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Professionally filmed Led Zeppelin concerts


Geezer

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You're going down a rabbit-hole, Taro.

It's really very simple...the reason for the difference in visual quality between the 1973 MSG concerts filmed for TSRTS and the video feeds of 1975 Earl's Court and 1979 Knebworth, is the simple fact that film is always going to look better than videotape. Especially back in the 70s when videotape was primitive.

The 1973 MSG concerts were filmed using 35mm panoramic cameras. Of course it's going to look better than a videotape feed(75 Earl's Court, 77 Seattle, 79 Knebworth) from a clunky video camera.

End of discussion.

Ok, but they should've filmed the remaining tours, too. They had a plethora of dough and could easily acquire a 35mm film and cameras.

Edited by Taro
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Always laugh at that clip of Cole slamming shut the briefcase full of cash, "no,no,no"..haha. I don't think there's more film of that gig, but, it sure would be fantastic if there was

I think they did film the rest of it, just didn't use the remaining part of the song because it wasn't a very good performance.

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if pro shot footage existed of at least one of the Landover gigs as well as Houston, where the fuck is it? You tryin' to tell me that there is supposed to be professionally shot footage of at least three or four 1977 shows with only one -Seattle- ever emerging? Sorry, I don't and never have bought into that. I could believe Pontiac exists,

This thread is very interesting and its fun to learn and search for footage no doubt, but I agree completely with this.

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It was expensive, and unavailable at the time before the MSG concerts. And after MSG they converted to video.

That's exactly what I'm wondering about -- why did they convert to a videotape? 35mm film is much, much better.

Edited by Taro
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That's exactly what I'm wondering about -- why did they convert to a videotape? 35mm film is much, much better.

Oh what the hell...it's halftime, so I'll give it a whirl.

The RAH 1970 and MSG 73 concerts were shot on film using movie cameras because the band knew going in that they WANTED to film the shows with the idea of having the footage edited into a film to either air on TV(RAH) or screen at movie theatres(MSG). So a director and film crew were hired and so forth, and the concerts were filmed and(THIS is most important) RECORDED ON MULTITRACK.

Due to one thing or another, but mostly the whirlwind pace and schedule the band was on from 1968-71, the RAH project never came to fruition and the footage shelved until finally being resurrected for the 2003 DVD.

As we all know, the 73 MSG footage became the movie "The Song Remains the Same", released to theatres in 1976 and soon to haunt the midnight show circuit for decades.

But all the footage you see of 75 Earl's Court, 77 Seattle(and there should be 77 Pontiac out there somewhere), and 79 Knebworth is a totally different situation.

All of these concerts were never approached with the idea that there would be footage filmed for release at a later date. The only reason there is video of these shows is that the band decided to give fans in the nosebleeds a chance to see closeups in the larger venues. Close-circuit tv for boxing and music events was a growing trend in the 70s. Of course, the technology was primitive compared to today's jumbotron video screens used by U2 and the Stones.

Video screens were first used by Zeppelin for their 75 Earl's Court concerts, which is a huge barn-like venue with horrible sightlines. Despite what you might hear, there were no video screens used for the 75 US tour. Yes, certain venues like the Houston Summit and the Largo Center in Maryland had in-house video systems in place, but it was up to each band's discretion on whether to use them or not.

The Who did. Led Zeppelin did not.

On the 1977 US tour, Zeppelin scheduled several shows in the giant enormo-domes dotting the landscape...Pontiac Silverdome, Seattle Kingdome, New Orleans Superdome. Obviously realizing that the band would appear as ants to most of the 70,000 + in attendance, for these shows the band set up a video screen for images to appear using the video feed.

But that was it...these images were only for the benefit of the concert crowd only. There was no thought of any public release of this footage. Whether the band hired their own video camera operators or they just used the Stadium's own in-house crew, I don't know...that's something someone connected with the band or Showco will have to answer.

But I'm almost positive that for these shows, there wasn't a "director" hired in the usual sense like there was for 73 MSG. There were probably 2, maybe 3 camera operators and someone in a skybox or at the soundboard in charge of deciding which camera's image to show on the video screen. Since the screens were for the fans in the back, that's why the majority of footage from Earl's Court, Seattle and Knebworth are of close-ups of a single band member and little footage of full band stage shots and audience shots.

Just like the rumours of 75 Houston, there have been rumours of 77 Houston and 77 Largo...all of which have been authoritatively shot down. Those venues were not superdome-type arenas, they were like MSG or the LA Forum...basketball/hockey arenas, where the band DID NOT employ video screens. The only other concert from 77, aside from Seattle, that video should exist is Detroit, the Pontiac Silverdome, where there is clear photographic evidence.

The only discrepancy between the footage from the 77 tour and 75 Earl's Court and 79 Knebworth is that the British shows were multitracked and the US concerts(Detroit and Seattle) were not.

