SteveAJones Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 LED ZEPPELIN ZOOMS FOR FRENZIED CROWD Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday May 27, 1973 by David Proctor IN music writer Like four British Caesars Led Zeppelin came, saw and conquered a frenzied, sold-out Salt Palace audience Saturday night. Easily the most elaborately staged rock performance ever seen in Salt Lake City, it will be remembered for years to come. Messrs. Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham are in the midst of a $3-million nationwide tour and the 11,000 plus fans here probably will be the smallest crowd they encounter. But it didn't seem to affect Zeppelin in the least. In fact, they seemed to enjoy the audience contact - something you don't encounter before 58,000 people in a baseball stadium. LIGHTS, MIRRORS The Salt Palace stage was a collage of lighting scaffolds, spotlights, huge banks of speakers, various light-reflecting devices, 14-foot-high mirrors and, of course, the four stars themselves. Super-singer Robert Plant and Jimmy Page fronted the band and drew most of the attention while the rhythm section of bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham supplied the music's foundation. *Rock and Roll* one of Zeppelin's better recent songs opened the two-hour show. It's a song that really moves - but sets a pace that's impossible to maintain. So they slipped into some slower material from their new *Houses of the Holy* album. PATTERN CONTINUES The band continued the fast-slow pattern through most of the night - alternating older, familiar tunes with new album cuts. Also in the format were Page's guitar breaks of varying lengths during almost every song. Most of the time, he carried it off admirably, but inevitably he began to repeat himself. But preciseness wasn't the object. It was the flash...the excitement...the theatrics...the total audience involvement that Zeppelin was after. They succeeded - and then some. It was remarkable that a concert which generated such advance excitement - and was performed before such an enthusiastic audience - was kept under such control. Most of it was due to restraint on the part of the audience. They were exemplary. 20 MINUTE SHOWCASE *Dazed and Confused* was stretched out to a 20-minute showcase for Page and the special effects staff. Using a violin bow on his guitar and a delayed-echo system, Page had the sound bouncing from one side of the stage to the other. At times, it circled. When it began to be redundant, they moved quickly into *Stairway to Heaven,* one of the finest songs they've ever written. John Paul Jones' work on the synthesizer was beautiful throughout the concert but especially on this number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotplant Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 LED ZEPPELIN ZOOMS FOR FRENZIED CROWD Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday May 27, 1973 by David Proctor IN music writer Like four British Caesars Led Zeppelin came, saw and conquered a frenzied, sold-out Salt Palace audience Saturday night. Easily the most elaborately staged rock performance ever seen in Salt Lake City, it will be remembered for years to come. Messrs. Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham are in the midst of a $3-million nationwide tour and the 11,000 plus fans here probably will be the smallest crowd they encounter. But it didn't seem to affect Zeppelin in the least. In fact, they seemed to enjoy the audience contact - something you don't encounter before 58,000 people in a baseball stadium. LIGHTS, MIRRORS The Salt Palace stage was a collage of lighting scaffolds, spotlights, huge banks of speakers, various light-reflecting devices, 14-foot-high mirrors and, of course, the four stars themselves. Super-singer Robert Plant and Jimmy Page fronted the band and drew most of the attention while the rhythm section of bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham supplied the music's foundation. *Rock and Roll* one of Zeppelin's better recent songs opened the two-hour show. It's a song that really moves - but sets a pace that's impossible to maintain. So they slipped into some slower material from their new *Houses of the Holy* album. PATTERN CONTINUES The band continued the fast-slow pattern through most of the night - alternating older, familiar tunes with new album cuts. Also in the format were Page's guitar breaks of varying lengths during almost every song. Most of the time, he carried it off admirably, but inevitably he began to repeat himself. But preciseness wasn't the object. It was the flash...the excitement...the theatrics...the total audience involvement that Zeppelin was after. They succeeded - and then some. It was remarkable that a concert which generated such advance excitement - and was performed before such an enthusiastic audience - was kept under such control. Most of it was due to restraint on the part of the audience. They were exemplary. 20 MINUTE SHOWCASE *Dazed and Confused* was stretched out to a 20-minute showcase for Page and the special effects staff. Using a violin bow on his guitar and a delayed-echo system, Page had the sound bouncing from one side of the stage to the other. At times, it circled. When it began to be redundant, they moved quickly into *Stairway to Heaven,* one of the finest songs they've ever written. John Paul Jones' work on the synthesizer was beautiful throughout the concert but especially on this number. Far F'n out . Where in the heck did you find that!! I was there, third row, on the aisle. And I sort of remember the writer. Awesome! woo hoo ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotplant Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 mmhmmnn...... It was ! And another reason we were good was because they PUT SEATS ON THE FLOOR of the salt palace. And back then people were just nicer, nobody moshed and squashed like now. * yeah, I know, granny here.* But It was so cool to have such a great concert without worring about getting killed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted November 24, 2007 Author Share Posted November 24, 2007 Far F'n out . Where in the heck did you find that!! I was there, third row, on the aisle. And I sort of remember the writer. Awesome! woo hoo ! I've got well over 8,000 Led Zeppelin press articles in my personal archive. This one in particular one does not yet appear on the Timeline portion of the website. I tried to post it there but the server is unavailable so I put it here hoping the webmasters can include it in the timeline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotplant Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 I've got well over 8,000 Led Zeppelin press articles in my personal archive. This one in particular one does not yet appear on the Timeline portion of the website. I tried to post it there but the server is unavailable so I put it here hoping the webmasters can include it in the timeline. That is so cool, I have wanted to document the concerts here in SLC, I still hope to get around to it someday. We were OFTEN, often NOT on the "tour intinerary." Why? I have no clue, because we got some of the hottest acts all the time. All the Brits came to town. I have seen a few listings of Zep's tours and they only list us once or twice maybe. They played here EVERY tour But the last. Kudos to your collection, that is great. Yeah, Joel, we were polite....I guess................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted November 24, 2007 Author Share Posted November 24, 2007 I have wanted to document the concerts here in SLC, I still hope to get around to it someday. I've yet to find a review of the July 30th 1969 show at the Terrace Ballroom. If you could discover one that would be cool. I do have a review of the March 26th 1970 show at the Salt Palace which I'll post when I find it. These are the details (it was actually a negative review): Salt Lake Tribune 3/27/70 'Group's Nothing to Get Excited About' by George Raine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotplant Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 I've yet to find a review of the July 30th 1969 show at the Terrace Ballroom. If you could discover one that would be cool. I do have a review of the March 26th 1970 show at the Salt Palace which I'll post when I find it. These are the details (it was actually a negative review): Salt Lake Tribune 3/27/70 'Group's Nothing to Get Excited About' by George Raine Yes! I was there as well, they were second billing with Vanilla Fudge, they played two shows. The Terrace has an awesome history, best small venue I've been to. The roof was solid wood, making the sound so incredibly good! So many fond memories there. Demolished. Ah, well, some of the localsmocals were stupid morons. George Raine was obviously one of the most stupid. I know of one man here who knows everything, he runs a used/rare bookstore called KenSanders Books. He has concert posters from all those oldies in the late 60's early 70's. When I get a chance I'll see what he's got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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