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Pontiac Silverdome 1977


jpenzabene

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It makes me wonder about his instructions to his heirs, attorneys, etc. after he's gone. I'm sure he has a plan for the continued release of these things. In spite of being distracted occasionally, Jimmy gives such a strong impression of looking at the Led Zeppelin legacy in the longest of terms...and being dedicated to its continuation. He never hesitates to say he was in the greatest band ever, but I suspect that he thinks of it in even bigger terms...kind of as a religious movement, in a way. There's precedent for this kind of thing, too - I'm in no way an expert on this, but Richard Wagner's operas became the focus of a kind of cultural/religious movement among large numbers of people in Europe, especially in Germany...and it was like a life changing pilgrimage for people to attend these operas at Bayreuth, which was where Wagner presented them. I've always thought that the Led Zeppelin phenomenon was comparable in many ways...and as such, it's a hugely important thing to document...and document in the greatest detail.

Edited by mielazul
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I think it's a combination of both (Jason and Jimmy)...As to who has more influenece on Bootlegs being surfaced, I dunno.

I also tend to lean toward this theory. It's obvious that both Jason and Jimmy are collectors. Fingers have also been pointed towards SHOWCO employees over the years as well, though I've no idea how much substance those particular claims have.

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It makes me wonder about his instructions to his heirs, attorneys, etc. after he's gone. I'm sure he has a plan for the continued release of these things. In spite of being distracted occasionally, Jimmy gives such a strong impression of looking at the Led Zeppelin legacy in the longest of terms...and being dedicated to its continuation. He never hesitates to say he was in the greatest band ever, but I suspect that he thinks of it in even bigger terms...kind of as a religious movement, in a way. There's precedent for this kind of thing, too - I'm in no way an expert on this, but Richard Wagner's operas became the focus of a kind of cultural/religious movement among large numbers of people in Europe, especially in Germany...and it was like a life changing pilgrimage for people to attend these operas at Bayreuth, which was where Wagner presented them. I've always thought that the Led Zeppelin phenomenon was comparable in many ways...and as such, it's a hugely important thing to document...and document in the greatest detail.

We can count ourselves lucky in a way that there is no comparable single outlet of unreleased material from Zeppelin as there is with, say, Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes or The Beatles' Get Back sessions...I reckon a lot of our heads would explode trying to analyse such a massive treasure trove of material...

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I bought a studio outtakes cd from a record convention in the 90s, had no idea what it was and was surprised that it was actual high quality studio tapes. the one with the instrumental no quarter, blues medley circa zeppelin 3 and an alternate take of all my love, its from three different time periods and studios, has to be from the led zeppelin camp somewhere. This was at a time where most of the live shows on cd were of poor quality.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Someone just upped this at 10 Pennies. Listening now at full throttle and it delivers! Yes, the recording is a bit distant, but oh, the atmosphere! The energy of the crowd is clearly driving the boys to up their game. Thanks to everyone here for pointing me to this one.

PS Looking forward to Sue's review.

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Someone just upped this at 10 Pennies. Listening now at full throttle and it delivers! Yes, the recording is a bit distant, but oh, the atmosphere! The energy of the crowd is clearly driving the boys to up their game. Thanks to everyone here for pointing me to this one.

PS Looking forward to Sue's review.

That version upped at ten pennies is the best version of the Pontiac show in circulation...if you don't have it, get it. Ditto for the version of the Atlanta '77 show also put up over there today.

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Steve,

Ive heard from somelocal zep heads the band stayed at the Troy Hilton for this show.

Yeah they did stay at The Hilton ... And I can tell you yes they were on fire .. I read once where JPJ said it was the best show of the tour ... Yeah The Cavernous acoustics made it horrible in the distance but I was up close and personal about 100 feet from the stage with binoculars ...
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"a friend of mine said he was there and they did stairway 3 times for an oncore. is he full of shit? He also said they were booed off stage and came back out. people were leaving. the band was all phucked up and said they would never return to detroit..," wrote Mattrickelmann.

Yes, your 'friend' is full of shit -- "Stairway to Heaven" was played only once that night near the end of the show. The place was going nuts ... the management turned the house lights on to try and stop the music, but this only got the crowd more stirred-up ... then Zeppelin returned and performed "Rock & Roll," with the house lights still up ... I'm not kidding, I thought the roof was going to lift off the place -- as I recall, then the management turned down the lights while the band finished with "Trampled Underfoot." There were no pronouncements about never returning to Detroit nor anything of the sort.

In fact in late 1980 tickets were being sold (via mail order ...?) for a return Zeppelin engagement to Pontiac; of course this was thwarted by Bonham's death -- kids who hadn't yet seen them were very disappointed.

I don't know if I've ever posted here before, although I've been a site member for some time ... but this kind of bullshit story needs to be corrected.

