Why were all three of the MSG nights filmed?

[ledzepfilm]

Yes.

[mickey g]

True...but then 1968 was the Stone Age as far as filming rock concerts was concerned. By 1973, the technology and experience light years ahead of 1968. Given that, TSRTS SHOULD have been filmed much better than it was.

I was about to bring up "Farewell" too. For me, the thing is when Clapton or Page are soloing, why is the camera anywhere else but the fretboard ? Maybe it's just me being a frustrated guitar player myself, but, who the hell wants to see the rhythm section keeping time, or a close up of the face, or the fucking crowd for that matter, when Page or Clapton are ripping thru an amazing solo ?

[Bonzoleum]

Here's a really informative page re: the NY 1973 Madison Square Garden shows.

http://www.thegardentapes.co.uk/tgt6.html

It was neat to see the stage tear down on the video box set. I thought there'd be a lot more footage of stuff like that when the DVDs came out..

It'd be great to have a reel of all the non-stage shots/clips/segments that were filmed (in any order, sound or no sound).

[ledzepfilm]

There are some 1973 offtstage footage floating around in the various official releases, obviously the airplane and limo footage at the beginning of TSRTS, some neat offstage clips in the Traveling Riverside Blues promo, a reel of footage in the limo hanger at the Garden on the Madison Square Garden menu on the Led Zeppelin DVD, and some cool footage at the Drake Hotel hidden within the menus of TSRTS.

[boogie woogie]

The crew did a piss-poor job of filming those shows, they clearly had no experience in shooting rock concerts. To film 3 whole shows, and still not have enough footage to make 1 show is ridiculous. Plus the filming itself was pretty bad, from a cinematography standpoint. Far too many shots of Jimmy playing where they are only shooting him from the shoulders up, without showing him actually playing guitar. In a 30 minute guitar extravaganza like Dazed & Confused, think of how little of Jimmy's fretwork is actually shown. It's a mess of camera work and editing.

Has anyone seen Jimi Hendrix Rainbow Bridge?

This is not an apples to apples comparison to how TSRTS was botched but I think the Jimi Hendrix Rainbow Bridge is another example of what I found to be disappointing 70s music footage that I stumbled on recently. I watched the film thinking it was a Jimi Hendrix concert film and the footage that is used is incredible, but I later learned it was not a concert film and there are many, many offstage shots. Also, the sound quality is considered substandard because of the outdoor elements. I do like some of the offstage footage, but this is Jimi Hendrix in the 1970s lets get the entire concert footage availabe. So, i have some of the same frustrations with Rainbow Bridge that I have with TSRTS. Now knowing that Rainbow Bridge is not a concert film to me it is still another example of where the offstage shots seem awkward, kind of random and inconsistent .

But I do agree with one of the earlier posts by snapper... TSRTS (for me) easily contains the most iconic moments ever captured on film of Zeppelin (Shepperton edits not included).

Also, I remember when the remastered cd of TSRTS was released in the liner notes Cameron Crowe says "legalities prevented any re-editing of the film itself."

I sincerely hope there will be further audio/video chapters to TSRTS story. Unfortunately, I do not think it will be anytime soon.

[ledzepfilm]

I do have a video project that I made of all of the Madison Square Garden footage synched to the correct audio from the correct night, in the order of the nights. A couple of people here have seen it. Fortunately there are some splitscreens here and there. Surprised me.