Led Zeppelin Bootlegs

[lzzoso]

Can you remember when or where you first "discovered" any kind of "live" Led Zeppelin recordings? I became a die-hard LZ fan when I was 13 years old and living in St. Louis, Missouri. Back around then I used to go to record conventions or record shows with the guy that actually turned me on to Led Zeppelin (he was around 16). It was there that I first found and first bought my first LZ bootleg album. To be completely honest I actually cannot remember what that record was. Maybe "Persistence" from San Francisco 1973. Nonetheless, since that first bootleg, I have amassed at least 150+ bootlegs of the "Mighty Led Zeppelin" over the past 25 years. This include albums, tapes, cd's, videos, and dvd's.

After St. Louis, my family moved to Hillsborough, New Jersey (about an hour outside of New York City). I was 17 then. Some of my fondest memories are of me going to NYC by myself or with some friends, drinking beer, smoking joints and walking around Greenwich Village. The Village has some of the best record stores I have ever been to. During most of those "trips" I would always come home with at least one or two new LZ bootleg cd. It was there that I also discovered the once popular ZOSO magazine.

Anyway, that is my little story of how I discovered the power of the live LED ZEPPELIN experience. To this day I am still seeking and searching for all that I can find. Remember, back then there was no Internet or Google or YouTube like there is today.

What are your great stories of how you discovered your own collection of LZ bootlegs?

[reswati]

Cool post, Lzzoso........

The first boot I ever heard of Zep was For Badgeholders Only, a friend of mine had borrowed it from someone he knew. the next day I taped that one onto cassette and played it mercilessly until the tape died some months later.

Since my friend knew the store that sold it I had to visit that store asap. It turned out to be just over the border and was run by a complete asshole who had no prices attached to his records. Once he knew what you were looking for the prices for those records went up drastically. I decided to fuck him back next time for beeing a rip off and sent two friends pretending to be Aerosmith fans that by cosmic accident just bought the Zeppelin records that I wanted in the end without having to pay twice the price.

The store one day closed down and thanks to internet there were still many records which I could buy for fair prices.....other ones I traded etc etc.

Greatest item that I have is still the O2 triple vinyl album, since one of the voices going yeeeeeeaaaahhh was me, and some few thousands of people more.....a great souvenir for a great day.

[Stargroves Tangie]

When I was in high school, I bought my first Zeppelin bootleg LP, "The 1975 World Tour", from of all people, my best friend's mom! She was a big Zeppelin & Bad Company fan, but needed some extra cash, so she was selling her bootleg collection. I also bought The Yardbirds boot "Last Hurrah in the Big Apple" but passed up "Blueberry Hill" because I didn't have enough money (although in retrospect I wish I had opted for that one instead of "1975 Tour"). Then when I got a full time job, I was able to go to the record conventions & the Village in NYC to get more (as well as Goldmine, before they started cracking down on the sale of bootlegs).

[Kashmir330]

Several years back I "discovered" Zeppelin bootlegs. I believe the first ones I ever got were from a flea market that I visit quite frequently from a man and woman who sell vinyl,tapes,etc... He actually sold me all of the bootlegs that he had available (copies of bootlegs but they weren't that much). Better than nothing I guess. I starting finding bootlegs at my favorite record store (Everybody's Records) in Cincinnati, Ohio of concerts on CD,Vinyl,DVD,etc... Everytime me and my mom go there (which we actually went today) we always check first thing to see if they have any new Zeppelin bootlegs. I've gotten many bootlegs from there such as Destroyer and the Texas International Pop Festival on CD, For Badgeholder's Only and a strange misprinted L.A. Forum bootleg on vinyl, and the O2 arena concert on DVD.(I actually "special ordered" the O2 DVD from a guy who works there ) I always have a blast looking for Zeppelin bootlegs and usually find them quite frequently. It always gives me such a rush finding one that I don't have.

[Michael Page]

I remember when i got my 1st Led Zeppelin bootleg. Listen to this Eddie it was phenomenal i was 20 yrs old when i purchased this 3 cd set from an underground music store. This was soo great i had to pull my car over while listening to this.That is one bootleg that i hold near and dear to my heart.

[Jimmy's A Legend]

The first bootleg I heard and saw was EC 1975, still have it, it's kinda good but the audio goes abit off, and during STH the members become dark figures

[Evster2012]

When I was in 9th grade (1981), my friend Lance played me Badgeholders Only. I made a tape and played it to death, the copy of Paris Theater London I recorded off the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio program had long worn out. Then I got Blueberry Hill on vinyl. Then I met my friend Phil, who had a freakin milk crate full of Zeppelin boots. I spent that whole summer in his room taping his collection.

[Walesdad]

The first Led Zeppelin boot I ever had was a two tape set of 'Destroyer'.I've still got it,with my own home made covers,and I still cherish it.I graduated onto some of the more famous titles,at least they were twenty years ago when I got 'Destroyer',like 'Mudslide','Live On Blueberry Hill','V1/2',etc.,but that first twin tape pack is still a bit special to me.

