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Songs rehearse for O2 Reunion Show


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It's exciting to think LZ pulled that out in June of 07, but it seems so unlikely.. what seems more likely to me is that Jason Bonham misspoke, and meant to say "No Quarter.. from Houses of the Holy"..   I'm a confused fan regarding the 1975 set list.  They avoided a lot of songs that could have helped them out. Houses of the Holy was one. Pretty sure I've not heard even one live version.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay the search function on this site works like a placebo sometimes.  I'm sure S A J will scold
me and let  know he has already explained this and there are several threads  discussing this. 
I apologize.  

Why was  Over The Hills And Far Away  not preformed?  It was pretty much along for the ride
the moment it made its debut.  

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My thought, and this is just speculation for the sake of discussion, is that RP probably felt like he couldn't do the high notes justice. That is if they even thought about playing it or even practiced it. Which would be odd cause he sang it in his lower register quite a bit back in the day and those versions are nice. The song has such a great vibe to it. Love this thread topic...

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The real surprise is why neither In The Evening, or All My Love were performed. ITE was a staple of both the 95'-96' & 98' PP tours and AML was a huge hit. One of these should have been performed to represent ITTOD, IMO it should have been ITE. I would have preferred either Hot's or Royal Orleans instead of FYL.

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Yeah I suppose all albums should've been represented. Plant's voice certainly would have
handled something from In Through The Out Door - lower for his current vocal range.
Maybe the band after all this time, just wasn't 'feeling' it with that one.  Has Jones done
anything with that since '79 - '80??

Speaking of performing songs that had never been done live...I remember reading an interview
on here about some people at the O2 who thought For Your Life  was a new Zep song? I know
it's not the concert "staples" i. e. Stairway, Kashmir, Whole Lotta Love  e t c....but shit
COME ON.  They need their Zep cards revoked!! :buttsmack:

Anyone know if any accoustic numbers were considered? I guess that would strongly depend on
Jimmy's ability though.  From watching little clips with him and Roy Harper at his birthday, I
think he would have managed quite nicely :yesnod:

 

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"Speaking of performing songs that had never been done live...I remember reading an interview
on here about some people at the O2 who thought For Your Life  was a new Zep song? I know
it's not the concert "staples" i. e. Stairway, Kashmir, Whole Lotta Love  e t c....but shit
COME ON.  They need their Zep cards revoked!! :buttsmack:
....the people on either side of me at the show both asked that question - they thought it was a new song.  I mean I had read in interviews before the show that "For Your Life" was in the setlist (I think Jason spilled the beans on that one).  I also pointed out Scarlett Page to them (who was between the stage and barricade) taking pictures.  They responded "WHO?"  I told them wait till she turns around, look at her eyes and tell me who she looks like.  They were like "OH MY GOD!"  

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  • 10 months later...

I was surprised that the band didn't play All My Love (because of its popularity, and to include something from ITTOD) and Achilles Last Stand. I know the former is one of Robert's all-time LZ favorites, and that Jimmy and Robert consider Achilles to be an all time LZ favorite. But I can understand why they may have wanted to drop Achilles due to how long it is. You can only include so many long songs. I felt it was great to include "For Your Life," although the key was changed so drastically that the middle sections didn't even sound like the original song in a way. It was important for them to throw something into the set they hadn't played before.

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  • 7 months later...

I don't understand much of the logic about a lot of this. Funny, not sure Houses would've sounded right in 75' or later,

that song needs Robert's high range. OTHAFA, great choice, but to have the middle solo, 6-8 minutes ?? FYL sounded

good, but Jimmy played it totally studio. The solo was cool, radical, but you don't go see Jimmy to see him playing a

Zep tune straight up, you want some interesting twists. I just read that Robert was the total boss in 07', so there you

are. Musicians are paid to act and think off their heads, for the delight /disgust of others.

Edited by Mithril46
Wrong spelling
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/8/2017 at 6:57 PM, Mithril46 said:

I don't understand much of the logic about a lot of this. Funny, not sure Houses would've sounded right in 75' or later,

that song needs Robert's high range. OTHAFA, great choice, but to have the middle solo, 6-8 minutes ?? FYL sounded

good, but Jimmy played it totally studio. The solo was cool, radical, but you don't go see Jimmy to see him playing a

Zep tune straight up, you want some interesting twists. I just read that Robert was the total boss in 07', so there you

are. Musicians are paid to act and think off their heads, for the delight /disgust of others.

