Pontiac Silverdome Footage

[Cecil.]

Are the msg '73 shows the only shows led zep professionally filmed themselves? Meaning they hired a film crew, not just in-house crews like seattle and knebworth (not sure if earls court is in-house or not). Doesnt that seem weird if thats the case? By the mid-late 70s youd think they'd wanna preserve some of these shows just for themselves, not even to release commercially. They could certainly afford to, it just seems like such a waste they didnt film more stuff. Even studio sessions, it would be fascinating to see them in the studio. They knew what an amazing band they were, its just surprising they wouldnt document more stuff along the way, again not for commercial reasons but just for themselves.

That is Zeppelin play now, think later, but there is a lot of footage that pops up....

[estofest]

Interesting thread. Could anyone pm me about where I might find some of these concerts. I've been directed to places to find the 02 and Earl's Court but would like more, (I have seen some on Youtube) Thanks and I apologize if this isn't appropriate, (I don't know where else to look/ask).

[mrledhed]

Unfortunately, tapes of this pro-shot footage have never been located, if it even still exists.

Collectors on other sites claim to have seen it, and say they know it exists. I don't know what to believe.

Edited November 21, 2010 by mrledhed

[Henrik]

Collectors on other sites claim to have seen it, and say they know it exists. I don't know what to believe.

Very reliable sources have confirmed that a complete, pro-shot video of Detroit '77 exists. Whether it will ever be released or not remains to be seen but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Pontiac gets the most speculation but I'm more stoked about Detroit since it's been confirmed.

As hammersmith said earlier it's well likely that some of this stuff could be sitting in the drawer of someone who was working as video/sound tech at the venue.. you never know.

[Bong-Man]

Very reliable sources have confirmed that a complete, pro-shot video of Detroit '77 exists. Whether it will ever be released or not remains to be seen but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Pontiac gets the most speculation but I'm more stoked about Detroit since it's been confirmed.

As hammersmith said earlier it's well likely that some of this stuff could be sitting in the drawer of someone who was working as video/sound tech at the venue.. you never know.

[Henrik]

What do you mean? I'm sober as far as I can tell.

[mikezep61]

For what it's worth, according to Billboard Magazine, "Mobile Tape Video" of Detroit was slated to record the 4/30/77 show. A man named Charles Newsome was the firm's president:

Edited November 21, 2010 by mikezep61

[tom kid]

What do you mean? I'm sober as far as I can tell.

I think he's referring to the fact that the Pontiac show WAS in Detroit.

[Henrik]

I think he's referring to the fact that the Pontiac show WAS in Detroit.

:slapface: What I meant to say what that Houston gets more speculation... I can't believe I wrote that.

[tom kid]

:slapface: What I meant to say what that Houston gets more speculation... I can't believe I wrote that.

Haha, now that makes more sense! Yeah it does get a lot of speculation but it wasn't taped. Just look at what 'The Rover' has said about it. He attended the show and said there were no cameramen, video screens etc. to be seen.

Also, how are these sources very reliable? Some more info would be nice.

Edited November 22, 2010 by tom kid

[ThelegendaryZepp]

Are the msg '73 shows the only shows led zep professionally filmed themselves? Meaning they hired a film crew, not just in-house crews like seattle and knebworth (not sure if earls court is in-house or not). Doesnt that seem weird if thats the case? By the mid-late 70s youd think they'd wanna preserve some of these shows just for themselves, not even to release commercially. They could certainly afford to, it just seems like such a waste they didnt film more stuff. Even studio sessions, it would be fascinating to see them in the studio. They knew what an amazing band they were, its just surprising they wouldnt document more stuff along the way, again not for commercial reasons but just for themselves.

Well that's a good question. The answer is yes many concerts were professionally filmed for the band so they could be released possibly in the future. . The royal Albert hall show on the DVD is exactly that. They did the same thing for the Osaka japan gigs in 71 i believe. Although with those shows page was greatly displeased with the results so he trashed them.

