This thread poses a very good question! After some serious consideration and soul searching, I would pick Copenhagen 7/24/79 or Offenburg 3/24/73. I think Copenhagen gives the broadest spectrum of songs from all periods of the band, Plant in maybe his best voice since post 72, and a very good quality recording. Offenburg was one of the first bootlegs I ever acquired and will always hold a special place in my heart. But, the sheer ferocity of that performance, the dynamics and interplay between Page and Bonham in particular...that entire show is just 2 hours of face-melting rock and roll. I would also agree with one of the previous posts, Burn Like a Candle is an excellent choice as well.

WD52, I absolutely get where you are coming from. I enjoy collecting silvers coupled with the challenge of trying to find them for a good price. It's fun, and I don't break the bank! Just takes a little luck, a lot of hunting, and a lot of patience. Ultimately, I do completely understand the argument of "Why would you pay for silvers when you can download anything/everything for free?" That is very sensible and economical. Just boils down to, different strokes for different folks, I guess. For me, there's nothing quite like the thrill of finding something in the wild at a bargain. Best deals I've ever had: 1) Original Silver Rarities remastered "Listen to This Eddie". $24.99 in the used bin at a local record shop. 2) Tarantura's "The Royal Dragon". $29.99 on Ebay. 3) Arabesque & Baroque - The Second Night. $40 at a another local shop many years ago. 4) The Final Statements. Another Antrabata title. Always loved those hardbound book style packages they did for the larger disc sets. Got that one for $65, which I thought was a steal. I never listen to music from a phone or a computer either. I hate the way it sounds. Upgraded my home system just a few months ago with a $500 budget, and I'm loving it. Got a set of Elac B6 speakers and a decent Yamaha amp. Couldn't be happier right now. I just don't know what I'm going to do when I can't get a car with a CD player in it anymore! My 11 year old car's stereo is still thundering and kicking ass over here...

Evening everyone, I was just giving my old Cobra disc of this show a spin tonight. This may seem kinda silly, but, does anyone else here get real excited when the recording shifts and improves about 20 seconds into Rock and Roll right before Plant comes in? It's like, I know it's coming, I've heard the show dozens of times. But, I still get a thrill when the tape clears up and everything just starts booming and kicking! That recording has some real balls and ooompf. I do just a few minor EQ's on my amp to make sure it doesn't blow the guts out of my speakers, and bam. I feel like I'm standing in the middle of the floor of the hall experiencing the show. One of my all time favorite audience recordings by any band. I'll take that one over the boards any day of the week! Cheers Sam

Duckman, I remember my first Tarantura. Got it on Ebay years ago. Physical Vancouver Farewell. I think I paid 100 bucks for it. Always loved the packaging for that set. The plastic hanging bag designed to resemble a pack of Ernie Ball super slinky guitar strings. I also remember the day I won the TDOLZ Power & Glory box on Ebay in the last 5 seconds of the auction. That was a thrilling day! I think I got that for just under $200.

This is a great thread! I remember vividly the first Zeppelin bootleg I ever purchased. This was in maybe 1998. I was 14 years old. Little mom and pop CD shop not too far from my house. At that point, I had all the studio albums and TSRTS. Went into the shop and noticed a Zep CD I had never seen or heard of before. It was Arabesque & Baroque - The Second Night. Earls Court 5/18/75. Antrabata label. How that ended up at a little shop in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1998...I have no idea. It was 40 bucks for the 4 disc set, which at that time was really pretty cheap for a silver disc bootleg set. Spent all my grass cutting money I had saved for a few weeks on it. Got home and put it on and thought I had been had. It sounded absolutely abysmal to my untrained bootleg ears. My dad came upstairs, and I asked him what the hell was wrong with the CD. He says, "Son, you bought a bootleg." He then explained to me what a bootleg album was. And, that was all it took. 20+ years on and still trying to hunt down those old Tarantura, TDOLZ, Antrabata, and Jelly Roll titles. I also grew to really enjoy and appreciate that 5/18 audience recording. Just took a little time and some more listens to train my ears:)