Totally agree re. Cry Me a River, this would seem to be the definitive proof that the lawsuit has no merit. Yet, here it is, going to trial. Make no mistake, this latest development is very bad for the Zep camp. At this stage, Page et al. need to start making some serious offers (i.e. more serious than the ones they've doubtless already made) to settle, while they still have room to spin things. There is now a very good chance they lose this thing in court.

I'd have to go with the 7-29-73 NYC and 3-24-73 Offenburg versions. There's something a little extra hard and heavy about these versions that stands out to me.

Fair points, but you should check out the "untouched" versions of the MSG show; there's a soundboard fragment (Safecracker's Show) and reasonable audience fragment (Out of Song Remains). The original performance really is not far off from the official version, all of the brilliance is there.

Very nice!

How could I forget Vienna 3-16-73? Like I said, very tough question.

Another tough one. Hard to beat NY 7-27-73. I'd also say (in no particular order): Detroit 7-12-73 Seattle 7-17-73 Earl's Court 5-24-75 Long Beach 3-11-75 Long Island 2-13-75 Hamburg 3-21-73 Offenburg 3-24-73 Manchester 12-8-72 Glasgow 12-4-72.

Awesome clip, with the classic lineup! (And yes, the audience looks like a bunch of douches.)

Love The Cult, great band.

Agreed, Bolin was an amazing guitarist, sadly underappreciated.

I'm a bit confused; is Blackmore being inducted with the band, and simply not performing with the remaining members? It'd obviously be ridiculous (not to mention scandalous) if we wasn't included. No Ritchie, no DP, it's that simple.

All outstanding choices (as well the official BBC release). I'd also add the 9-29-71 version from Osaka.

St Louis is definitely a nice show (great NQ), but nowhere near as good as the previous three NY area shows (2-12 at MSG and 2-13/14 in Nassau), these are also part of the soundboard series, definitely gems.

The violin bow solo in that song was ridiculous (but it should be Page, not Plant, who's irritated by it), but I always thought this album sounded more like Rainbow (AOR era, not Dio) than Zep. Which sort of makes sense, given Coverdale's past collaboration with Blackmore. Indeed, the riff in Still of the Night supposedly originated from an old Deep Purple session.

+1. I don't understand Plant's hostility towards Coverdale, it's not as if he was some punk kid poser who just appeared during the execrable era of hair metal, Coverdale made some great music (with Blackmore of course) with Deep Purple during Zep's heyday. Sure he can be pompous, but whatever, he's well within acceptable limits for a rock star.

That's exactly the charm of it, C/P are unapologetically bombastic. I love it!

PG Houses III IV Presence II I The space between first and last there is very narrow. Hard to include Coda there, and I have no use for ITOD.

But to your specific question, I'm not aware that there's anything legendary about Houston '75, but the well-known Baton Rouge and recent Ft Worth show suggests the band got the 2nd leg off to a good start, so there should be reason to be interested in Houston as well.

You've maybe seen it mentioned in a recent discussion of what "Soundboard Revolution" shows remain. The pattern to me is very clear, whoever has these shows has a specific block ranging from the NYC shows in Feb (at the end of the 1st leg) to Vancouver (and possibly 2nd Seattle) shows in March. (Similarly for the available '77 shows.) Hence it is very likely Houston (1st show from the 2nd leg) is part of this stash and will be released, probably in 2 years (since they likely won't give out two unreleased shows in a row). Plus someone posted some pictures from this show recently, although I think those have been around for a while.

To answer the original post, I would say San Antonio and Albequerque from '73; the band was playing at an amazing level at that stage, and there's something intriguing about them playing in two out-of-the-way locations. Given the blues roots of the band, St Louis '73 would be another interesting choice. An easier question to answer would be completions of fragmentary shows. The Denver '73 SB fragment sounds hot, would love to hear the rest of that show. Also the rest of the 2nd night in Detroit from '73 (July 12th), and of course, the rest of the 1st night in NY '73 (July 27th). The Berkeley '71 shows are also incomplete, no? Those would be great to have in their entirety.

It's coming, don't worry.

It's coming, don't worry.

Fantastic performance.

How about Stairway to Heaven? The interplay between Page and Bonham during the solo is breathtaking.

Still digging the new 3-3-75 show.

I agree. To me Presence is the last real Zeppelin album.