I have nothing profound or insightful to add to this thread. But I wanted to make some comments, as this album has really gotten into my bloodstream this year. I bought it when it first came out back in 93, at the ripe old age of 22. Back then, I was "too cool for school" and dismissed the album after a few listens, mainly due to Coverdale vocals and lyrics. Fast forward to today, and I love every single song on the album - not a dud in the batch. Yes, the lyrics are occasionally cheesy ... but so what? It's genuine, heartfelt and sincere front-to-back. And the thing just ROCKS and is extremely well-produced imo. A fantastic album that deserves the occasional ribbing (those background gravelly "aahhs" on "Shake My Tree" make me chuckle every time) it gets. It's fun as hell and - as many others have mentioned - hugely under-appreciated.

Great pics, Al!

Woah!! This has to be the coolest pic from the Outrider era I've ever seen. Thanks very much for sharing!

Gotcha, thanks for clearing that up.

Totally agree! If I had the time, I would absolutely take it on myself. But it would take me several weeks of my spare time to really do it justice. Right now, I have other side projects I'm working on in my off hours so just don't have the time for it. But I'll bet someone else out there will step up ...

This is great. Some initial thoughts: 1. A LOT of thought and love went into this and kudos to everyone involved. It's a musical and visual love letter. I almost teared up a couple times. 2. When the camera first panned to the pic of Jonesy making him look Christ-like, I had to chuckle. Pretty clever. Later in the video, the camera pans back to the same photo then shows us the Mona Lisa, which also made me chuckle, as Jonesy's rocking his typical Mona Lisa smile in the photo. 3. There are a TON of Easter eggs in this thing, which is putting my inner detective into overdrive lol. I NEED to know what that bartender is saying on the phone (also, wonder if he's meant to symbolize Peter Grant here?). 4. Everyone does a great job, and the drummer in particular is fantastic. I also love that the guitarist did his own thing with the solo, while still sounding very Page-like, and it works beautifully.

UPDATE: nvm, please disregard. After doing some digging, I worked out that the show in question is absolutely the 24th (Day 1). There are some sources floating around out there for the 25th (Day 2) that have sections of the 24th grafted on which is what caused the initial confusion.

Very cool - thank you for sharing. I suppose it would make sense they were more rabid at the Outrider show vs Firm because everyone was hyped to be hearing him play Zep stuff again? And there was also word-of-mouth buzz that his playing was improved in 88 vs his time with the Firm. Your memories match up with my own experience when I saw him in Oakland (10-11). I was 17 at the time and definitely losing my shit. There were a huge number of high school and college-age kids there for sure.

That's awesome that you were at this show. Syracuse Nov 4, the night prior, gets a lot of love - but I actually think Troy 11-5 is a hotter show. It's one of my favorite shows of the tour. I think Jimmy was hitting some kind of wall, physically, by the time he got to Syracuse. The energy level in his playing (and the band brings it down a little to match him) is noticeably lower compared to the following night in Troy. I also think the prior night in New Haven on the 3rd he's playing a bit better. At the Troy show, the fatigue does still surface. There are trip-ups in both Midnight Moonlight as well as The Chase/Dazed (and in a couple of other songs that escape me at the moment). However, when he's "on", which is the majority of the evening, he's playing with an incredible amount of confidence and swagger. Just a really, really strong showing. And the crowd sounds very rowdy lol. What was your memory of the crowd that night? Jimmy definitely got his rest after the 5th, as he sounds quite energetic for the remainder of the US tour. In particular, the final 3 shows Nov 11 - Nov 13 are all fantastic.

Hey Steve, LZ Boots recently posted a show on YouTube for the Outrider tour - November 24th (day 1), London, Hammersmith Odeon. The source/tape was provided through Susan Hedrick, an extremely reliable source whom you yourself have known many years. However, there are some other Outrider shows on YouTube that are much older of the same show, and both of those posts claim the show is from November 25th (day 2). If memory serves, you were at these shows, and I'm sure have copies of both shows/boots. So, my question to you is - which show is this? The 24th or the 25th? One quick way to differentiate is to listen to John Miles' pre-song chatter with the audience before "Prison Blues". Here's a link to the show in question: https://youtu.be/SmBhXd5GGnY Thanks in advance for any light you can shed here.

Very cool, and those are great pics. That sucks about the acoustics, but the boot is very listenable at least. I caught them in Mountain View for the 98 tour. The crowd kinda sucked that night. I remember turning to my gf at the time and saying "what is wrong with these people?". In my mind, what you give is what you get with live performances. The crowd had high energy at the beginning but kinda petered out after the acoustic section. I could also tell Plant was not super enthused to be there that night, but it was still a great performance.

I've been listening to them off YT, Conneyfogle channel

Vincent, thank you for sharing these great pics. I can't imagine having this kind of view of this legendary concert. Very cool!

That's a great question. I'm sure some do for sure. I used to have friends who were hardcore Deadheads (going back a few years), and they absolutely were deep into every show. At the time, I found their obsessiveness fascinating, bewildering and amusing. Of course, now I get it completely. 😂😂

If you end up doing Leicester this year, this is the clearest, up front source I've found for the show: https://youtu.be/gIec_32JMwQ It's allegedly from Empress' "Supreme" Best for Hard n Heavy 3 cd set (2001). There are a number of various physical editions of this show floating around (Electric Magic, Empress, Tarantura, etc), and an overwhelming number of digital files. Most are pretty washed out and dull-sounding. This one is the sharpest, to my ears anyway.

