When I got the "Houses of the Holy" album I thought NQ was okay...it definitely was different...but it wasn't my favourite song on the album, and something about the way the vocals were recorded bugged me. Then when I saw them on the 1973 tour, (May 31, June 2, and June 3), I was stunned by how NQ had become a complete beast of a song and wondered why they hadn't recorded the studio version like that. By the 1975 tour. it had become one of my favourite Zeppelin concert songs and even surpassed Dazed & Confused as my favourite concert jam. And the way cool visuals added to the effect...the dry ice flooding the stage...the dancing blue lights...the lazers.

I hope you'll indulge me but I just wanted to take a few minutes of your time to talk about "Kashmir". Not the studio version, which is great enough as is, but "Kashmir" as experienced in concert. For those of you too young to remember, "Physical Graffiti" exploded on the scene like a nuclear bomb. It had been two long years since "Houses of the Holy"; the album and the tour, and expectations and demand for a new Zeppelin album were stratospheric. When it finally dropped that February day, there was, for all intents and purposes, no other album in existence...if you were a rock music fan, you bought "Physical Graffiti" plain and simple. All other albums could wait. Plus, just the physical nature of the album's packaging demanded your attention...it wasn't just that the music was "heavy" in the vernacular of the time, but that the record was really heavy in the literal sense, haha. I remember buying it at the 7-11 on my way to school that morning PG was released...just picking the album up and holding it in my hands for a few minutes before purchasing it...the pleasure I felt holding a brand new Zeppelin album in my hands and how I couldn't wait to show my friends at school. Of course, what I failed to also realize is that I would have to endure that agonizingly long wait for school to let out so I could get home and listen to it on my stereo. Now, I had heard a few tracks from PG on the radio before and, like most people, was immediately struck by the song "Kashmir". I even remember one dj from KMET(94.7 FM in LA) describing "Kashmir"'s sound as "cinematic"...and after repeated listenings to PG after I got home from school(I must have listened to PG 4 or 5 times in a row that afternoon and evening), "Kashmir" indeed struck me as being cinematic in scope. About two weeks later, Zeppelin was in town for the Long Beach Arena shows of March 11 and 12. I only had tickets for the 12, which I was taking my girlfriend to, and my dad was driving us to and from the show at the Long Beach Arena. I also had tix for the later LA Forum shows of March 24 & 25. Now by the time of the Zep concerts, judging by what I gathered talking amongst Zepheads outside the arena and elsewhere, "Kashmir" had rapidly become a favourite among us, and one of the PG songs we were most looking forward to hearing the band play. There were some Zepheads who had seen either the March 10 San Diego or the March 11 Long Beach shows and gave us a little clue as to what to expect...letting us know that "Kashmir" indeed was part of the set list. But no mere words told by some mere person could have prepared one for the actual experience of hearing "Kashmir" live! Immense! Powerful! Earthshakingly shattering! These somehow seem puny. "Kashmir" on record is a wonderful thing...exotic, epic in scope, colourful, powerful, transcendant even. But live in concert...it was all those things and yet also so so much MORE! First off, apart from the sound, you had the visuals of Robert, Jimmy, Jonesy and Bonzo right there in front of you playing this song with the dramatic lights and the backdrop screen, with Percy and Jimmy throwing shapes and their shadows projected on the backdrop. Then, there was the overwhelming sound itself...let's face it, no matter how expensive a stereo system you had, it's never going to be as loud as what you hear at a concert. I consider myself lucky to have seen "Kashmir" performed 9 times during the 1975 and 1977 tours...and was always blown away by each one. Even when I knew it was coming, that opening attack always struck me like a canonball to the gut. Whether played as a stand alone song in 1975, or coming out of "White Summer/Black Mountainside" in 1977, the effect of Bonzo's drums, Jonesy's Mellotron and Jimmy's guitar(Les Paul in '75, Danelectro in '77) marching in lockstop set your hairs on end and always drew one of the loudest cheers of the night. Mike Millard's recordings are excellent, but by their very nature of being close to the stage, you can't really hear how much the audience would explode when "Kashmir" would start after "Black Mountainside" in 1977. But what really seperated the live "Kashmir" from the studio version for me was the middle section after the breakdown...that part when Plant would "scan these wasted lands". Again, it is perfectly awesome on record...but live in concert it would positively sound deranged, as if you were actually in the middle of a sandstorm and you were being driven mad. Those chords that Jimmy and Jonesy were playing and the way the sound of the guitars and drums and mellotron, especially Jonesy's mellotron, would coalesce and seemingly swirl around in your head at such a volume and intensity that you feared your brain would fry under the attack. And of course, there were the swirling lights and Bonzo's kick drum battering you at the same time. On top of that was Plant's haunting voice trying to "find out where I've been". And when Percy went into that long drawn out "beeeeeeeeeeeen" and Bonzo brings the band back into the main riff, again, there are just no words to describe it. It was like a musical orgasm. It sounds like a cliche...hell, it is a cliche...but I am sorry: YOU REALLY HAD TO BE THERE to truly understand what hearing "Kashmir" was like in concert. The best bootleg, even an official release, doesn't come close to representing what the actual "Kashmir" experience was like. And, if by some chance you are one of those small percentage of people who don't like the song "Kashmir" as recorded, I bet you would have changed your mind if you had seen the band play it in concert. I know that doesn't help much if you were born in 1980 or later, but if you want to know why some of us oldtimers say that there was nothing like Led Zeppelin in concert, the way "Kashmir" would sear itself into your mind is one reason why. To this day, when I am among music fans and someone asks what Led Zeppelin was like in concert, I immediately flashback to those 9 amazing "Kashmir" performances I was privilaged to witness and my eyes glaze over until I finally shrug and say my vocabulary skills are insufficient to properly convey to them the impact of a Led Zeppelin concert. All I know is that I wish those of you who never had a chance could travel back in time to experience "Kashmir" live in concert just once.

