Indeed. I was listening to Ft. Worth '73 a few days ago for the anniversary, and Plant's screech at the end of Page's solo is epic!

No, we love it! Keep 'em coming! Speaking of which, spinning the remaster you posted of 5/18/75 as we speak for the 45th anniversary! Belongs in the Top 5 of '75 along with Seattle, Long Beach and the two Vancouver shows IMO.

May 13, 1973 - Mobile -- Insane listening schedule for me the next little bit between Zepp and the Dead (two shows a day until the 27th!), so I'm listening to this a day early. I know it gets talked about a fair bit, but I forgot how good Page's solo on OTHAFA is at this show 🔥 Without question a "must hear" show...

No, I meant August '71. To my ears, his decline started after the 8/21/71 show in L.A. It was gradual, for sure, but I feel that was the last show where he could hit any high note he wanted with power and conviction. Sure, he rebounds in the States in June '72, but the high notes sound a bit hollow to me. I'm a drummer, not a singer, so I'm not sure if that's the best way to put it, but they just sound kind of breathy, whereas at his peak he hit the highs with his full chest voice. Compare 5/3/71 Copenhagen or 8/21/71 L.A. or 9/19/70 N.Y. (Evening) -- especially the beginning of "Heartbreaker" -- with anything from '72 and the difference is substantial IMO.

That much is true. I always remind myself of that when I find myself wishing setlists had been different. I wish the Stones played "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" more often, even though I've been blessed enough to catch it at two of my five shows, but if they swapped it for one of the warhorses it wouldn't take long before I'd be saying "how come they never play 'Brown Sugar'?!" There is no perfect setlist approach. Even if you go with the sort of method used by the Grateful Dead and Phish, it's great for the diehards, but casual fans might walk away thinking "No 'Sugar Magnolia'? WTF!"

I didn't know that about the Sports Arena. That's an interesting theory. They played there once in '73 and twice in '75 though with no such issues from Bonzo 🤔

I agree with everything you said, except for the number of enjoyable post-'73 recordings sound quality-wise. TSRTS version of NQ is a great one to single out, as it highlights something else that I think is key to the Zeppelin magic, that being the sometimes ESP-level chemistry between Jimmy and Bonzo during solo/jam sections -- from about the 8:20 mark to the end of the solo especially. It applies to JPJ too of course, you just have to listen closer to hear it sometimes. In the comments of the Year of Led Zeppelin post about 4/26/69, someone wrote: "the difference between Zeppelin and their predecessors, Cream and Hendrix, is that the band listens to each other more, improvising as one rather than sounding like three soloists going at it all at once," and I thought that was a great observation. Speaking of the Millard '77 tapes, the 6/21/77 NQ is another great example of this, only with Bonham taking the lead and the other two following. As far as Page's sloppiness or lack thereof, I agree. If you think of guitarists like painters, Jimmy is much closer to Monet or Picasso than he is to Michelangelo. Sticking with '73 versions of NQ, I think The Year Of Led Zeppelin's description of the Providence version sums up Jimmy's playing pretty well: "...until Page's wildly passionate guitar solo explodes across the soundscape." A great illustration of the difference between the two approaches can be found on "Eyesight To The Blind" off of Clapton's Crossroads 2 (Live In The Seventies), where Clapton's furious but orderly and perfectionistic solo is followed by Carlos Santana's passionate, schizophrenic solo which flies off the rails in the best way possible. I don't think you can objectively say that one approach is better than the other. I feel like there's a baseball swing analogy that can be made as well...Mick Taylor would certainly be Ken Griffey Jr. -- so smooth.

He does indeed. Spectacular version from my favourite '77 show.

