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What show or live song are you listening to now?


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On 3/17/2020 at 5:30 PM, ZepHead315 said:

 

After all these years and hours and hours of listening it still amazes me that they played Kashmir and No Quarter (and a 1975 NQ to boot!) back to back.  What an incredible experience that must have been - and then followed that up with Trampled Underfoot.  Just incredible.  Still can't believe I was this close to seeing them at MSG that year then my parents brought the hammer down and decided I was too young at 15 to go to "The City" with my older brother and his friends for a rock concert.  So I  had  to  two more years to see them.  I wonder what my impressions of 1977 would have been if I had seen them in 1975.

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March 19, 1975 - Vancouver -- A Top 5 1975 show that kicks off one of the very best three show stretches of their career.  Yes, I'd put March 19, 20 & 21 of 1975 right up there with March 21, 22 & 24 of 1973, May 31, June 2 & 3 of 1973 and June 21, 22 & 23 of 1977.  You can probably throw July 20, 21 & 23 of 1973 in there as well.  I realize I'm probably missing a few such runs pre-'73, but you know what I mean.

Back to this show...first off, the sound quality is spectacular, one of the best sounding SBDs -- Jones' bass is up in the mix but not overloaded at all, Bonham's cymbals aren't crunched and distorted like they are on the February SBDs and Page's guitar is nice and lively.  Performance-wise, Plant sounds more confident than he has all tour and the instrumental machinery is a three-headed monster again, as opposed to just Bonham and Jones.

More specific highlights:

-   "Over The Hills And Far Away": love the beautiful little improv Page adds to the outro, makes an already great version really unique

-   "In My Time Of Dying": great version, this time made unique by Plant: "Oh Georgina!  Lick your pussy, yes, yes, yes"

-   "The Rain Song": my personal pick for all-time best version -- actually brought me to tears today, just stunning

-   "No Quarter": every March '75 NQ is awesome, but this one especially so, plus Page's theremin work on Jones' transition from electric to grand piano stands above that of other versions

-   "Black Dog": I wouldn't be so foolish as to vehemently defend '75 versions of "Black Dog," but this is one of the better ones

 

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March 20, 1975 - Vancouver -- Perhaps not quite as spotless top-to-bottom as the previous night, this is nonetheless another Top 5 1975 show IMO.  Features another great NQ from March '75, which seems to get lost in the shuffle with the two shows it's sandwiched between, but this version can certainly hold its own with the revered 3/19 & 3/21 versions.  Page is very fluent on Dazed this night, more than the night before, and at 38 and a half minutes, this version is the fifth-longest of all time.

 

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March 21, 1975 - Seattle -- As a '75 nut, this is the 3h 42m moment I wait all year for!  It was a nice (still right around freezing), sunny day here in the Toronto area today, so I listened up until "Kashmir" on my Muskoka/Adirondack chair in the backyard before moving inside.  It was such a nice reprieve from this quarantine we're all on to get some sun while listening to my favourite show.  Flipping between closing my eyes and looking at the evergreens, I was able to imagine myself being in Seattle 45 years ago today.

As for the show itself, no, it's not perfect.  Yes, Page is better in Philadelphia* and Long Beach, but he is far from bad here.  In fact, in my humble drummer, non-guitarist opinion, I think he's quite good.  More importantly, he's only one quarter of the equation anyway.  This is probably Plant's best show of '75, and one of Jones' best shows of their career.  Bonham is also in one of his "over the top" moods, which is always a plus.

I think the main reason I love this show is, especially with the soundboard/matrix now available, it's the most seamlessly enjoyable listening experience -- for me.  I've always found that it has a great vibe to it, which Plant even mentions after "Trampled Under Foot."  It has that "it" factor, where you can tell something magical is in the air and it's going to be a special one.  It's very energetic all the way through, but also not rushed at all -- you can hear Bonham say to Plant "take your time, I'm in no hurry" before Plant introduces "Moby Dick."  Ultimately, it's just four guys peaking at the right time, pulling out all the stops, playing balls-to-the-wall on the last night in one of their favourite towns.

* = It is possible, though perhaps unlikely, that when the Philadelphia soundboard finally surfaces it will expose a small handful of flaws we didn't expect to be there, as the soundboard of this show did.  I feel a bit more confident in our current assessment of Long Beach after the third source surfaced a few years ago.