Don't forget July 7, 1968...an equally important date in Led Zeppelin history! I am almost ashamed to admit this but I STILL haven't bought the July 7, 1980 Berlin gig. And I see it all the time at the swap meet...but just when I think I'll get it, I'll end up picking up another 1970 or 1971 or 1973 show instead.

After being knocked out by hearing the 1972 Tuscon show, I've got a craving for more 1972 shows. I've got two of the Australian shows, 2.19 and 2.27, and they're terrific, if sadly incomplete. I've also got one 1972 Japan show on vinyl("My Brain Hurts")...again only a partial show. More importantly they are missing the drone that Zeppelin used to introduce the band on the 1972 US summer tour concerts...or at least they used a drone on the LA, Long Beach and Tuscon shows. I remember going to the LA shows and being mesmorized by that introductory drone that went on for 5, maybe even 10 minutes or so...time seemed to stop as you listened. My boot of the June 25, 1972 show only has a minute and a half of the drone. Unfortunately, the "Get Back" Tuscon boot has even less, around 45 seconds. I REALLY LOVED that drone and would like to hear more. You can't imagine what it felt like to be a 10-year-old boy in the LA Forum that night of June 25, 1972, anxiously awaiting my first Led Zeppelin concert and hearing that music come on and being caught up in that swirl of sound...my unbearable anticipation being heightened by the drama that drone created as the minutes ticked by, wondering when the band was coming on, then the fever pitch of excitement of the audience as the taller people around me spotted the band coming on stage and then the sudden wallop that hit you as the band exploded into Immigrant Song! There are few things, if any, better than sex...but that moment might have been one of them. So hear is my question(s): Was the drone used at every concert on the 1972 US tour? Was it used on any other 1972 tours: Japan? UK? Are there any boots out there that have the complete drone, or at least more than the 1 and one-half minutes of "Burn That Candle"? Which boot has the longest drone available? Even if it is just 3 or 5 minutes, that would be cool. Thanks for any helpful info anyone can provide.