1 more thing. Never forget that the band hated the television as a music medium because of the poor sound quality and Tv is all what most people had in the 70s. They definitely knew they were an amazing band. In fact in their minds they were the greatest band in the world. IMo they were and still are. But anyway with that came the attitude, the perfectionism and the overindulgence. These are imo the worst traits of the band. The one most affected by the rock star success was and still is Percy. He has stopped so many zeppelin releases. Heres something many of you may or may not know yet. In the following years after bonhams death Page and plant were fighting over a massive zeppelin chronological live album release spanning their entire career. Why? well one can only guess. These guys look at themselves as gods among the music business now im sure and they have the right. But that is not necessarily a good thing now is it.

[weedwacker]

Haha, now that makes more sense! Yeah it does get a lot of speculation but it wasn't taped. Just look at what 'The Rover' has said about it. He attended the show and said there were no cameramen, video screens etc. to be seen.

Also, how are these sources very reliable? Some more info would be nice.

That means absolutely nothing, if the venue had a closed circuit system(which it did) there is no reason to believe the camera(s) weren't on and no one had a tape in the U-matic recording deck in the video room. In those cases the stuff would be single angle footage usually a stationary camera mounted towards the back of the venue and depending on the setup have no audio and could be black and white. The only real question would be if it was done covertly by a venue employee for their own personal use when no agreement was in place between the band/promoter/venue or done in an official capacity which in that case it would come down to who owns the rights the video. In some cases a third party company was contracted out to handle the video at a venue which was the case with The Summit in Houston at this time.

Edited November 23, 2010 by weedwacker

[tom kid]

That means absolutely nothing, if the venue had a closed circuit system(which it did) there is no reason to believe the camera(s) weren't on and no one had a tape in the U-matic recording deck in the video room. In those cases the stuff would be single angle footage usually a stationary camera mounted towards the back of the venue and depending on the setup have no audio and could be black and white. The only real question would be if it was done covertly by a venue employee for their own personal use when no agreement was in place between the band/promoter/venue or done in an official capacity which in that case it would come down to who owns the rights the video. In some cases a third party company was contracted out to handle the video at a venue which was the case with The Summit in Houston at this time.

Much like the Who show?

[weedwacker]

Much like the Who show?

Exactly like The Who show. If you mean a third party would have been in charge of filming it at The Summit.

Edited November 23, 2010 by weedwacker

[dazedjeffy]

So, the Seattle show was filmed purely for the closed caption system or for future LZ use?

[tom kid]

So, the Seattle show was filmed purely for the closed caption system or for future LZ use?

Judging by the fact that it's all close ups and no shots of the crowd I'd say it was purely for the in house video screens.

[SuperDave]

Well that's a good question. The answer is yes many concerts were professionally filmed for the band so they could be released possibly in the future. . The royal Albert hall show on the DVD is exactly that. They did the same thing for the Osaka japan gigs in 71 i believe. Although with those shows page was greatly displeased with the results so he trashed them.

1 more thing. Never forget that the band hated the television as a music medium because of the poor sound quality and Tv is all what most people had in the 70s. They definitely knew they were an amazing band. In fact in their minds they were the greatest band in the world. IMo they were and still are. But anyway with that came the attitude, the perfectionism and the overindulgence. These are imo the worst traits of the band. The one most affected by the rock star success was and still is Percy. He has stopped so many zeppelin releases. Heres something many of you may or may not know yet. In the following years after bonhams death Page and plant were fighting over a massive zeppelin chronological live album release spanning their entire career. Why? well one can only guess. These guys look at themselves as gods among the music business now im sure and they have the right. But that is not necessarily a good thing now is it.

Well said! You hit it right and absolutely perfectly. But it just means what could come out of this. The band has total contral of this and we don't. There decision.

Who knows what else is out there and what really exists and what has been trashed....

[Henrik]

Well said! You hit it right and absolutely perfectly. But it just means what could come out of this. The band has total contral of this and we don't. There decision.

Not everything, just think of the Knebworth, Seattle and Earl's Court concerts, alle of these have been released without any consent from the band. The masters may be in Jimmy's hands (as is the case with Knebworth and Earl's Court at least), but you can be sure that some kind of copy is being traded in so-called tight circles.

[ThelegendaryZepp]

Not everything, just think of the Knebworth, Seattle and Earl's Court concerts, alle of these have been released without any consent from the band. The masters may be in Jimmy's hands (as is the case with Knebworth and Earl's Court at least), but you can be sure that some kind of copy is being traded in so-called tight circles.

