You won't regret it...my wife and I saw Paul back in November; his shows are like stepping into a time machine- they play all the old Beatles songs note for note (Rusty Anderson nails George's solos) along with his solo biggies and a few deep cuts thrown in for good measure. Damn near a three hour concert. No, there's not a lot of spontanteity to be had but a splendid time is guaranteed for all... I used to be a "Lennon" guy in my younger days; now I'm definitely more a "Paul" guy. I'd probably like his music just as much even if he wasn't a Beatle (ditto for George Harrison). As for his solo stuff I like his "One man band" records most of all; the dreaded McCartney II being my personal favourite. Though IMO the Wings Over America lineup was probably the best band Paul ever played with on a purely musical level.

No, you can hear him on the soundboard, but ya gotta really listen for him...MT made his presence known on the night in more ways than one (he sat in for most of the show). The theory is that though Taylor wasn't plugged into the board he had his amp cranked so fucking loud that the mikes picked him up just the same Apparently you can hear him clear as a bell on the much rarer audience tapes. You should track the show down, it's worth hearing, if for no other reason that it's the closest approximation as to what the late 70's Stones stuff might have sounded like if Taylor had stayed in the band. As for all the "What the fuck?!"s over Katy Perry sitting in the other night, don't sound too shocked, folks- Jagger has always wanted to come across as being hip (sometimes he even succeeds). At this late date I really wouldn't be surprised if Mick got Justin Beiber to sit in at some point on the tour.

I love how he fucks with Page at the end of the Noise Solo by breaking into the "Dazed And Confused" rhythm for a second or two...unless Bonzo temporarily forgot what year it was of course

Have you heard the 1981 show MT sat in on, Tom? (15/12/81, Kansas City) He can be hard to hear at times on the soundboard recording but when you can hear Taylor, there's some interesting three way interplay going on. MT played for a good chunk of the show...according to Ron Wood, Keith was not happy about it

You got that right...soundboard would be nice, but it would have been just as nice if the fucking taper had just left the goddamn rig in his lap instead of tucked under his seat (notice how the sound improves when he's checking the tape) If only the same people who taped Pink Floyd in Atlanta three days later had taped Zeppelin...the Floyd recording has been passed off as a soundboard, that's how good it is...sigh...

Try to find the "Out Of The Way" source for Birmingham...way better than the "Dixie" recording (shit, the third source that forum member Jabe and I put out last year is better than "Dixie"!) Birmingham is a good performance...one of the best of the '77 tour.

Or, barring that, adding something like "Heartbreaker" or "Over The Hills" into the main set. Though as I recall the Pontiac show started late (90 minutes or something like that)...on that basis it's kinda surprising that they didn't cut any songs out, though that could be part of the reason why they kept Jimmy's solo pieces and the drum solo shorter than normal (skipping the hand drumming section for example)

I'm listening to Sue's favourite show right now...sorry, Sue, still gotta give the edge to 28/4/77 Cleveland over 30/4/77 Pontiac...though admittedly not by much. I will say they really did rise to the occasion on the night, though. Considering the size of the Silverdome audience and the scope of the event itself, Zeppelin actually played with considerable restraint. They could have gotten all caught up and carried away and got really self indulgent in the the solo pieces, etc but wisely decided to keep things short and sweet (though JPJ's ivory tickling in "No Quarter" does kinda drag on a bit...)

There are SBD/AUD 'matrix' recordings...then there's Four Blocks In The Snow. It just happened that Bluecongo had the 12/2/75 SBD as well as a stellar audience recording to work with in that case. That, folks, is what a SBD/AUD matrix of, say, 21/6/77 or 23/6/77 would sound like. Better than an official live album (which the audience recordings already are IMO). I've heard SBD/AUD matrices of 31/5/73, 28/2/75, 19/3/75, and 26/5/77 and though I appreciate the amount of work that goes into synching up soundboard and audience tapes (and those particular matrices are pretty damn sloppy in places, falling out of synch and whatnot) and nothing comes close to Bluecongo's work on that 12/2/75 show. No, it's probably not the greatest performance of the '75 tour -Robert's voice pretty much rules that out- but it is probably the best sounding recording we've got...