A few years back, I started noticing this new label popping up at the record swap meet I go to where I buy most of my Zeppelin live swag: Genuine Masters. They seemed to put out mostly DVD-Audio discs and after consulting the Underground Uprising site and seeing how highly rated their releases were, I started picking up a few of them. "Texas Pop", "Watch and Listen to this, Eddie", "For Badgeholders Only", "The Rover's Return". These all sounded great and often had fun visuals to match. Lately though I've noticed that I haven't seen any new Genuine Masters releases and after asking one of the vendors about it, I received a very cryptic reply...something about the Japanese hating them and driving them out of business. Was wondering if there was anyone(calling SteveA.Jones?) here who could objectively tell me what the deal is...are they out of the boot business? If so, that would be a shame as on the whole, I was always pleased with their work; unlike Godfatherecords, Empress Valley, Beezlebub, TDOLZ, and a whole host of others, I was never dissapointed with a Genuine Masters boot.

I am pretty sure Ritchie Yorke's bio with the Pez cover is the first hardcover book published about Led Zeppelin...maybe even the very first book period that dealt exclusively with the band; certainly the first one by a recognizable rock music writer. Circus put out a cheapie paperback in 1973 on Robert Plant to take advantage of the hype and hysteria of Zep's 1973 U.S. tour, where they broke the Beatles' attendance record, but it wasn't a "real" book in any objective sense...more like a fan's mash-note. Published in 1976, Ritchie Yorke's Zep bio has since been updated and republished...alas, without that distinctive Pez cover design. Stacilayne, I recognize a lot of the other books and magazines you have in your collection...many of which I lost in an apartment fire, along with tons of other Zeppelin paraphenelia. That 1973 Circus Robert Plant paperback which you could order through the magazine...they also did little books on Elton John, Rod Stewart and a couple others. I still have some of my old Creem, Circus, and other rock mags with Zep on the cover...but not as much as I used to have and certainly not as much as you appear to have. But looking at your photos I am having major flashbacks, haha! Good luck with packing them up...fortunately everything seems to still be in good condition and not falling apart.

Okay, I just had a listen to Scorpio's "GET BACK", which is the audience tape of the June 28, 1972 concert in Tuscon, Arizona...the last gig of the 1972 U.S. tour. And while, sure, the sound quality isn't as good as "Burn That Candle" from the 6-25-72 LA Forum show...and definitely not the SBD from 6-27-72 Long Beach or the official release of the Long Beach/LA shows "How the West Was Won"...the performance itself is blazing hot! In fact, is it blasphemous of me to say that the Tuscon concert might even be better than the LA Forum/Long Beach Arena shows? The only negative is the shorter setlist...the acoustic set was cut drastically down to only one song and there weren't the crazy encores that we got treated to in LA. Only one encore in Tuscon: "Rock and Roll". Unless of course, there were more songs played at Tuscon but the taper didn't tape them or ran out of tape. But what is there is astounding...Immigrant Song to Since I've Been Loving You comes on a storm, with the band playing even more insanely intense than the LA shows. Dazed goes on for half an hour and I heard a couple additional jams added to the middle part that weren't in any of the LA versions. Whole Lotta Love also seems to be the longest of this tour...30 minutes. As crazed as the audience is cheering at the end it's a shame the band didn't do more encores...as on fire as the band is, The Ocean and Thank You would have been legendary versions for sure. Anyway, this is not meant to slight the 1972 LA/Long Beach shows...as they were fantastic concerts and deserved of official release. But I think there might be a tendancy for some people to annoint the LA stand as the highpoint of the tour and overlook the show that occured just a mere day after the Long Beach Arena gig...no rest for the wicked. If you haven't taken the time to search out the 1972 Tuscon show thinking it would be redundant with the LA/Long Beach shows released, I urge you to take the time to find it and give it a listen. See if you don't agree that as great as the performances on "HTWWW" are, there seems to be just an extra level of scary intensity to the Tuscon show. If only the Tuscon show had been multi-tracked!!!