 

Edited by Bonzo_fan
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21 hours ago, ZepHead315 said:

Happy 50th Anniversary! :) 

 

I was just listening to this again and I was reminded that this is one of my favorite versions ever of What Is and What Should Never Be.  The FM broadcast of this show is also noteworthy because not only is Plant at his peak of power and range, but he is very much up in the mix.  If anyone ever wants to hear Plant at his best, play them this.  Also of note in this show- how great the organ sounds in SIBLY.

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March 22, 1973 - Essen -- I think this might actually be my favourite Europe '73 show.  "Dazed And Confused" and "Whole Lotta Love" are just epic, and the rest are pretty great too.  Probably the funniest Plant introduction of "Dancing Days" that he'd never get away with these days, too: "This is a song about the innocent love of little school girls, and my perversion toward them...this is called 'Dancing Days.'  Oh yeah, and everybody else's perversion -- we love little school girls...14, 15." *applause*

 

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On 3/19/2020 at 11:41 AM, John M said:

Still can't believe I was this close to seeing them at MSG that year then my parents brought the hammer down and decided I was too young at 15 to go to "The City" with my older brother and his friends for a rock concert.  So I  had  to  two more years to see them.  I wonder what my impressions of 1977 would have been if I had seen them in 1975.

Sorry, I am bursting with curiosity: Did your older brother managed to see them in 1977 as well? If so, what are his impressions of 1977 compared to the MSG show of 1975.

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4 hours ago, Autumn Moon said:

Did your older brother manage to see them in 1977 as well? If so, what are his impressions of 1977 compared to the MSG show of 1975.

He went with me in 1977.  He was more of a casual fan, whereas I was really into Zep.  He loved the 75 show but really did not make any comparison to the 77 show.  He was just blown away by the sheer power and spectacle of 77 like everyone else was.  To us, it was Zeppelin.  The sound was so overwhelming we weren't really thinking about how well Jimmy played.    It was all so much to take in - the lights, the laser beams, the overwhelming sound, the DRUMS, the dragon suit, Plant going over the top, the crowd losing its mind and going bonkers.  All we could think after that show was: that was the greatest thing we ever saw.  There were no comparisons made to 1975.  And  back in 1977, 1975 seemed like ages ago.  We were young and two years was a long time.

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March 25, 1975 - Los Angeles -- Starts a little slow, but really picks up on the back half.  A very interesting NQ with Jones teasing basically every piano groove from the past month before settling on one and then switching back to the electric halfway through the jam as he does on 6/10/77.  Fourth-longest Dazed, clocking in at 39:30, and a very good Stairway solo.

Now for a day off before the always bitter (because it's the last one)-sweet (because I love it) finale that is 3/27/75.  Well, not entirely a day off -- Houses Of The Holy for its 47th birthday and the Stones' Marquee '71 show

 

Edited by Bonzo_fan
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March 27, 1975 - Los Angeles -- I've always had a soft spot for this show.  Not perfect by any means, but it has a cool vibe to it.  You can tell that they're trying to squeeze the last drop out of every song since it's the last night of the tour.  Longest-ever versions of OTHAFA, IMTOD, Black Dog, and of course Dazed (45 minutes).  Features perhaps my favourite NQ.

 

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Fillmore East 31 Jan 69 it struck me as they bid the audience goodnight after HMMT then came back for You Shook Me as an encore. It was their first time in New York which was a big deal. Robert's first time in America; he talked about coming to NY during the last Tea Party show. You Shook Me was an important number for showcasing the new album. They had to be pretty confident they'd be called back to leave it out of the main set!

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Fillmore West 24 Apr 69. It's agreed - is it not - that the available recording must be the second set of the gig? All the "missing" tracks would logically make up the first set of a gig from this era: Train, Quit, Dazed, Shook, HMMT.

Absolutely unique As Long As I Have You. Great improvisation by Robert during JPJ's snafu. BTW as soon as Robert sings "Squeeze my lemon...." Killing Floor becomes Lemon Song for me. Even if they didn't know it at the time; even if Robert introduced the song as Killing Floor. That's what I call it in my setlists anyway FWIW.

Edited by Zep Hed
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Toronto 18 Aug 69 (evening show). I wonder if any setlist of the medley includes Along Came Jones (the Coasters hit from the 50s). They seemed to have some fun with it. Perhaps a reference to Canadian mounties. I don't think they intended it as referring to JPJ necessarily. Can't imagine they ever alluded to this tune in any other show!

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