While the 50th anniversary has been a disappointment so far on the official front, I have to say that so far, things have been great on the bootleg front. In just the past 18 months or so, we've gotten the Seattle 75 soundboard, roughly half of the 9/29 Osaka show in soundboard form, brand new never before heard alternate recordings of 4/28/77 and 6/21/77 and now this. This has been a very exciting time and I'm thrilled that I've gotten to experience this stuff as it happens!

The show has just been made available for download. PM me for the link. For what it's worth, I just checked Plant's banter prior to Misty Mountain Hop and can confirm that this is NOT the December 4th show.

A little something I put together.

Another update on the recording:

I actually kind of agree with you on both of these. 6/21 was the first Zeppelin bootleg I ever heard, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. But having listened to more shows since then, I think 6/22 is the superior show from the LA run. 6/21 is an excellent entry point for those new to bootlegs, but 6/22 has more highlights for me. RAH is a great show, but I agree that there are better shows from that year. I still think HMMT from that show is an all time classic though. I would say Memphis, LA 9/4, Honolulu 9/6, and New York 9/19 (evening) among others have it beat though.

That was Verizon trying to save face for throttling the data services of the Santa Clara Fire Department during the California wildfires. "Hey guys, forget that shit we did before, we love first responders! See?" Personally, I thought there were a LOT of robots in ads this year. Sprint, that creepy TurboTax kid, and probably a couple of others that I'm missing off the top of my head. The commercials in general were awful this year. Only two I really liked were the Jason Bateman elevator ad and the NFL 100 year game one. Halftime show was an absolute snoozefest as expected. Game was good if you're a fan of defensive struggles but otherwise was pretty bland as well. Overall, I thought the whole thing was a letdown.

The nomination of that movie for Best Picture is going to go down as one of the big "WTF?" picks in Oscar history.

I won't kill you, but can you clarify what you mean when you say "he wasn't that great technically"? I'm not a drummer, so I'm not really sure how to analyze his drumming on a pure technical scale. But are you saying that his technique or whatever is flawed on tracks like Good Times Bad Times, In My Time of Dying, or Fool In The Rain?

1975 is my second least favorite live year for the band after 1980. With the exception of the January shows and (to a lesser degree) the Earls Court gigs, the setlist is probably the most stale and boring setlist they ever did. Page and especially Plant are shadows of their former selves and there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm in many of the shows. That's not to say there aren't terrific moments and shows throughout the year, but it's a year that I rarely revisit. In spite of all of its well known flaws, the 77 tour is one of my personal favorites. There's something about listening to Zep when they were on top of the world, smacked out of their minds, and being the collosal dinosaurs that they were that is appealing to me. In fact, were it not for the drum and noise solos being back to back, this tour's setlist would be my favorite. Going to California, Bonzo's Birthday Party, and the Earls Court gigs are overrated in my opinion. I think the excellent sound quality they have has led to a bias amongst many people. There are better shows from those respective eras. The May 24th Earls Court gig in particular is maybe the most overrated Zeppelin show ever. So many praise it as one of the best gigs of 75, when, to me, the first half is actually below average and the playing doesn't truly pick up steam until Trampled Underfoot. I will admit that The Rain Song, TUF, Dazed, Stairway, and WLL are great versions, but the rest of the show is mediocre to me. I've never liked What Is and What Should Never Be live.

I've always loved the 1970 Royal Albert Hall show, but I've never been satisfied with any of the releases for it. The video from the official DVD is amazing, but it is missing a few songs and certain portions are edited. Other versions are incomplete in one form or another, have the wrong setlist order, or the sound is inferior in some way. So, I decided to put together my own version, using the Winston Remaster as a basis, both because the sound is excellent and it does a pretty good job of combining several other sources. In addition to the Winston Remaster, I also used "Jimmy's Birthday Party - Version A" by Empress Valley Supreme Disc, "The Lost Mixes Volume Seven" also by Empress Valley Supreme Disc, and "Royal Albert Hall 1970" by Lighthouse. Below is the track listing, as well as a key detailing which release was used for each song. * Royal Albert Hall (Winston Remaster) # Jimmy's Birthday Party (Empress Valley Supreme Disc) [ The Lost Mixes Volume Seven (Empress Valley Supreme Disc) ] Royal Albert Hall 1970 (Lighthouse) 1. Intro* 2. We're Gonna Groove* 3. I Can't Quit You Baby*] (minor patch to the Lighthouse release to cover for a very slight edit) 4. Dazed and Confused* 5. Heartbreaker* (incomplete) 6. White Summer* 7. Organ Solo/Thank You] (incomplete, the Lighthouse release uses the portions from the Led Zeppelin DVD menus) 8. What Is and What Should Never Be* 9. Moby Dick* 10. How Many More Times*[ (various patches to "The Lost Mixes Volume Seven" to cover for several edits) 11. Whole Lotta Love* 12. Communication Breakdown* 13. C'mon Everybody* 14. Something Else* 15. Bring It On Home* (this is the most likely position for the song based on the audio we have available) 16. Long Tall Sally*# (patch to "Jimmy's Birthday Party" for a significant middle portion of the song, which is in inferior quality) This is, to the best of my knowledge, the most complete version of the show possible given what we currently have. Hope you all enjoy it!

In terms of pure performance, here would be my top 10, in chronological order: Boston 1/26/69 New York 9/19/70 (evening show) Belfast 3/5/71 Osaka 9/28/71 Seattle 6/19/72 Offenburg 3/24/73 Los Angeles 6/3/73 Seattle 3/21/75 Los Angeles 6/22/77 Copenhagen 7/24/79 I agree with others that Strider's list is a good jumping off point if you're just starting to get into bootlegs. All of the shows he's listed have a good mix of sound quality and performance.

IIRC, the person(s) who possess the Copenhagen tape said that they did not want to distribute it. Doesn't really make much sense to me. Why tease people with something like that, only to then say "too bad! I'm keeping it for myself!"? Seems pretty immature and snobbish to me. FWIW, the Facebook group has posted another update:

My personal favorite 1969 show and one of my top 5 favorite Led Zeppelin shows period. 50 years ago today!