I should change my name to Thread Killer as many threads that cease functioning once I post.

No Quarter was always one of the highlights of a Zeppelin concert and I always anticipated the band performing the song...and crossing my fingers that it hadn't been dropped from the setlist. My 5 favourite performances of No Quarter that I saw are: May 31, 1973 LA Forum March 12, 1975 Long Beach Arena March 27, 1975 LA Forum June 21, 1977 LA Forum June 23, 1977 LA Forum Other NQ's that I recommend from other shows: July 17, 1973 Seattle...that's 1973, not 1977. February 14, 1975 Nassau Coliseum...even better than the 2/12/75 MSG version...as heard on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre cd. March 5, 1975 Dallas March 19, 1975 Vancouver May 24 & 25 1975, Earl's Court July 24, 1979 Copenhagen...a little different, back to a more shorter succint style but still effective.

Thank you Knebby! I plan on doing what I always do on the 4th...WATCH WIMBLEDON!!! Strawberry wafffles and orange juice and coffee and Wimbledon...it comes on EARLY in the morning here in California...6am! Venus vs. Serena Saturday and Federer vs. Roddick Sunday...I'll be cheering for Federer over the Yank Roddick(sorry he beat Britain's best hope Andy Murray today Knebby). Then later on the 4th, we're going to see John Fogerty at the Hollywood Bowl w/the orchestra and firework show. Cheers! Ta!

It's just that LA will be a little less lovely without you in it, AA.

You see Evster, this why I don't post here much. I post a harmless little item and already my integrity is called into question? Hey, if I really needed the attention, don't you think I would post a lot more than I do? As for Jimmy and jukeboxes...I know lots of people who have jukebozes for their home...and they are a lot less well-off than Jimmy Page. It's a cool thing to have in your home...and from my source, Jimmy prefers to stock his with old rockabilly/blues/r & b/ and rock n roll singles. Of course, that doesn't preclude him from having the odd White Stripes or some other modern band(maybe even a Zep single or two) on his jukebox...FYI, vinyl(lp's and 45's) has never gone out of fashion with the music cognescenti and even now the kids are seeing the benefits of vinyl. So who REALLY is out of touch? Methinks you more so than Mr. Page. As for pictures, sorry I don't do pictures. I only just got a cell-phone a couple of years ago and it's just a phone, which is all I require a phone to do. I can send and receive texts if I want, but there's no camera on my phone. And even if there was, you think I would be stupid enough to start snapping away at Mr. Page shopping, invading his privacy? That's why I didn't approach him...the guy is shopping, and he would probably like to shop in peace. Maybe it's because living in LA I've gotten used to seeing famous people, but I've never been big on doing the autograph and picture thing when coming across celebrities. If we happen to strike up a conversation, great, but I usually just prefer to leave them alone...they get bothered enough by others. One reason why I didn't post this story until a few days ago was that I wrestled with my conscience over whether Jimmy Page would consider my post an invasion of his privacy...maybe he wouldn't want people to know what he shops for when buying records, or even that he has a jukebox. Lord knows, I have met Mssrs. Page, Plant and Jones in the past...not often; I am certainly no Knebby or Steve A. Jones...just a few moments stolen over the years, either at gigs or bumping into them somewhere like a bookstore. I have kept these moments to myself, and judging to the response to my Jimmy @ Amoeba post, it's probably for the best that I did. And rest assured, I will think twice before posting any more about sightings of Messrs. Page, Plant & Jones.

ALL, that's right, all of them! You think I'm being facetious but I swear the band was so on during this period that I think you couldn't go wrong with any show, no matter what the sound quality. I'd rather listen to a poor-to-average quality boot from 1968-1972 than the soundboards from the 1977 Largo, MD shows. "Bringing Down the House"? More like putting them to sleep.