He covered it on the 93 tour, and it was killer. If you hunt around on YouTube, you can find a number of performances. The one I saw was in Mountain View. Bluebird is one of my own favorites as well (along with Rock and Roll Woman). The James Gang version is indeed fantastic. That first album is such a hidden gem ..

Since the crux of your post seems to be an invitation for discussion, I'll bite. You really can't go wrong with most shows from 69-71. They were that good. Regarding a "best" representation for a touring year, I think for the early years it will come down to personal preference. For instance, Leicester 71 is my favorite Zep show but I'm not sure I would say it's the "best", as it's not representative in some ways to what a lot of bootleg fans love about that year. When I think of 71, I break it down to: Spring and Summer: Plant in God-mode, band firing on all cylinders, Page progressing as a guitarist by the month US Tour - extremely high energy for the most part. Band playing a bit more loose, favoring rock and roll raunch over precision Japan Tour - band is tighter in early shows (to their benefit) and extremely loose in final shows. Pros and cons for the looseness of the later shows - a lot of fun to be found here. Vocally, the early shows have a strong Plant and later shows are a nadir for Plant (for 71). UK Fall Tour - band is relaxed but also much tighter and supremely confident as a musical unit. Stronger overall musically, with Plant sounding fantastic most nights. Taking this back to Leicester, this boot showcases a relaxed and confident Zep and builds as it goes on. Musically, it's phenomenal. However, the opening numbers don't have the frenetic energy that is typical for the era (listen to Ipswich 71 for a good comparison). The crowd is fantastic, and the band very much realizes they're having an "on" night with a killer crowd by the time they get to SIBLY. From there, it's a magic show with many highlights. Plant sounds great, much better than the US or Japan tours. Jimmy is playing as well as I've heard from him in 71, which is saying something. It's an atypical show that I personally have a strong connection with (and I think many other fans do as well). For a good representation of Zep in 71, I'd point someone to Copenhagen, Orlando, or Ipswich (also Belfast if they have bootleg ears) for that in-your-face energy that was their trademark. But if someone told me Leicester was their favorite show, I'd immediately get it and say "mine too".

Update: recently discovered Gent 12-1 (after extensive searching, this is the final boot from Nov/Dec leg I hadn't heard yet) and adding it to the list. An absolutely incredible show - great energy/crowd and Jimmy playing at his peak for this era. I need to give this one more time as it's new to me, but first impression is I like it even more than Oberhausen.

Bringing this old thread back as I haven't seen too much love given to the November shows from this tour. The final leg in November has some of Page's best playing of the entire year imho, as well as Robert being in fantastic form on most nights. You really can't go wrong with any 98 show from this month. Some personal favorites: Erfurt 11-16, energy from the crowd is through the roof, band and crowd feeding off each other, just a tremendous show. The taper and his buddy are quite vocal and add to the fun. He's like a German Artie, if you can imagine that. Munich, 11-23, an unbelievable BIGLY solo from Page Toulon, 11-28, Plant is having one of his best nights, he just sounds fantastic here. A lot of nice moments between him and Page throughout the performance. Oberhausen, 12-2, probably my favorite of the 98 shows. Incredible vibe and knockout versions of every song. Killer crowd too, they come back for 3 encores. If anyone reading this has a copy of the Montpellier 11-25 show, please let me know. To my knowledge, there is nothing out there in bootleg land for this show. But someone could have taped it and just never put it online.

This was a fun read. Thanks for posting. "His playing is a fine, shiny manifestation of the British appetite and capacity for violence" with "sudden, slow, watch-for-falling rocks cadenzas". Also known as "Since I've Been Loving You".

Kevin, Patrick - thank you for sharing! These are great.

32.1.23 Happy double silver to entry 11, Hamburg. A truly magickal performance. 🌙

I did a quick google search, and it looks like they have 2007 version but may also have 2018 remastered version labeled as "remastered"

I believe there are sources out there that combine sb portions from SRTS soundtrack with the rest of the performance in so so audio quality, but I could be wrong. Honestly, these days if I want to hear that version, I just listen to either the original 1976 soundtrack or the 2007 new version as most of it is from the 27th anyway. The 2007 version has grown on me so much, it's become my go-to. I was a purist when making the ranking, but now I prefer the smoother audio and don't care if it's "cheating" lol.

Thanks, man! Again, I appreciate the kind words. The writing piece of this project took 7 weeks in my off time so it's nice to hear the compliment. It's a layered thing ... surface description ranking on the "top". other stuff to be found elsewhere. Most words and numbers are in there for specific reasons. Regarding Robert's 73 voice, I prefer it to most other eras (69-71 still the best) as well. His full strength range degraded so fast (due to numerous vocal chord no-no's that have been recounted on the internet endless times), but when he finally embraced working within his new "range" he sounded fantastic on some nights in 73 - at least when all the stars were lined up, he was warmed up after opening numbers, etc. You can really hear it starting to happen in those January shows, particularly in the final stretch of the tour.