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LA Forum shows 1975


ZepFanatic

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I've been listening to the 3 LA Forum shows from 1975 lately (3/24, 3/25, 3/27) on the excellent EV Deep Throat boots...

I find these Millard tapes to be as good as the 1977 LA ones, especially the 3/25/75 show...fantastic sound. I also love the larger than life pomposity of the 1975 shows, especially the gargantuan D&C versions...

Am I all alone in love for these LA shows? They always seem to be the "forgotten" ones (every raves, rightfully so, about the LA shows from every other year LZ played the Forum)...

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I had a wonderful time at the 3/25 and 3/27 shows.

You were there? Fucking awesome! I am cranking D&C from 3/25 in my headphones right now...so good, and the sound is unreal..

I didn't even realize today was the 34th anniversary of this very show until a few minutes ago!!

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I hate you.

:lol: Those were MONSTER shows, eh? At least I have the Millard recordings.

And the Millard recordings are incredible...

Did anyone here on this board ever meet/know Mike Millard? I'd be interested in learning more about him than the meager details one can find on the web...

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I ran away from home so I could go to all three Forum shows.

Very heavy shows...much heavier and mysterious vibe than 1973 shows. I

recall famous LA radio dj JJ Jackson and Linda Lovelace introducing the band at

the last show...I think JJ Jackson introduced them at first gig too, but can't

remember the third person who intro'd the band.

Things that stuck out from these shows:

As usual with a Zeppelin show they were LOUD AS HELL! Bonzo's drums

and Jonesy's bass punched a wall in my chest and made a cozy little home for

themselves inside me gut while Jimmy's guitar strafed my brain.

Physical Graffiti songs sounded GREAT and I wished they had played more

from the album. Jimmy's bow section from D & C was getting more and more

choreographed with the smoke and lights...compared to the 1972 shows it is

light years beyond.

Jimmy looked more like a rock star at the 1975 LA Forum shows than he did

at the Forum in 1973. He wore the black dragon suit; white pants with a flowery

shirt/blouse with a tassle or scarf tied around his waist; and the "TSRTS" outfit

(at the 1973 Forum shows he apparently hadn't had that outfit yet as he didn't

wear it at all). Not sure which night he wore what, but I am pretty certain the

black dragon outfit was worn at the last Forum show.

I thought Jones looked cool as fuck with his "card shark/croupier" outift of black

vest over black shirt and black pants. And his hair looked stylish short like that.

I loved that they did "Woodstock" during D & C, as I thought this suited the dark

mood of the song better than "San Francisco". These would be the last D & C's

ever performed in America, too. No Quarter was great as usual, one of Zep's

perennial great concert songs.

I loved how funky the band got during Trampled and mixing in almost complete

versions of The Crunge into Whole Lotta Love, along with all sorts of James

Brown grooves.

The Song Remains the Same/Rain Song...just as in 1973 an awesome 1-2

combo. For me these songs should always be played together in concert.

Another highlight...snogging with my girl during the show, hehe.

I also went to the second Long Beach Arena show on the 1975 tour, on March 12.

In my mind that show was a winner, too...maybe even better than the Forum

shows as far as performance goes. As for atmosphere, that's another matter

as Long Beach Arena just couldn't compete with the aura of the Forum.

Sadly, I still don't have anything from the LA Forum shows...I've got the "Taking

No Prisoners Tonight" from the 3.12.75 Long Beach show but that's it. Getting

the 75 Forum shows is next on my "to do" list.

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And the Millard recordings are incredible...

Did anyone here on this board ever meet/know Mike Millard? I'd be interested in learning more about him than the meager details one can find on the web...

Your best bet is an experienced, old, LA-Area trader. Who was active at Millard's time.

A nice thing:

QUESTION: Hi, I recently downloaded Listen to This Eddie and I was Impressed by its exeptional quality, and I was wondering how Mark Millard managed to do this recording with this quality, i've also heard For Badgeholders only and now I know that he isn't a one time wonder. So how did he manage to record this quality and what was his teqnique also to which crowd did they play to at to at those concerts and are there any other Millard recordings? Also could you give me a link to download that great quality Japan show

ANSWER: Millard was a prominent recorder of concerts (including Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin). Millard was clever enough to pretend to be bound to a wheelchair, thus getting special access to a good location at the LA Forum. That's how his sound was so close up and lacking the reverberations that plagued the process of recording a show from way in back. Using his wheelchair, he attached a Nakamichi stereo cassette recorder under the set of the wheelchair, attached to a set of AKG high quality microphones. By virtue of his quality equipment and quality positioning, with the wheelchair ploy, he was able create superior recordings.

Of the Led Zeppelin shows, he recorded the March 11, 1975 show at Long Beach Arena, a fragment of the March 12th show at the same venue. He supposedly also did all three 1975 shows at the LA Forum (March 24, 25, 27). He then also recorded some of the 1977 LA Forum shows from June 21, 23, 25 and 27. Also he allegedly got the June 19 show in San Diego. Millard unfortunately committed suicide years later.

I removed some things to comply with the rules.

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Millard was a prominent recorder of concerts (including Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin). Millard was clever enough to pretend to be bound to a wheelchair, thus getting special access to a good location at the LA Forum. That's how his sound was so close up and lacking the reverberations that plagued the process of recording a show from way in back. Using his wheelchair, he attached a Nakamichi stereo cassette recorder under the set of the wheelchair, attached to a set of AKG high quality microphones. By virtue of his quality equipment and quality positioning, with the wheelchair ploy, he was able create superior recordings.