I'm not going to get into the whole Jesus/Freezer debate...I don't know who they are and I don't frequent torrent sharing sites because I don't download music from the computer. I want to get back to the original point of the thread: the April 1, 1977 Dallas concert and whether the show is in circulation. This was Led Zeppelin's first concert(after many reschedulings of the 1977 tour) in TWO YEARS! I find it hard, no, IMPOSSIBLE to believe that there weren't not just one, but multiple tapers in the audience for the Dallas show! The demand for a bootleg from this opening show of the 1977 US tour would have been off the charts, as by 1977 Led Zeppelin reigned supreme. So maybe the show isn't in circulation, but I can pretty much guarantee you that tapes exist of this show somewhere...SOMEBODY taped it! I mean, this was America, not bloody England where tapers seemed to often be asleep at the wheel when it came to Zeppelin(probably too busy boo-hoo-hooing over the loss of Cream). Just my two cents.

Yeah, I've got to imagine there is plenty of film footage somewhere, just for the fact that there are plenty of still photos of the band in Japan 1971 where you see Jimmy with a camera, probably an 8mm, maybe a 16mm. Most likely this footage is deep in a vault. However, to Mr. E's point about 1971 being the year they released their most popular album, therefore there should be plenty of footage...it doesn't exactly work that way. For one thing, Led Zep IV wasn't released until November of 1971, so most of the sales momentum and cultural impact was during 1972. For most of 1971 the band was still touring Led Zeppelin III, which was released late in 1970. It just so happens that the band was in such a creative and performing peak, that they felt no problem in performing the new songs they worked up for Led Zep IV months before the album would be released. That is what makes the 1971 tours so unique: it is the first and only time you hear "Stairway" played without the crowd going bonkers at the beginning.

Sorry Wolfman...my bad

"TAMPA — Billy Mays, the TV pitchman whose trademark voice helped sell everything from cleaning supplies to baking soda" Sad for someone to die so young, but I've gotta take exception to the reporter's opening line in that article. If anything, his voice stopped me from buying ANYTHING he pitched...it was that annoying. I don't know anyone who liked his commercials...with the possible exception of the ESPN one where he spoofs himself...and I don't know anyone who bought anything he pitched. Whatever, R.I.P. Billy.

Well, I was in Amoeba Records(the Hollywood branch) this past Sunday and I bought the new Cartoone cd with 8 bonus tracks there...they had it for $12 new.