[jsj]

my pal and i bought a vinyl boot each from a record fair in about '79. i got BBC 70 and he got a japanese gig (my brain hurts?). a couple of the songs on his album were slow. no worries, my turntable had speed adjustment so we recorded the normal speed songs then sped it up to record the slow songs.

great nice job. except my speed became stuck at the faster rate and i had to get my turntable fixed. which cost cost more than the album did. bummer

then an acquintance lent us some cassettes which we recorded from. the quality was pretty poor as you might imagine (some of them were probably several generations down) but there were some great times to be had with them. then i bought a knebworth cassette through the ads in the music papers. fucking brilliant.

[Otto Masson]

I first heard Led Zeppelin and became a fan in 1975, and I was 10 then. Bootlegs were just about impossible to find in this country, and the first time I heard a Zeppelin live recording that hadn't been officially released was in 1986. That was the Paris theater gig from 1971 that was later released on the BBC recordings, alas incomplete. I got that boot on tape and listened to it endlessly - it was amazing. A couple of years later I got the June 23, 1977 show on two cassettes, with the order of the songs completely mixed up, so the first thing I heard was Jimmy playing Black Mountain Side and then the band coming on like an explosion....Kashmir. It sounded so devastatingly heavy, I was stunned, even if the performance wasn't particularly good. This of course was the show where Keith Moon joined them on stage, and that was fun to hear.

Then in 1995 I got two boxed sets, 5 CDs each, called Through the Years and Another Trip. Together they form like a 10 CDs worth of live selections, spanning the band's entire career, and a good introduction to all the boots. Here they are:

In later years I've accumulated bootlegs from friends in the fan community, and via the internet - for free.

Edited August 6, 2009 by Otto Masson

[ally]

Pb .. sometime during the Fall of 1970. That puppy cost me a grand total of $2.50 .

[solar]

First I heard/taped: BBC sessions from '69 and '71 from a radio station. Still have that tape.

First (of many) I bought: Coming Back On The Murder Stage - 4/27/77 in Cleveland.

[badgeholder]

There was this cool little bohemian record store, right next to an X-rated theater. I noticed the bins of all-white LPs and, there they were, BBC Sessions, Going to California, Mudslide, Pb, tons of stuff, along with other bands. I got BBC Sessions. Soon after I got 3 Days After and V 1/2 (Seattle). I quickly learned not to ask any questions about them. Just buy and go. I loved 'em, played 'em to death. Was hooked forever after that. This probably '74 or so.

And speaking of the King Biscuit Flower Hour, I remember listening to a Yes concert one time, and all of a sudden, to fill time at the end, Led Zeppelin comes on doing this fantastic live version of "I Can't Quit You". I went flying downstairs to find a cassette and record it, it was a BBC one, man we were all excited about that!

[ledzep45]

i got all the official stuff and thought: 'what was that thing called...bootleg?'. So yeh, not the best of starts but i loved (still do) the sessions and demos so i bought 'Led Zeppelin-Physicaly Present' on CD. From there, i didnt buy anymore but instead downloaded. I am still on the look out for Led Zep LP bootlegs but they are always so bloody expensive and i never have any money

[georgio]

"Going to California" - a cassette tape of the Berkeley '71 concerts. I believe I was subscribing to a Zep fanzine called Zoso or Presence (I can't recall) and they had boot reviews. I ordered it through the trader there. This was in 1986 or 87 - pre internet!!

Edited August 8, 2009 by georgio

[Walter Five]

Some of my fondest memories are of me going to NYC by myself or with some friends, drinking beer, smoking joints and walking around Greenwich Village. The Village has some of the best record stores I have ever been to. During most of those "trips" I would always come home with at least one or two new LZ bootleg cd.

It was much the same for me. Back... oh, I dunno, as early as '76 maybe, when I scored my first fake ID in Times Square, at age 15, I used to take the bus or train into the MTA Terminal from my Aunt & Uncle's house in Roselle, N.J. There were several bootleg shops in the vicinity of Washington Square that I found by hanging out in the park and talking to other kids. At that point, I wasn't so into Zeppelin bootlegs; I was more interested in Pink Floyd (Floyd's Of London) and the Beatles (Rennaisance Minstrels & Cum Back!); but as I started trading tapes, I began to get exposed to a lot more Zeppelin, and by 1980 or so they were my favorite band... I remember NYC back in the bad old days. I never thought they'd clean up Times Square the way they have. I liked it better back then. I do remember scoring my first bootleg CD at one of the aforementioned Washington Square shops, it was in 1987 or 88..."Travelling Riverside Blues" with photos lifted from Led Zeppelin III, and the silver disc read "The Danish Pageboys." It was a collection of BBC Radio tracks.