Fact is, they wanted to go out on a high note with a strong performance. They rehearsed the shit outta this and it shows, for good or bad. Jimmy was of course playing the most conservatively I have ever heard him play which I found rather disappointing as well. Jimmy should have stretched out at least a bit more than he did but I can understand the apprehension due to the enormity of the gig. As everyone has pointed out already, everyone but Robert was looking at this show as the first gig of an upcoming tour whereby they would have returned to the old formula...everyone except for Robert that is.

One and done, time to hook back up with Ms. Krauss.

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  • 4 months later...
On 10/21/2017 at 2:55 PM, IpMan said:

Fact is, they wanted to go out on a high note with a strong performance. They rehearsed the shit outta this and it shows, for good or bad. Jimmy was of course playing the most conservatively I have ever heard him play which I found rather disappointing as well. Jimmy should have stretched out at least a bit more than he did but I can understand the apprehension due to the enormity of the gig. As everyone has pointed out already, everyone but Robert was looking at this show as the first gig of an upcoming tour whereby they would have returned to the old formula...everyone except for Robert that is.

One and done, time to hook back up with Ms. Krauss.

Good post. I would only add that Page played conservatively not only because of nerves, but also because he had a broken pinky and had to make do with 4 fingers on his strumming hand. And as much as Page rightfully gets criticized these days for always promising to play or make an album and never doing it, I think he deserves pretty much unlimited credit for playing a 2-hour Led Zeppelin show at age 63 with a broken finger and carrying it off to perfection.

 

As for songs selected or not selected for the show, I think we have some good clues as to the reasons:

- Achilles: It's one of just a few tracks (along with Immigrant Song) that Plant has trotted out as an example of what he does not want to go around playing in arenas anymore. So I think for him it's just too much of its time, mid to late '70s prog-inflected excess. And since they pretty much had to play Kashmir, In My Time of Dying, No Quarter, and Stairway, I also think they didn't want a 5th epic-length track.

- For Your Life: I think they did it precisely because they didn't have a song from Presence, and they didn't want to Achilles. Tea for One was out too because it's too duplicative of SIBLY. Of the remaining tracks, FYL arguably is the heaviest and the best fit with the rest of the set. And it allowed them to embrace the spirit of Zep doing new/unexpected things live, since as noted above the actual playing and improvisation was no where near the experimental level of the band in the '70s.

- Acoustic tracks: I think they wanted a relatively compact, tight set, and doing the acoustic stuff requires a lot of changeover in instruments, and it requires them to move around on stage and possibly sit in chairs. Not worth it for just one track, and they didn't want to stretch out the set or stall the energy and momentum by doing, say, three acoustic tracks. I think they were probably afraid that if they slowed things down for that, they might not be able to recapture the energy for the final third of the show.

- Over the Hills: Definitely never going to happen. Plant hasn't been able to hit the high notes since mid-1972.

- All My Love: I would guess Plant didn't want to do such a personally emotional song on a night that was a tribute/charity performance for Ertegun. Plus I'd be surprised if Plant wanted to inject a ballad into a Zep reunion show like that. And Page certainly wouldn't have objected since he never liked the song anyway.

- In the Evening: Yeah, I have no idea why they didn't play it. It does require some whammy-bar acrobatics and that couldn't have been easy for Page with one finger out of commission. But I'm guessing it just didn't make the cut - had they played 18 or 19 songs instead of 16, I'm guessing ITTOD would've been represented, and In the Evening likely would've been the song to do that.

- Houses of the Holy: Also no idea, but I think it's just a weaker song than anything else they played. And I'm thrilled they didn't play it, because Plant subsequently flogged it to death in the Band of Joy era.

Edited by tmtomh
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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/5/2019 at 1:58 PM, souelle said:

About Achilles Last Stand... I remember reading that back in 77, JPJ and J.Bonham were really not sure Jimmy Page would be able to play that one live, if there was already a doubt back then, I guess it may explain why it wasn't played at the O2.

P&P did play it in Atlanta in 1995!

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