Really surprised to see a clear bass drum batter side head on the green sparkle kit! The mounted tom head looks clear too. I assumed he always had coated heads before he used the vistalites. Interesting...great shot!

These are pics that I hold the negatives for from the Chicago Stadium shows on July 6 and 7 1973. I don't remember the name of the guy that gave them to me but he handed me an envelope with the developed prints and negatives sometime around 1983. He knew I was a Zep nut and he said " you can have these". I don't think he actually took them because he would have been too young at the time of the concert , as he was about my age. Maybe an older family member or friend of his took them. Lost in the mists of time. These shows were notorious for being wild, especially July 6 ( rowdy ass crowd) and Plant's voice was shot, due to a cold, (sick again! ). But the band play great , especially on July 7 IMO. I'm not sure which photos are from July 6 or 7. I have several more but these are the best/clearest of the bunch. Hard to believe only 10 years had passed from the concert date to when I received them. It felt like so long ago because I longed to see Zep live and my first opportunity was the Stadium shows planned for Nov 1980. Nowadays, 7 or ten years feels like nothing, time sure flies as you get older! Anyway, hope you all enjoy seeing some previously unseen photos.

The 77 versions of NQ are too bloated and stray too far from the vibe of the song for my taste. 77 was the self indulgence tour for sure, No Quarter, Jimmy's noise solo, Bonzo's Over The Top . Bloated!! While I appreciate Jonesy's keyboard talent, he's no Herbie Hancock. Page is also painfully meandering and repetitive and the long boogie stretches with Nutrocker and Concierto de Aranjuez etc go way adrift of the moody bad ass tone of the song and sound silly to me. The 73 versions are my favorites, especially TSRTS LP version, Seattle and Salt Lake. Some good ones from 75 too, but I prefer the Rhodes, not the cheesy "grand piano" sound. P.S. , I'm not a hater, just opinionated. ( Aren't we all?)

Artie and his crew , Uniondale NY June 15 1972 during Stairway.... one guy " Do you know what a piper is??" ...other guy " I'll tell ya later". LOL

OK, I've got a doozy. New Orleans 73 - Since I've Been Loving You must rank up there with some of the worst Plant vocal cringers ever! Twice ...first one at 1:28 , next at 5:25 after the guitar solo. I crack up every time I hear it. Ouch!!

Just listened to Communication Breakdown from Paris Theatre on Spotify...its bright and crispy. EV's sounds better to me, warmer though a bit more distorted. Feel So Bad is cut as well. I'm sticking with the EV box set when I want to hear the BBC recordings.

I agree , absolutely! It's not too late. It doesn't have to be a "Zep Reunion" though the dumbass media would characterize it as such. I would think these guys are mature enough to make good fresh music after all these years. Jones was so integral to the musical depth and feel , bringing a sophisticated sense of harmony, time signatures and a Jamerson like improvisatory hard soulful groove. But without Bonzo, the magic alchemy would never have been there IMO. It was his sound and feel that really made it all so extraordinary for me. I think after all these years, it would be a beautiful and fitting honor to Bonzo for Jones , Page and Plant to actually do a record of new music, maybe even without drums. Or not...and just give us more Zep remasters with alternate mixes etc.

Yawn, another tepid reissue/remaster hyped as a " holy grail" from our beloved Page and Co. Hopefully the remaster isn't the common denominator friendly mash compressed for Beats and I-phones. If the mastering isn't significantly better than the Empress Valley BBC box set then I don't see myself getting this anytime soon. If I do succumb to the inevitable jones to have the latest release then I think I would most likely re-arrange the bonus tracks to align in proper order with their respective shows. Haven't done the math for the timing but I assume they put the extras on a 3rd disc because to put them in proper sequence they would need 4 discs. ?? At any rate, this release will help offset the $800K in legal fees that a judge denied in a recoup attempt by Page and Warner/Chappel. It was a BS lawsuit but ...LOL. I wonder why, with all the multitude of board tapes out there that have been released ,Zep don't release any more live material officially? Is it because multi-tracks don't exist? There must be some shows that were recorded to multi track or even two track, not just house or monitor feeds. I'm sure there are some serious experts in this area who are knowledgable about Zep's live recording methods. Board feeds were (most likely) done straight to tape, correct? I mean, even a raw remaster of a decent soundboard released officially would be snatched up by real fans. WTF? Just one!?? This was done with Miles Davis bootleg series recently to great effect. Is it perhaps because Plant's voice was embarrassingly bad after 1972? Or Page's playing was so sloppy after 1973? Despite these faults, no rock band came close to the improvisatory brilliance and fire of Zep live. I guess true fans have to cherish the bootlegs because all we keep getting with these reissues is nothing new, except for a few unreleased tracks and alternate mixes. The first album reissue was the most promising to me because it featured a live show as the bonus disc. How great would it have been to have a corresponding era live show as a bonus to each studio album?! I know, keep dreaming. Still, by now there should at least be an officially released complete Knebworth !!

Regarding: Like I said, "Dancing Days" was NOT played on the U.S. tour of 1973 yet Jones was clearly still playing the Fender V. Not true. They played Dancing Days on the USA '73 tour at least once, Detroit July 13 1973. There may have been another instance that we don't know of but that one is definitely documented. Minor detail, but..... ;-) Clearly the 5 string got some use in the first half of the US '73 tour . Sounds like he rides up high on it in Song Remains the Same and in the jam sections of Dazed.