Is it clear to you now?

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Also to add for Knebworth.... to Strider's post, if Taro ever asks....

Knebworth was proshot for 2 purposes: Official release and of course for the fans in the back. There was about 18 (I think) cameras used and each were recorded to their own tape. So at some point, Jimmy got the indivisual camera angles back for official release. This is why they wore the same outfits each night (minus Jimmy, who wore 2 different similar blue shirts, one has 2 buttons (4th) and one has 3 buttons (11th).) This is why you see alternate angles from the 2 concerts that are not on bootleg.

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Also to add for Knebworth.... to Strider's post, if Taro ever asks....

Knebworth was proshot for 2 purposes: Official release and of course for the fans in the back. There was about 18 (I think) cameras used and each were recorded to their own tape. So at some point, Jimmy got the indivisual camera angles back for official release. This is why they wore the same outfits each night (minus Jimmy, who wore 2 different similar blue shirts, one has 2 buttons (4th) and one has 3 buttons (11th).) This is why you see alternate angles from the 2 concerts that are not on bootleg.

If those two picturesque concerts were so well organized, why didn't Pagey release them on a seperate DVD? And I've heard that Page had access to only the angles that were used on the big screen.

Edited by Taro
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No, if you look at the DVD and the proshot boots of the show, you can notice that there are angles not shown on both of them. Do you expect me to know? I wish he made a different edit of both concerts and release them, but remember, this is Led Zeppelin, not the Grateful Dead (the Dead is known for their official bootlegs)

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Oh what the hell...it's halftime, so I'll give it a whirl.

The RAH 1970 and MSG 73 concerts were shot on film using movie cameras because the band knew going in that they WANTED to film the shows with the idea of having the footage edited into a film to either air on TV(RAH) or screen at movie theatres(MSG). So a director and film crew were hired and so forth, and the concerts were filmed and(THIS is most important) RECORDED ON MULTITRACK.

Due to one thing or another, but mostly the whirlwind pace and schedule the band was on from 1968-71, the RAH project never came to fruition and the footage shelved until finally being resurrected for the 2003 DVD.

As we all know, the 73 MSG footage became the movie "The Song Remains the Same", released to theatres in 1976 and soon to haunt the midnight show circuit for decades.

But all the footage you see of 75 Earl's Court, 77 Seattle(and there should be 77 Pontiac out there somewhere), and 79 Knebworth is a totally different situation.

All of these concerts were never approached with the idea that there would be footage filmed for release at a later date. The only reason there is video of these shows is that the band decided to give fans in the nosebleeds a chance to see closeups in the larger venues. Close-circuit tv for boxing and music events was a growing trend in the 70s. Of course, the technology was primitive compared to today's jumbotron video screens used by U2 and the Stones.

Video screens were first used by Zeppelin for their 75 Earl's Court concerts, which is a huge barn-like venue with horrible sightlines. Despite what you might hear, there were no video screens used for the 75 US tour. Yes, certain venues like the Houston Summit and the Largo Center in Maryland had in-house video systems in place, but it was up to each band's discretion on whether to use them or not.

The Who did. Led Zeppelin did not.

On the 1977 US tour, Zeppelin scheduled several shows in the giant enormo-domes dotting the landscape...Pontiac Silverdome, Seattle Kingdome, New Orleans Superdome. Obviously realizing that the band would appear as ants to most of the 70,000 + in attendance, for these shows the band set up a video screen for images to appear using the video feed.

But that was it...these images were only for the benefit of the concert crowd only. There was no thought of any public release of this footage. Whether the band hired their own video camera operators or they just used the Stadium's own in-house crew, I don't know...that's something someone connected with the band or Showco will have to answer.

But I'm almost positive that for these shows, there wasn't a "director" hired in the usual sense like there was for 73 MSG. There were probably 2, maybe 3 camera operators and someone in a skybox or at the soundboard in charge of deciding which camera's image to show on the video screen. Since the screens were for the fans in the back, that's why the majority of footage from Earl's Court, Seattle and Knebworth are of close-ups of a single band member and little footage of full band stage shots and audience shots.

Just like the rumours of 75 Houston, there have been rumours of 77 Houston and 77 Largo...all of which have been authoritatively shot down. Those venues were not superdome-type arenas, they were like MSG or the LA Forum...basketball/hockey arenas, where the band DID NOT employ video screens. The only other concert from 77, aside from Seattle, that video should exist is Detroit, the Pontiac Silverdome, where there is clear photographic evidence.

The only discrepancy between the footage from the 77 tour and 75 Earl's Court and 79 Knebworth is that the British shows were multitracked and the US concerts(Detroit and Seattle) were not.

Is it clear to you now?

Thanks God for Half-time. lol Learned alot from this post!

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