Listened to the whole show on its 37th anniversary today...goddamn, what an excellent performance. I really do think that, in spite of all the accolades for the New York and L.A. shows, 28/4/77 could very well be the all around best performance of the whole '77 tour. It would certainly be possible to do a matrix utilizing the SBD and "Rawhide" audience source (that AUD source has good wide stereo sound) though the end result definitely wouldn't be Four Blocks In The Snow type matrix quality. The other 7/6/77 audience tape -the "Artie" source- isn't worth the fucking tape it was recorded on IMO, it's worthy only for the dope smoking lesson during "No Quarter"

If Zeppelin were to tour today, do you think they'd try to keep prices down or inflate them to insane amounts ala the Stones?

I personally look forward to fighting off the rest of the old fogies in the rest home for the rights to the DVD player for three hours thirty or so years from now when the goddamn video finally appears That's debatable IMO- even after all these years Zeppelin is still a popular enough band that they'll always draw new generations of fans...even new 'diehards' for whom there will be a demand for this kinda stuff...

Thanx for the birthday wishes, folks!

I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it would be- like the Seattle pro shot footage, which mainly focuses on closeups of Page and Plant; no audience shots at all, it's not even like yer watching a concert film. Mind ya, it's worth keeping in mind that this sort of footage was intended for the video screens used during the concerts; of course it's all going to be close up shots, that what the video screens were for, so that the punters up in the nosebleeds could see the band members performing as something other than the size of ants

BACK...and to the left... Oh it is entertaining watching somebody dig a deeper hole for themselves. The dude didn't back down from his claims, though, which is what really makes it funny, even after a bunch of us called him on it.

Correct, and in my not so humble opinion these elitist motherfuckers deserve to be hung upside down by their nuts and then flogged mercilessly Why do these 'private traders' insist on behaving in such a way? Do they think that essentially hoarding these items amongst themselves elevates them into being a higher form of species or sumpin'? A little wake up call to the private collectors: outside of yer little circle, boys and girls, and outside of other collectors, nobody else gives a shit about this stuff. It's not state secrets on UFOs or the real story behind the JFK assassination yer holding, it's concert tapes maybe 1% of the population cares about. Keeping these things to yerselves does not make you special, if anything, it makes you resented by those who know you have it but refuse to share it. I'm sorry, I can never wrap my head around that goddamn elitist mentality, it makes me wanna fucking puke.

No reason at all why they wouldn't have gotten a copy...record breaking attendance at the show and all, it was an historic moment for the group, you'd think they'd want some kind of document...right??? Then of course there was that yahoo here a couple of years back we pretty much crucified over his bullshit claims that Peter Grant ordered the Pontiac footage destroyed I'll try dig up that discussion, pretty funny shit there... Edit- Ah, here it is...scroll down to post 58, and set yer b.s. detectors on high:

Indeed. I don't even see the point of arguing about whether the damned Pontiac show was filmed; it was. So was Seattle, difference is the film of the Seattle show leaked out -last 'reel' first if I remember correctly- and Pontiac didn't. Or hasn't, or won't.

My bad, I forgot the Stones pioneered the technique back in '72...a very cool effect no matter who's using it...

^^^ The square highlighted in the last pic is just a mirror, used for reflecting spotlights. Genesis famously used this lighting effect on their 1978 tour (actually nicknamed the "Mirrors" tour by fans). Methinks those are all just really good photos, not pro shot screenshots, Geez. The photos showing the cameramen in particular have been discussed ad naseum over the years, both here and over at the Royal Orleans site.

If yer referring to the Classic Albums series, Dallas, I know Eddie Kramer has of course participated in some of the shows (i.e. the Electric Ladyland episode)...hard to say what, if any, sort of non-disclosure agreements they have to sign; it would probably vary on a project by project basis. Yeah, the WYWH programme was brilliant...but so was the Classic Albums DSOTM episode...unless Page consented to a standalone type programme on Zep's albums, a Classic Albums episode would be the next best thing. Yer right, though, some of the episodes are much better than others. Oh, there's no question that Geoff Emerick brought a lot to the table (too bad his long awaited book turned out to be mostly bullshit). Revolver and Sgt Pepper changed the recording industry, and that's thanks to Emerick. George Martin's true forte is in arranging- as John Lennon put it, "He's more Paul's style of music than mine."