Could be. From what iv heard,all the stuff that has been released is because a few had the balls to break into pages house and steal footage and soundboards.

[Henrik]

Could be. From what iv heard,all the stuff that has been released is because a few had the balls to break into pages house and steal footage and soundboards.

Exactly how it was stolen I do not know, but it' true that alot of the profesionally recorded stuff has been stolen from Jimmy. For example all the 1980 soundboard recordings, and many studio outtakes. That's why when you listen to a 1980 show it's almost always a soundboard, because they were released in the '80s at a time when most available shows where bad quality audience recordings. Of course when the internet came around that all changed.

It's a safe bet that soundboards from other years were stolen Jimmy as well, but these remained unreleased for a long time. It's only in the last ten years that a ton of soundboards from '77 and '75 have become available.

EDIT: In fact I am not sure if the tapes were actually stolen or just copied.

Edited November 23, 2010 by Henrik

[weedwacker]

So, the Seattle show was filmed purely for the closed caption system or for future LZ use?

The Kingdome when it opened in 76 was a state of the art facility at the time and that included the video system they had in place. That was probably part of the reason why the band choose to keep the tapes after the show there there along with the experiences of previous stops in Seattle like in 73 and 75. It was decided well before the show took place and Grant spent over $3000 dollars(which was a lot of money at that time) on high end camera lenses for the video cameras just for the filming of the band. I don't think it was done in mind for an official release but more like a high end home movie of themselves since it is pretty much a given they didn't also multitrack record the show. It would be a lot cheaper using the in house system than bringing in their own crew. All you'd have to do is make sure the legal end was spelled out that they got sole possesion of the U-matic tapes after the show(which they did). As far as multitracking the show if they did you would have saw something from the video on the official release since the visuals are up to par just the performance wasn't and that could have been fudged well enough to include something if they had multitracks for the audio. Lets face it if they did have multitracks from the show you think they would have used audience footage from 77 in the menus. When Grant left the building he took every piece of recorded footage and audio from the venue with him. Also the video was pumped out to the screens for the audience using the closed circuited system.

And it is closed circuit not captioned for the hearing impaired. I don't think political correctness was the rage in the late 70s.

Edited November 23, 2010 by weedwacker

[mrledhed]

That was probably part of the reason why the band choose to keep the tapes after the show there there along with the experiences of previous stops in Seattle like in 73 and 75.

Thanks for your informative post. So they videotaped Seattle 73 and 75 too? I never knew that. The venue was the Center Coliseum then, correct?

[weedwacker]

Thanks for your informative post. So they videotaped Seattle 73 and 75 too? I never knew that. The venue was the Center Coliseum then, correct?

No they didn't videotape in Seattle in 73 or 75 or 72 for that matter(at least not that I am aware of). What I meant was they tended to have above average performances on at their stops in Seattle so that in and of itself was most likely part of reasoning for wanting to film in Seattle in 77(and as shown here past performance didn't guarantee future success) and yes the venue they played in Seattle was the Seattle Center Coliseum in 72/73/75. The Coliseum is still around but is now called the Key Arena.

Edited November 23, 2010 by weedwacker

[weedwacker]

Collectors on other sites claim to have seen it, and say they know it exists. I don't know what to believe.

Most collectors who yak on message boards are full of shit and talk out their asses either trying to impress upon the masses they are a better fan than you are or are trying blow smoke everyone's ass to see if someone slips up and drops a piece of unintended information. I can count on 1 hand the amount of people who are strictly zeppelin collectors I know who are active participants on message boards that if they said something existed with no proof of it at all I would accept their statement at face value. I would take 99% of the claims with a healthy dose of speculation.

[sam_webmaster]

All of the closed-circuit pro-shot videos (Earls Court '75, Seattle 77 and Pontiac '77(which until there is actual proof, the pro-shot video remains non-existent) were meant just for the large screen in the arena during the show. Knebworth as well, but that had some consideration for later use.

There was also a black-and-white video screen in Atlanta 1973, but once again tapes of that have not been located either and probably no longer exist, if it ever did.