[downtime672]

Can you remember when or where you first "discovered" any kind of "live" Led Zeppelin recordings? I became a die-hard LZ fan when I was 13 years old and living in St. Louis, Missouri. Back around then I used to go to record conventions or record shows with the guy that actually turned me on to Led Zeppelin (he was around 16). It was there that I first found and first bought my first LZ bootleg album. To be completely honest I actually cannot remember what that record was. Maybe "Persistence" from San Francisco 1973. Nonetheless, since that first bootleg, I have amassed at least 150+ bootlegs of the "Mighty Led Zeppelin" over the past 25 years. This include albums, tapes, cd's, videos, and dvd's.

After St. Louis, my family moved to Hillsborough, New Jersey (about an hour outside of New York City). I was 17 then. Some of my fondest memories are of me going to NYC by myself or with some friends, drinking beer, smoking joints and walking around Greenwich Village. The Village has some of the best record stores I have ever been to. During most of those "trips" I would always come home with at least one or two new LZ bootleg cd. It was there that I also discovered the once popular ZOSO magazine.

Anyway, that is my little story of how I discovered the power of the live LED ZEPPELIN experience. To this day I am still seeking and searching for all that I can find. Remember, back then there was no Internet or Google or YouTube like there is today.

What are your great stories of how you discovered your own collection of LZ bootlegs?

It was 1987 i was 15Living in new jersey. I was already a zephead but all i had was tsrts live .My buddy just got his license .On a saturday afternoon we went to the elmwood park fleamarket .There was a record stand there run by some indian dude.and i was blown away by the bootlegs he had.Ican't explain it,it was like getting to third base for the first time.zeppelin vinyl bootlegs mindblowing.I got my brain hurts live in japan on vinyl and a cassette of the bbc sessions. funds were low.

[f2walsh]

My first boot came via the great Zep publication entitled "Zoso". It was " Going to California" from 1971 Berkeley and is still one of my favorites!

[tom kid]

My first boot was a double cd set of the fillmore show on the 4/27/69. Since then all of my boots (bar dvd's, of which I have: Earls Court May 24th, Seattle '77 and the 4/8/79) have been downloaded. It is just simply too hard and expensive to get hard copies here in NZ.

[Hand_Of_Omega_91]

I got my first bootleg the other day, Earls Court '75, 24th May DVD. I usually download the CDs but downloading DVDs can be a pain as they are such big files. So I'm going to keep to collecting the DVDs. I downloaded a DVD of the O2 show though as I've yet to see a copy of the O2 DVD at any record fair.

I also got Nirvana at Reading '92 DVD.

[johnlennon696]

i have been wanting to buy a boot CD/DVD for ages, in particular Earls Court, but here in the UK i havn't found anywhere that sells them, that is the main reason i DL the CD's, but i would kill for a copy of the Earls Court gigs on DVD...

Edited August 17, 2009 by johnlennon696

[Hand_Of_Omega_91]

i have been wanting to buy a boot CD/DVD for ages, in particular Earls Court, but here in the UK i havn't found anywhere that sells them, that is the main reason i DL the CD's, but i would kill for a copy of the Earls Court gigs on DVD...

If you have any local record fairs they may sell boots. It's at a record fair I picked up the Earls Court show DVD.

Also, if you live near London check out Camden Market.

[gcczep]

Came across this thread...

My first Led-Zeppelin bootleg was a 2 LP set called "Flying High" on the White Knight label. Color cover, wrong date listed as it was the Fillmore West, San Francisco 4/27/69. I purchased it from a mail order place in North Carolina that sold such things. $15 was a lot then for a kid. 35 years later, I still have it and then some... 

My first CD was "On Tour" which I believe was the first ever release on such a format. Gatefold papercase sleeve, 2 disc set...sourced from the Zurich 1980 soundboard. Again, mail order from a place in Vegas. $75 bones back then. Yes, I still have that too. 

From those...all hell broke loose. Still haven't stopped.

[The Only Way To Fly]

Rolling Stones Records in Chicago, IL 1984! I was 15, my parents drove me and Randy & I bought the destroyer box set. I was in awe of how many titles there were! Before the internet you just took a chance on the sound quality and set lists (often much different on the cover than on the record!) I've bought a couple of copies of the BBC gig just under different packaging : ( 

The next one was In The Light & I thought ---- wow do they all sound this good? Sadly they do not.

 

[Nutrocker]

First one I heard? Berlin 1980, taped from a friend. Circa 1984 or so...at the time I thought Zeppelin sounded like a completely different band on that show from what I was used to hearing. Don't think I was totally wrong, mind you

First one I bought? Actually it was a double LP of The Rolling Stones' first Baton Rouge show from 1975, recorded by none other than Freezer, of course...first Zeppelin bootleg I bought was the Dragonfly For Badgeholders Only LP sets for $70 in 1985.