Hello everyone It's been four years since The Beatles Hollywood Bowl re-release came out where they "de-mixed" the tracks to improve the sound quality. Obviously, with all the Zeppelin bootlegs out there, the potential is huge to do this with Zeppelin too. So has there been any word of Jimmy Page commenting on this, or hinting at it? Hollywood Bowl was recorded on three tracks, most soundboards are just two. I'm also wondering if we're going to see any AI upscaling. It would be a fairly straight-forward process at this point to take soundboards and use them as a guide to generate simulated sounds/instruments. It may even be possible to restore lower audio quality bootlegs like Providence 73!

Okay, keeping in mind that we're limiting it to 73, 75, and 77, I'll think of one from each tour. First out the gate is Providence on July 21. This one is such an easy pick for me, both because it's one of the bands best nights ever and definitely Robert's best of the year. It's a real shame that they didn't start testing the tapes for Song Remains the Same until the following show in Baltimore 75 is a bit of a tough one, because with Seattle coming out now, it's hard to think of what might top it, especially for shows we don't have on soundboard already. So I'll go with the opener in Minnesota, especially if it's true that Robert was still in good voice. If they had good performances of The Wanton Song and When The Levee Breaks, it'd be a real treat! So then we get to 77. This is the toughest one to choose for...28 April in Cleveland is a fantastic show. On the other hand, I get the feeling 31 May in Greensboro was maybe the best one of the year and we don't have a recording at all. I'm going to play it safe and choose Cleveland. I'll also throw in the Copenhagen warmups in 1979. It's hard for me to believe there isn't a soundboard from those two shows when it's so late in their career.

Instrumentalists can keep getting better and better as they age. Unfortunately for singers, the instrument ages with them (and not in a good way.) Worse than that, Led Zeppelin were reckless, and Robert did not take care of his voice at all. No warming up beforehand, smoking and drinking during shows and an unfortunate tendency towards pushing his limits for the sake of showboating. On top of that, the tours were ridiculously relentless. Their European Tour in the spring of 1970 was 15 shows in 18 days, and by that point the shows were two hours or more. He also famously continued to tour despite vocal complications like the flu. Yes, cancelled shows are a mess, but you've got to put the long-term needs of the band first. Things like Robert's voice make me wish we could take a time machine back to manage the band better. Peter Grant got them their money, but also failed to prevent so much damage to the band themselves. At the risk of getting too off-topic, I won't get into here, but it really is too bad!

What would excite me most from them would be Knebworth. I think it's a much stronger performance than Earls Court and has a lot less songs in common with HTWWW. Other than that, we're still getting a rather steady flow of bootlegs. Maybe maybe maybe someone closer to the band is holding onto higher-quality tapes of a few soundboards, but I doubt it.

24 July 1979 in Copenhagen

Sound is muddy and muffled, but this version from 2 April 1973 in Paris is the best I've ever heard.

1 September 1970 in Seattle - The night before in Milwaukee is absurdly powerful, the night after in Oakland is almost perfect. They loved Seattle and were peaking at this time, it might be the most incredible show from their most incredible tour. 31 May 1977 in Greensboro - The energy kept building all through the Landover run, and this was the night after. It was also Bonham's birthday. Assuming they didn't celebrate too much before the show, it may be the best of the 77 tour.