Great thread to revive! Anything from '68 would certainly be great. I'll try to pick one from each year. 1968: Any 1969: April 29 or 30 - Los Angeles -- Based off of the roll they were on the preceding few days in San Francisco, these were probably phenomenal. 1970: March 31 - Philadelphia -- Falls on my birthday and during a great stretch of shows. 1971: August 19 - Vancouver -- First nights of a tour are always interesting, and they always played well in the Pacific Northwest. Plus it would be the second-last show before the start of Plant's decline. 1972: June 23 - Denver -- Accounts on the official timeline suggest a setlist similar to Seattle and L.A. 1973: May 4 - Atlanta OR May 10 - Tuscaloosa -- Would be really cool to hear the first night of the tour, debut of "No Quarter," but I suspect Tuscaloosa may have been the better show, given the differences between Mobile and Tampa. 1975: January 18 - Bloomington -- The tease of the SBD that surfaced in February makes this even more tantalizing, as it confirms Plant hadn't caught the flu yet -- have to hear "When The Levee Breaks" in SBD quality with a strong Plant! February 27 in Houston would also be really cool for the debut of the grand piano in "No Quarter." 1977: May 19 - Baton Rouge OR May 31 - Greensboro -- by all accounts, both were excellent. They always played well in the Deep South, so Baton Rouge would be cool, but I might have to give the edge to Bonzo's Birthday Vol. II, especially since some accounts on the timeline suggest "Black Dog" was played as the final encore. 1979: N/A 1980: N/A

I'm a '95, so unfortunately not. Having seen DVDs from both tours, I agree that Zepp's tour was certainly better musically -- once Mick Taylor left, the Stones lost their chance of competing with Zepp in that regard. As far as the visuals, both had interesting elements. The Stones had a lotus flower stage that opened up, revealing the band during the first song ("Honky Tonk Women"). It also featured a giant inflatable phallis during "Starfucker," a gimmick that gets less funny the further removed you are from middle school. I would say Zepp were still better visually since all four members are entertaining to watch, whereas in the Stones' case Charlie and Bill don't really add much that way 😂

True.

Right. Their tour overlapped with the Stones' tour in 1972 and the Stones got the lion's share of the press, despite Zeppelin playing shows almost three times as long (in the case of Seattle and L.A. at least). Based off of everything I've read, the band and Grant vowed to not let that happen again. Overlapping with the Stones would have been even worse in the Summer of 1975 because the Stones had not been through the States since 1972, but Zeppelin had rolled through in 1973 AND had just spent the whole winter there.

I would much rather have complete shows officially released as well, but I would still be thrilled to have something from that tour in official release sound quality. It would also be helpful for the band's standing amongst average/casual fans and the general listening public. Even if there are a few hundred thousand of us die-hards, the vast majority of fans and potential fans won't look past official releases, and for one of the greatest live acts of all time, Zepp's official live cannon is I dare say appallingly thin. Any new additions to it are most welcome in my opinion, especially ones from a tour like Japan '71!

Same! Top 10 show of the year IMO.

April 28, 1977 - Cleveland -- The first great show of '77. Really nice to have it more complete with the emergence of the second source, especially NQ. Great versions of Achilles and SIBLY at this show as well.

If you meant where to download it, I think someone sent that at the end of the previous page.

37.5 minutes, to be exact 😉 6th-longest version. It is indeed a good one. My pleasure! '77 seems to get a lot of mileage on here (not complaining), so I thought I'd give '75 some love seeing as it was its time of year...

Yeah, it is a good one! One of the better performances of the song too, especially considering the sound quality.

Not gibsonfan129, but I've always thought the June 13 version is a really good one but suffers from the sound quality. The source for TYG on June 22 is damn-near indecipherable unfortunately, as it may well have been the best given how great the rest of that show is.

I wish the soundboard covered the epic one from Seattle!

Of course 🤘 Enjoy!

You sure do!

All good points. I love the 20th NQ -- it's got to be the least-talked about great version. Page does shake it up a lot on IMTOD on the 20th, true. Yeah, Plant's "LYP" ad-lib on the 19th always cracks me up. I wish he sang the "Oh Georgina" part more often...

Fair enough. The 24th is one of the most confusing shows to me. Tangerine aside, the difference between TUF to the end and the start to TUF is astonishing. I've thought that about NQ on the 17th before too! Glad it's not just me lol.

It's funny how much the Plantations can add to the experience/vibe of the show and change our impression of it. That's part of why I love 3/21 (and 3/27). 3/24 and 3/25 are interesting because they have some of the great Plantations you'd expect at the Forum without much of the trademark Forum playing lol. I agree with 3/19 being the best sounding soundboard ever.