They don't have brains

Thank you! It was very difficult for me to rank Fort Worth. It is very enjoyable and energetic, but at some parts Houston show is better. For example, Houston SIBLY, Achilles and Stairway are way better. The next night at Fort Worth, Jimmy used a lot of distortion for Achilles and his guitar is kinda out of tune, destroying the intro. This version is a little rough for me. On the other hand, 5/21 No Quarter is very boring (actually it is the only version i don't like.) Certainly, both shows are very enjoyable, each one on its own way.

Exactly! This show has the second best version of kashmir, (the best version EVER is 6/22), a stellar NQ and great SIBLY and TYG. Bonzo is slower, compared to the first three concerts.

Robert's voice is cracking a lot, so much it's cringeworthy. Jimmy's playing is okay, but nothing special. (Of course this is my personal opinion.)

I also thought the same thing about April 9, but i ranked it based on the playing before Jimmy's collapse. And you're right about 5-28. The worst sounding soundboard and bad playing. Maybe i shouldn't put this show in that category, but TYG, kashmir and Achilles are so good to my ears, that made me forget the rest of the concert.

Hi everyone. I've been reading this forum for a long time and i recently created an account. I enjoy all the twelve years of music that Led Zeppelin gave to us, and i am a huge fan of the 1977 tour. I see that the 77 tour gets slammed by some waterheads here and there, without a reason. I decided to rank all the 77 shows, to prove that most of them are good. THE ORDER IS RANDOM. I included only the shows that we have recordings for. BAD/WEIRD SHOWS Tempe Arizona, July 20 1977 Oklahoma city, April 3 1977 (the band is unrehearsed) Chicago, April 6 1977 (the band is unrehearsed) Chicago, April 7 1977 (the band still sounds a little bit rusty) Landover Maryland, May 26 1977 (IMTOD and Kashmir are trainwrecks) MEDIOCRE-GOOD SHOWS Houston TX, May 21 1977 (good performance) Fort worth TX, May 22 1977 (good performance) Landover, May 25 and 28 1977 (mediocre to good) Cleveland, April 27 1977 (good) Chicago, April 9 1977 (good) Cincinatti, April 19 and 20 1977 (good) Atlanta, April 23 1977 (good) Kentucky, April 25 1977 (good) New York, June 7 1977 (good) San Diego, June 19 1977 (brilliant playing from Jimmy, bad playing from Bonzo) Seattle, July 17 1977 (good show, but shitty SIBLY and Jimmy is lost during the OTHAFA solo) Oakland, July 23 1977 (good show, but Jimmy completely destroys the TYG solo) Oakland, July 24 1977 (good) VERY GOOD-LEGENDARY SHOWS Chicago, April 10 1977 (very good, the only bad moment is the first TYG solo, but Jimmy makes up with the second solo) Cleveland, April 28 1977 (excellent show, one of the best TYG, great NQ, kashmir and ALS) Pontiac, April 30 1977 (excellent, Jimmy plays greatly) Birmingham, May 18 1977 (excellent) Landover, May 30 1977 (excellent) Tampa, June 3 1977 (it started excellent and powerful) New York, June 8,10,11,13,14 1977 (excellent) Los Angeles, June 21,22,23,25,26,27 1977 (epic, legendary shows, with the 22nd being my favorite) I'd like to hear your opinions on my list.

I don't understand why you call yourself a zeppelin fan. They played many brilliant shows in '77. If you judge the tour by mediocre performances, that's your problem. The LA performances and some others were better than those of the '75 tour.

The tapes were affected by the strong stage lights and the smoke from the audience. The problems are noticeable on the 75 tour. A note could be played for about 8 seconds. It was not the most reliable instrument, but nothing can replace its sound on kashmir, stairway and the rain song. Its "haunting" sound makes the rain song orchestration so remarkable. The 79 and 80 versions leave me cold.

As a tape instrument, mellotron cannot get out of tune. Jonesy sometimes dropped the pitch on purpose to create this effect during the "all i see, turns to brown" part. The pitch knob controlls the mellotron's motor speed. For the 1977 tour, Jonesy used Jimmy's double black mellotron (model "mark V"). This mellotron is responsible for the epic sound of kashmir in 1977, and it was more reliable than the older one.

If you listen to NQ jam (nutcracker) on 5/22/77 or 4/28/77 you will find out that he is using the pedals on the grand piano. "For the tour in 1977, Led Zeppelin hired a new keyboard technician named Ed Kolakowski, who had worked preparing live pianos for many artists (including classical pianist Artur Rubenstein and former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney). Kolakowski spent a great deal of time preparing Jones' piano setup and monitors, and Jones felt the piano was "spot on" every night. One of the unusual requirements was the making of a special leg for the piano: As the standard leg spacing would not accomodate the bass pedals underneath, Kolakowski designed a special leg machined of aluminum that would replace the wooden leg and thus allow the extra space for the bass pedals." http://www.led-zeppelin.org/studio-and-live-gear/1802