I used to think '77 was overrated...

[Nutrocker]

13 hours ago, The Old Hermit said:

The first leg of the '77 tour (ending with the Pontiac show, if only that had been multi-tracked, it was certainly filmed) was easily the best leg of that particular jaunt, Jimmy was 'relatively' clean, and we don't know for a fact that it wasn't food poisoning he had, although how he got food poison when he wasn't even eating at that time is open to question.  According to Dave Lewis, who was at Heathrow Airport to see the band off on the second leg, Jimmy was the last to arrive, was unshaven, disheveled, and sweaty, I think it's fair to say this is when he fell off the proverbial wagon if not before that.  And then Keith Richards met up with them at the Madison Square Garden shows... and you can guess the rest.

There wasn't any real adversity to overcome, except their own excess... of course, that all changed on July 24th and 26th, and nothing would ever be the same again.

To be fair, during that period Keith Richards was doing his own 'rehabilitation' following his bust in Toronto in February of '77- he was undergoing Meg Patterson's "Black Box" therapy (also used by Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend) to get cleaned up (which actually took...for a while  ) Anyway, point being Keith was under a lot of scrutiny at that time so likely he was at MSG to actually visit with Jimmy, not necessarily to get high with him. Jimmy Page certainly didn't need somebody like Keith Richards to be an enabler- Christ knows there were enough of those within the Zeppelin camp already in 1977.

Anyway, I digress...here's how I would have laid out the 1977 setlist had I been in charge:

The Song Remains The Same/The Rover-Sick Again/Nobody's Fault But Mine/In My Time Of Dying/Over The Hills And Far Away/Tea For One/No Quarter (no more than twenty minutes)/Ten Years Gone/Acoustic set: That's The Way/Going To California/Dancing Days/Black Country Woman (complete song)/Bron Y Aur Stomp (end of acoustic set)/Trampled Under Foot/Kashmir/Moby Dick (no more than fifteen minutes)/Heartbreaker/Bow guitar solo (no more than five minutes ala 1979 shows)/Achilles Last Stand/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love/Rock And Roll

More songs, a little less instrumental wankery.

[rm2551]

'77 overrated you say?????

 

 

 

[The Old Hermit]

On 11/02/2016 at 9:41 PM, IpMan said:

Don't know about that, after all, with Grant & Cole as bad off as Jimmy, and Bindon running amok, who was flying the ship so to speak?

That's not really adversity in my definition; adversity tends to mean trouble, strife, conflict, an uphill struggle, what you described is just over-the-top excess and debauchery... the real adversity came with the Oakland Incident and the sad demise little Karac.

On 12/02/2016 at 8:30 AM, Nutrocker said:

To be fair, during that period Keith Richards was doing his own 'rehabilitation' following his bust in Toronto in February of '77- he was undergoing Meg Patterson's "Black Box" therapy (also used by Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend) to get cleaned up (which actually took...for a while  ) Anyway, point being Keith was under a lot of scrutiny at that time so likely he was at MSG to actually visit with Jimmy, not necessarily to get high with him. Jimmy Page certainly didn't need somebody like Keith Richards to be an enabler- Christ knows there were enough of those within the Zeppelin camp already in 1977.

If I remember correctly, that particular bit of reminiscing came from Janine Safer... and she would know such things at the time.

6 hours ago, rm2551 said:

'77 overrated you say?????

 

 

 

I never get sick of that rendition of 'Stairway...'; Jimmy is clearly out of it but giving it his all, even though it seems to be something of an effort to pick properly, and he nails it in the end... but Bonzo, the man is going nuts  behind that kit, guess we know who nicked Dr Badgeley's 'Ludes that night, haha...

[Mithril46]

I think unless you were literally on the inside this speculation about Page's

various issues are just that. I have spoken to a few real rockers(leave it at that)  and all have noted that despite Page's appearance in 77', doing long

shows as he did, even drugged up, having a mainly energetic stage presence, you would quickly arrive at a point of exhaustion if you weren't

initially in decent shape. Or, despite how many drugs you took, etc., your'e

whole body would be aching. I did vaguely hear that Page knew Yoga, perhaps that's how he prepared. Compare 77' to 80', where Page was no longer

reliably stalking the stage, looking much more weary. Plenty of 70's bands

opened shows tanked or coked up- but the drop was usually noticeable.

IMO Page never really followed this pattern, though surely during breaks

who knows the consumption ?? Just saying, more complex than is known.