The best Zeppelin concert? Well, of the ones I saw, these would be my top 5, and bear in mind that the difference between #5 and #1 is very slight...it was hard choosing the top 5. 1. June 25, 1972 @ LA Forum...My first Zeppelin concert...like a jumbo 747 crashing in my head...the bloody sounds those guys made...that cool drone that went on and on and on, changing colours and tones for a good 10 or 15 minutes before Immigrant Song stampeded the crowd...Percy's voice in full cry before the cracking of the 72 Japanese tour...four, count 'em 4!!!, encores...or were there 5, lol?...the crazy ass medley...Louie Louie!!!!...I could go on and on...my first Zep show and it was so perfect, I knew immediately I had to see them again in Long Beach two days later and begged and begged and begged...fortunately it worked. June 27 '72 @ Long Beach Arena was also great, but not as long, so the 72 LA Forum show gets the nod. 2. June 3, 1973 @ LA Forum...another Forum spectacular! Great versions of two of my fave live Zep songs, SIBLY and Thank You, which automatically moves it up the list above the May 31 and June 2 shows...not to mention that Jimmy was playing with a sprained finger which he kept dunking in ice water throughout the show...the cloud of pot and hash smoke which hung in the air...how great ALL the Houses of the Holy songs sounded live, especially NQ with the epic fog rolling over the stage from the dry-ice machine...the 73 shows were the last ones where the band was really tight and Page could solo fast and furiously on end...the 73 tour was also the last time Dazed and Confused didn't become a drag. 3. June 23, 1977 @ LA Forum...another great Forum show, another June show(are you sensing a trend, hahaha?)...it's the famous Badgeholders show..the Keith 'Looney' Moon show...but more importantly, it is the return after 5 long years of the "acoustic set"!...which does bring a warm vibe to the proceedings as Plant says...they finally ditched D & C although that means we get the noise solo(instead of say, In the Light, The Rover, Wanton Song, For Your Life, Royal Orleans, Tea for One, or any number of other songs they could have played during the 30-45 minutes that slowed the momentum of the show during the drum solo/guitar solo bit)...still what we do get is choice: Ten Years Gone!!!, Achilles!!, Nobody's Fault! and epic NQ's and Kashmir's...Percy's voice is back from the cracked and hoarse 73 and 75 days; not quite his Viking warrior days of 69-72 but still powerful. 4. March 12, 1975 @ Long Beach Arena...I was going back and forth over which show to rank #3, this one or the 6.23.77 Forum gig...it was so close as both shows have so much to recommend but in the end the acoustic sets of the 77 tour(and TYG and Presence material) gave the 6.23.77 show the slightest of edges...the thing about this 1975 show was how HEAVY the band sounded, even more than usual with the lack of an acoustic set...Bonzo's Vistalites really boomed out...perhaps because for the first time ever, Zeppelin used a drum riser for the 75 tour...unlike the earlier shows of the tour, those of us at the West Coast shows had had a chance to hear the Physical Grafitti songs before the concert, so many of us had already formed favourites and were hoping to hear them...amongst my friends and other people I asked those songs were usually Kashmir, Ten Year's Gone, The Rover, In My Time of Dying, Trampled Underfoot, Wanton Song, Houses of the Holy and Custard Pie...playing wise, Long Beach was better than the LA Forum gigs in 75...the band was more solid, consistent and less sluggish...just compare the D & C of this show with the terrible 3.27.75 one...in fact, I think that if Mike Millard hadn't had car trouble and been able to get to this show on time and, therefore, people could hear this entire concert in the spectacular sound that he recorded the last 3 songs, then 3.12.75 Long Beach would be ranked right up there with the "Listen to this Eddie" and "Badgeholder's" shows in Zeppelin collector's minds...maybe even above them...anyway, I loved how funky and hard they were for this tour...Kashmir, NQ and Trampled back-to-back-to-back was almost too much!...and oh my god the funky Crunge/James Brown/Theramin battles between Whole Lotta Love and Black Dog were OUTTASIGHT!!!...oh and one last but not least memory about this show: my first Zeppelin concert with my girlfriend and we made out during Rain Song!...hmmm, more I think about it, maybe this should be #3 after all, haha! 5. Number 5 is hard to call; it would be between either the May 31 or June 2, 1973 shows or the June 21, 1977...or even June 27, 1972...you know, I think I am going to declare a tie and say it is between the May 31 and June 2, 1973 shows...May 31 because it was Bonzo's birthday and June 2 because it was my only time seeing them outdoors, in the sunlight at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco and the atmosphere was just incredible with all the SF hippies and flower power girls and the doves...plus, there is just something magical about road-tripping to a concert; it lends an air of adventure to the whole endeavor...plus, as I said before 1973 was the last year where the band was consistently on fire, especially Jimmy...his sound was so unbelievable then! My apologies to the shows that didn't make the top 5: March 24, 25, 27 1975 and June 25, 26, 27 1977 all LA Forum...not that you didn't have moments("It'll Be Me" encore of 6.26.77! "NQ" of 3.27.75!!) but the other shows were just a tad more consistently spectacular...the creme de al creme! Other memories shared by all, or at least most, of the shows: ganja smoke filling the Forum(or whatever venue)...firecrackers, those DAMN FIRECRACKERS!...hippies bringing tambourines and whatnot to shows to play...camping out for tickets for days...the SHEER UNBELIEVABLE THRILL that surged through your entire being when at last the seemingly impossible was at hand and you handed over your $6, $8, or $10 and you held in your hand a Led Zeppelin concert ticket...it was like finding the golden ticket in a Wonka bar and if you had one, other kids at your school would look at you with envy. As for Led Zeppelin concerts I was sadly too young, or geographically-challenged to see, these are my Top 10 that I would want to see if I had a time-machine: 1. January 5, 1969 @ the Whisky A Go-Go, LA...oh hell, any 1968-69 show where they still played those great "As Long As I Have You/Fresh Garbage" medleys and "For Your Love" and "Dazed" was fast and furious and Jimmy still did the bow segment in "HMMT". 2. January 9, 1970 @ Royal Albert Hall 3. June 28, 1970 @ Bath Festival 4. Sept. 4, 1970 @ LA Forum 5. Sept. 19, 1970 evening show @ Madison Square Garden 6. August 21 or 22, 1971 @ LA Forum 7. Sept. 13 or 14, 1971 @ Berkeley Community Center 8. September 29, 1971 @ Osaka, Japan...but any of the 1971 Japanese shows will do. 9. March 24, 1973 @ Offenburg, Germany...but again, any other 1973 Euro shows will do, esp. Vienna...but it is this Offenburg, Germany show where Jimmy is so face-meltingly hot...so en fuego! 10. August 4, 1979 @ Knebworth...not what you might have expected, but I think I would want to go to this just for the spectacle of it all...and it's a lot better performance than the 11th...plus, I might bump into Knebby, hehe.

