioned finding it hard to listen to IMTOD all the way through. I feel the same. There's a pretty good section from Jimmy in there but once Oh My Jesus shows up that's it. I appreciate that they enjoyed playing their version of delta blues or Cajun, Zydeco or whatever. But they already had When The Levee Breaks which is in a similar vein but a better song (IMO). It only got played a few times back in 71 (I think) and then was gone forever. Shame. I think it is one of JHB's best studio works, just amazing drumming and doesn't have the vocal gymnastics that IMTOD has.

I don'r believe Levee was played in 71', I believe it was only played four or five times during the beginning of the 75' tour in January. The two versions I heard sounded pretty damn good all things considered (Page's broken digit, beginning of tour) and was a real shame this, along with Wanton Song, were dropped from the 75' tour setlist.

I skip most Moby Dick's unless I am on a long drive or in a mood. I skip nothing else. Even the rough vocal versions of R&R from the 75' tour I still give a listen because the band was playing so goddamned good.

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1 hour ago, Amstel said:

Seriously, why the F**k  would anyone skip In My Time Of Dying?  The song was a monster live!  

No doubt, this was almost always performed well (even though it is extremely difficult to play and a serious workout) and is such a powerhouse.

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