Of the Led Zeppelin shows, he recorded the March 11, 1975 show at Long Beach Arena, a fragment of the March 12th show at the same venue. He supposedly also did all three 1975 shows at the LA Forum (March 24, 25, 27). He then also recorded some of the 1977 LA Forum shows from June 21, 23, 25 and 27. Also he allegedly got the June 19 show in San Diego. Millard unfortunately committed suicide years later.

I removed some things to comply with the rules.

That was absolutely ingenious of Millard. What a way to it. Although doing the fake handicap bit, not sure if I'd want to do that. I suppose I'd be a bit apprehensive of getting a great recording this way. Don't think I'd want to fake that I'm handicapped. Although, the results were worth it.

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From what I've read about Millard he was a bit of a lunatic and hated that some of his recordings kept getting out, so he actually hijacked some of his recordings so he would know who was selling their copies of the shows.

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From what I've read about Millard he was a bit of a lunatic and hated that some of his recordings kept getting out, so he actually hijacked some of his recordings so he would know who was selling their copies of the shows.

Yeah I'd heard every time he made a copy for someone he inserted flaws into it and then logged it into a notebook so when he re-received the shows in a trade he could trace them...

Also supposedly he destroyed all of his Led Zeppelin masters before he killed himself, and his parents have left his room intact from the day he had died...

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Its fabulous to hear from you lucky folks who attended these shows.

The first two nights have always been high in my all time fave Zep bootlegs (dont have the third, bah!, want it tho)

Sublime No quarters, Trampled and Stairways amongst others, although the 24th dazed is a damp squib, is Jimmy suffering with tuning problems?

Somebody wrote somewhere they thought Plant was awful, im thinking he was in great voice, his plantations were tops too.

A couple of questions, theres some audible OI'S!! during the Stairway solo (24th), is Plant shouting at someone? Can anyone shed any light?

Also, is the new Deep throat a big improvement on 'Good evening the Forum'?

"A few developments in the camp and a few camps in the devolepment, Bonzo decided not to have the sex change afterall" Love it!

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Yeah I'd heard every time he made a copy for someone he inserted flaws into it and then logged it into a notebook so when he re-received the shows in a trade he could trace them...

Also supposedly he destroyed all of his Led Zeppelin masters before he killed himself, and his parents have left his room intact from the day he had died...

Yes, The famed Millard dropuots, cuts etc. An instance of this happens in the LTTE tape, when Winston transferred the 1st gen cassettes, they where gone. So technically as far as we can get for the marking-free tapes is 1st gen.

As to comment on why his 75 recordings sound better (not overall, just more balanced), I can be never certain, it could be a change of tape set-up. And to cap it, listen to Mike's assistant during the intro to Kashmir on 11-03-75 show.

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Its fabulous to hear from you lucky folks who attended these shows.

The first two nights have always been high in my all time fave Zep bootlegs (dont have the third, bah!, want it tho)

Sublime No quarters, Trampled and Stairways amongst others, although the 24th dazed is a damp squib, is Jimmy suffering with tuning problems?

Somebody wrote somewhere they thought Plant was awful, im thinking he was in great voice, his plantations were tops too.

A couple of questions, theres some audible OI'S!! during the Stairway solo (24th), is Plant shouting at someone? Can anyone shed any light?

Also, is the new Deep throat a big improvement on 'Good evening the Forum'?

"A few developments in the camp and a few camps in the devolepment, Bonzo decided not to have the sex change afterall" Love it!

Yes the Deep Throat's are a big improvement...to my ears they are the best versions of these shows...

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And in honor, today I listen to the 3/27/75 show (34th anniversary today!). I didn't intend to do that this week when I randomly pulled out 3/24/75 to listen to on Tuesday but now it's become a week of digging these shows...

Right now rockin' along to OTHAFA....so good!

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The NQs and TUs from all of these shows are great.

And I can't be alone as being a huge fan of the funky jams and grooves they got into on WLL on this tour? They should have kept that in 1977 instead of those 1-minute WLL teaser intros to Black Dog...

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And in honor, today I listen to the 3/27/75 show (34th anniversary today!). I didn't intend to do that this week when I randomly pulled out 3/24/75 to listen to on Tuesday but now it's become a week of digging these shows...

Right now rockin' along to OTHAFA....so good!

My birthday was on Tuesday, I spent all the free time I had listening to the 3/24/73 Offenberg and 3/24/75 LA show in honor of that.

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And in honor, today I listen to the 3/27/75 show (34th anniversary today!). I didn't intend to do that this week when I randomly pulled out 3/24/75 to listen to on Tuesday but now it's become a week of digging these shows...

Right now rockin' along to OTHAFA....so good!

I plan on it tonight.

Anyone ever been so moved by how good some Zeppelin (live) or other jam is that you were brought to tears? I've gotten it the last time i heard 03-05 and 03-27 NQ, during the peak of the paino / drum jam. I wasnt sober though.

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^I know just what you mean. I just finished the stunning NQ and TU from this show and am now on the longest ever D&C...

The best D&C's are from 1971-73 but there is something about the absolutely gargantuan 1975 versions I just dig...

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I was there at the 3/24 show. Guess what? I cannot find my ticket stub and it's got me panicked. I foolishly "put it somewhere safe", and now I have no idea where it is. I want to scan it before it fades completely. I'll keep looking it's gotta be around somewhere....

But anyway, yeah, I recently got the Deep Throat set, and the sound is stunning, especially the final night. Man, when Bonzo started up Rock & Roll It was just too damn thrilling for words. The atmosphere in the Forum was electric, remember, no opening act-when those lights go down, it's GO TIME baby!

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Right now in the middle of all the glory of 46 minutes of D&C...so fucking awesome...

In his books Luis Rey has slagged these shows as being "sluggish" and Jimmy's playing as "clipped" and "choppy"...

Dunno what he listened to...sounds fucking awesome to me!!!!!! :P

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