Have you priced official vinyl releases lately? I just saw Joy Division's "Still" priced at $50 at Amoeba. Everything on vinyl has gone up in price as vinyl has come back in vogue, especially among the kids as they have finally realized how crappy music sounds on mp3's and ipods. That's why bootleg cds are cheaper than bootleg vinyl...I won't say which store, but I recently saw the EVSD's 2cd "Casino Royale" priced at $15 and EVSD's 4cd set "Boston Cream Pie" at $25, which are pretty good deals IMO. Naturally, when I went back later that same day to see if they were still there, somebody had already bought them. I have scads of bootleg vinyl: TMoQ, Rubber Dubber, Box Top records, all sorts of different labels, coloured vinyl, etc. I just prefer having tangible physical evidence of the music as opposed to some downloaded digital 1' and 0's. I like looking at the pictures and the packaging; my favourites are the ones where, in hopes of throwing people of the trail, they would use fake names and fake song titles on the label. My vinyl copies of Osaka 1972 and Copenhagen 1979 for instance. And there are some shows that, to this day, still sound better to me on vinyl than any cd version I have heard; "For Badgeholder's Only" June 23 1977 and "Going to California" Sept. 14, 1971 for example. As the 80's passed into the 90's, I started buying more of my boots on cd than vinyl...but every now and then, if I see something that I don't have that looks pretty cool and is priced no more than $30 to $50 for a double set, I will pick up a vinyl boot to add to my collection. Most of my vinyl boots are Zeppelin, Dylan, Springsteen and the Stones.

You know EzyEric, unlike LTTE, I have yet to hear a cd version of For Badgeholders Only that sounds as good as my original vinyl copy.

XZed, your friend is an idiot! There is no 17 minute studio version of Stairway. Now, he might be referring to the last night of the 1980 European tour(Zeppelin's last ever gig) where Jimmy played an interminable solo during Stairway...this might be the 17 minute version he has heard about. But it was played live, with no intention of it ever being released for an album or radio. So, if you bet him on this, you still win.

You just KNEW Steve A. Jones would track that photo down, didn't you! Mind you, it still doesn't solve the mystery of WHERE the photo was taken. Count me as another one who thinks it is NOT Seattle...and not just because Plant's blouse doesn't match. But, also, if you look at the photo you will discern a noticable lack of video cameras, either on stage or in front, which were all too prevalent at the Seattle show, as the images were being shown on the jumbotron screen. And to the poster who thinks Jimmy wore red shoes...NO, NADA, he always wore his usual black and white loafers. It's the color tinting of the photo that makes you think the shoes are red.