For those familiar with the TV series Classic Albums -hour long documentaries based on the making of some of the greatest records of all time, focusing mainly on the studio/production aspects- I am surprised that they haven't tackled a Zeppelin record yet, as Zeppelin's albums would be no brainers for that kind of programme. Thing is, though, which album? Presence would be awesome, but unfortunately the engineer on those sessions (Keith Harwood) is no longer with us...at least Eddie Kramer (second album) and Andy Johns (fourth album) are still around.

If memory serves, "Fame" -it's John's riff and his voice doing the breathy "Fame..." vocal- came out of a jam session when Lennon was working on Bowie's version of "Across The Universe". The fact that he was planning on taking the Double Fantasy band on the road in 1981 for a world tour is another reason to curse Mark David Chapman. Having said that, though, apparently Lennon told Jack Douglas things on the night he died that Douglas has never spoken about publically- speculation ranging from Lennon planning on splitting with Yoko all the way to having serious health problems or even a premonition of his death. We'll never know, Jack Douglas will probably take that information to his grave. John Lennon in the 1980's -or the 90's, or the 00's or the 10's for that matter- is one of those things that doesn't bear thinking about, for me. I may have mixed feelings about the guy personally, but he was taken way too soon.

As far as Wild Life goes, I reckon the turn off there is the rougher, demo-ish quality of the tunes (great production, though- IIRC Alan Parsons was behind the board for that one and Red Rose Speedway). I actually think Paul had a lot of balls to put out an album like Wild Life at that stage in his solo career. I like it too, Joe. All Things Must Pass, sure, a lot of people seem to cherish the album, but a three record set, George? It strikes me as being a massive ego trip on Harrison's part; between the horrific Spectorized sound of the thing and the over indulgence (the Apple Jam record) ATMP doesn't get a lot of play around here compared to say, 33 1/3 or Extra Texture when it comes to solo Harrison. Between "Photograph" and "It Don't Come Easy" Ringo really owes what success he had in his solo career to George Harrison (who wrote those songs, an incredible gesture of charity on George's part). Walls And Bridges, it's the overproduction that kills that record for me- if Lennon was smart, he'd've given those songs a stripped down Plastic Ono Band approach (the demo session available on bootleg -some of which was officially released on Menlove Avenue- is my go to version of the W & B material.) I know John wrote "Nobody Loves You..." with somebody like Sinatra in mind but the Vegas type arrangement Lennon went with on the album is just too over the top IMO. Good song otherwise, though, a highlight of Lennon's career (Beatles included).

But at least George doesn't have an out an out embarrassment like Some Time In New York City in his solo discography...as 'bad' as George's albums like Dark Horse, Extra Texture (my personal favourite!) or Gone Troppo are perceived to be, once you actually sit down and listen to the things, you'll find at least a couple good tunes on each. IMO Some Time In New York City never should have been recorded, never mind released...John Lennon came awfully close to committing career suicide with that project. No, George Harrison may not have been a 'rocker' per se, but ya can't really say a helluva lot of Lennon's solo work 'rocks out', either...most of the Mind Games and -especially- Walls And Bridges LP's come pretty damn close to straight Adult Contemporary Pop. It seems like every time John tried to 'rock out' on his solo albums it almost sounds forced. Again, as 'bad' as some of Paul's albums are considered to be (Wild Life and Pipes Of Peace seem to be considered his 'worst') none of them come close to Some Time In New York City. I don't think either Lennon nor McCartney had much of a serious impact as solo artists, they were just ex-Beatles putting out records with varying degrees of quality and/or success. I mean, they weren't really considered heavy hitters in the same way as, say, Zeppelin or The Stones were. That said, I reckon a lot of Paul's music has undergone a critical reappraisal over the years (for example, Ram was pretty much panned when it first came out, whereas now it is considered one of his best) Ultimately it's kind of unfair to compare Lennon's solo career to McCartney's...for one thing, John's 'career' as a solo artist really only lasted about five or six years, and he never played live in any serious way. Whereas Paul has put out a zillion different albums, and put on massive tours. It's really a moot argument anyway- nothing they did as solo artists came close to what they did in The Beatles- Imagine and Band On The Run probably come closest, but even with those albums there's a couple of iffy moments...I mean, people nowadays tend to praise Harrison's All Things Must Pass as 'best Beatles solo album' but not even ATMP is close to being of The Beatles' caliber.