It Makes Me Wonder

[blindwillie127]

Thinking about why LZ never played 'The Ocean' again after the '73 tour. Also wonder why Dancing Days was never played post '73 as well. They're not very complicated songs to play and they're both uplifting/fun vibes and just fucking rocked live!. Dancing Days is probably the only song LZ ever played twice in the same concert (Seattle '72) because (according to Plant) "we like playing this song so much we're gonna play it again". So, why'd they permanently drop these two songs? 

[cosmic_juice]

I have no quotes to back this up however i do seem to remember a bootleg could be wrong though but it was bonham who was never too thrilled with The Ocean... I love the riff but it can be a bit repetitive and that part he didnt like .. Someone will be along shortly to correct me ;-)

[cosmic_juice]

Also with Dancing Days... The group didnt feel like the hippie flower power lyrics were relevant past 1972.. Again hopefully someone comes along with quotes

[woz70]

Dancing Days is played in an open tuning (DGBDGE I think, if memory serves) so it would have required either a re-tune or yet another guitar. Probably considered too much hassle for such a short song.

Edited December 2, 2017 by woz70

[tmtomh]

25 minutes ago, woz70 said:

Dancing Days is played in an open tuning (DGBDGE I think, if memory serves) so it would have required either a re-tune or yet another guitar. Probably considered too much hassle for such a short song.

This is the most likely reason IMHO.

[gibsonfan159]

Probably shooting out my ass here, but after 73 the band seemed to make a set list based on the songs that allowed for improvisation and exploration. Songs that had a straight forward, repeating riff disappeared from the live set. Maybe they were afraid of boring people? Personally, I think an extended guitar solo on every song gets old. Wish they had done more basic tracks live.

[blindwillie127]

^ Agreed! What I loved about The Ocean as the encore song in '73 is that it wasn't intense or exploratory, just a great way to relieve the pressure/have some quick fun/flash some smiles and call it a night. Never liked RR as an encore to be honest, loved it as an opener when they played it with that slow swagger though. I imagine that the only reason OTHAFA stayed in their setlist was because the band turned that pretty song into dark fucking storm during the solo, otherwise, no way in hell it would have remained in their set past '73. Also willing to bet that Plant tried like hell to drop the song but the band would have none of that shit. And thank god for that 

[EaglesOfOneNest]

On 12/2/2017 at 5:01 PM, woz70 said:

Dancing Days is played in an open tuning (DGBDGE I think, if memory serves) so it would have required either a re-tune or yet another guitar. Probably considered too much hassle for such a short song.

Interesting and probably correct. I got free tickets a few years ago to see some '90's like Gin Blossoms or something (don't judge! Tickets were free, it was an outdoor event and the weather was beautiful) and the guitar player had a different guitar for each song. Each one!! His guitar tech came out between songs and handed him a new guitar; you could see them all lined up and ready to go at the back of the stage. That seemed really excessive for such a mediocre band!

[nick2632]

C'mon amateur's. Dancing Days came up a few times in '77

The soundboard recording of the 1977-05-26 Landover performance is incredible. 

As for The Ocean, really should have been an occasional encore through the end.. However, I believe Bonzo being against it. He seemed a bit frustrated with it since the 5th take.. Perhaps he just never felt confident with it. I don't know much at all about drums, but that does seem like a very tedious song to nail on drums. 

[porgie66]

31 minutes ago, nick2632 said:

C'mon amateur's. Dancing Days came up a few times in '77

The soundboard recording of the 1977-05-26 Landover performance is incredible. 

As for The Ocean, really should have been an occasional encore through the end.. However, I believe Bonzo being against it. He seemed a bit frustrated with it since the 5th take.. Perhaps he just never felt confident with it. I don't know much at all about drums, but that does seem like a very tedious song to nail on drums. 

I never read about Bonzo not liking the song, where was that noted ? He played the shit out of it live most every time. It's not a tedious song , I think it's actually fun to play because of the odd time bars. Bonzo certainly never sounded like he struggled on it, and the ending shuffle was always a fun stretch out at the end. I agree with Blindwillie, it was a really happy, loose way to end a show, after all the intense exploration of the epics. Pity there aren't some versions to hear from 75 and 77. 

[nick2632]

12 minutes ago, porgie66 said:

I never read about Bonzo not liking the song, where was that noted ? He played the shit out of it live most every time. It's not a tedious song , I think it's actually fun to play because of the odd time bars. Bonzo certainly never sounded like he struggled on it, and the ending shuffle was always a fun stretch out at the end. I agree with Blindwillie, it was a really happy, loose way to end a show, after all the intense exploration of the epics. Pity there aren't some versions to hear from 75 and 77. 

I was just referring to a couple comments at the beginning of this post about Bonzo possibly not liking to play the song. 

[HankMoody]

On 12/4/2017 at 8:58 AM, gibsonfan159 said:

Probably shooting out my ass here, but after 73 the band seemed to make a set list based on the songs that allowed for improvisation and exploration. Songs that had a straight forward, repeating riff disappeared from the live set. Maybe they were afraid of boring people? Personally, I think an extended guitar solo on every song gets old. Wish they had done more basic tracks live.

Than can be because of Robert. His old voice was gone and they cut off the songs that vocals are important. When you play repeating riffs you need something that will shine that.