Happy New Year to ALL!

jp

I was at that show ... And anyone that was would know that they were WWAAAYYY late getting onstage and they went crazy when Plant came running out and first began to sing the opening lines of You Shook Me ... and yes they finished with Trampled ....
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The 1977 Mid-Tour Break

On April 30, 1977 Led Zeppelin set a single-act world record when they performed for approximately 77,229 at the Pontiac Silverdome. This was the last date of the first leg of their 1977 North American tour. It's known they arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, MI the day of the concert and took a chartered bus to the Silverdome, having declined the venue's offer to transport them directly to the site using helicopters. They arrived at the venue at 9:10pm and the concert ran 9:30pm - 1am, to include a second three minute encore.

The May 2nd 1977 'Detroit News' reported they were immediately flown toward their two-week break, however I have obtained a photograph which proves they remained in the local area for at least several hours following the concert. I am attempting to secure the release of all additional photographs taken by the photographer after their record-breaking concert.

1977TroyHiltonafterconcert.jpg

Robert Plant at the Troy Hilton in Troy, Michigan on May 1st 1977

Courtesy Steve A. Jones Archive

"This is one of my favorite pics that I took at the Troy Hilton after the Led Zep show at the Silverdome back in '77. Got to hang out with Page & Plant that late evening. Bonham was totally messed up, resting his head on the bar downstairs, drunk as hell. What a memory; so cool!" - Photographer

Hey how can I see this picture ?? What did it do Disappear ???
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Indeed, and the audience tape proves this- STH was only played once (it was only ever played once) and the audience is going fuckin' bananas before the band even starts playing. Plant has to do a lot of crowd control on the night, and does an admirable job considering he's dealing with 70000+ looney Zeppelin fans, and incredibly, the band doesn't sound the least bit distracted by the crowd (unlike in Louisville five days before).

It's almost like a cliche now, but where's the fucking VIDEO???!!!

Where is the audience tape ???
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But collectors would sell to each other, knowing they won't resell to a bootlegger.

Some hoarders won't sell to bootleggers. EVSD would NEVER pay enough to unearth the good stuff like Pontiac 77. They only get what is cheap enough to make them a profit.

I could care less where and how they get em out to the masses ( ME ) I just wanna hear the music MAN .... :) PEACE LOVE LED ZEPPELIN
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I listen to the audience recording once a year. What's interesting is that it's not the music that jogs my memories, but the firecrackers and M-80s during the show. There were bombs going off in that place, and I especially remember the screaming bottle rocket during Stairway. Like LTTE, the best part of this show is probably the opener because of the audience going absolutely insane. I'm proud to say the spirit of the crowd comes thru this terrible recording, as Robert pleads several times for people to maintain up front. I Also like Robert's spirited ending to NFBM....he nails it. Although it doesn't come thru on the recording, the acoustic set had a special vibe. Once it began, most of the floor crowd suddenly sat down indian-style....like they were sitting around a campfire with Led Zeppelin. A couple minutes earlier, you would have sworn that was impossible.

It was always our theory that the distant audience recording came from one of the private suites above the third level. It sounded distant because it was.

So do you remember The Frisbee Battles prior to the beginning of the show ?? And would you Please Kind Sir send me a copy of your recording ....
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A few reasons, actually. I've liked this show alot for a long while now, even before I ever heard it. At first, it was the reputation that the show carried that interested me. The fact that it had an attendance record of 76,229 people, was the finale of the first leg of their "big comeback" tour, and it is legendary (sorry about using EVSD promotion words) for being professionally filmed, and from what I read it was a pretty decent performance, all picqued (is that how you spell it?) my curiosity. I couldn't find any way to listen to it, until someone uploaded it to YouTube, and I fell in love with it almost instantly. Weirdly enough, I like the way the audience source sounds, despite being somewhat distant. The performance is great to me. TSRTS sounds pretty strong, I love the brief 'stop and start' break in The Rover intro, and Sick Again is pretty good too. NBFBM is also very strong. IMToD and SIBLY are full of feeling from Plant. Although to be honest, the No Quarter from this show isn't exactly one of my favourites, the jam is a little subpar compared to other versions from this tour. TYG is as excellent if not better than either of the Cleveland versions. The acoustic set is very good, aside from the barrage of firecrackers during GtC.

White Summer is short but sweet as it leads into an extremely heavy and powerful Kashmir. This particular Over the Top is one of my favourites, it's a shame that it's cut short. The Noise Solo should've been a little longer, as it leads into the pinnacle of the entire show, my very favourite version of Achilles' Last Stand ever! Everyone is firing off on all cylinders, every part is perfect, and the tape makes it sound just so heavy! I love how softly Jimmy plays the opening medley, especially compared to the way it was played through most of the May performances. It really belies how strong the rest of the song is going to be.

Stairway is good, though I feel the solo could've been a minute longer. The encores are as decent as usual, though they could've done another number since it was the end of the first leg. All in all a great performance that I (like many others) can't wait to see someday.

Oh WOW I have always remembered How Spot on Achilles was ... And have always maintaind that seeing Zeppelin was better than losing My Virginity ... HA HA
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Is there some kind of commando team that can be put together? I'm sure there are some hardcore Zeppelin fans with elite military experience. We can find this guy with the Pontiac DVD, and do an "extraction."

Sounds Like a Plan Sign me up ... I dont care about the legalities of it all ....

:ph34r:

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Where is the audience tape ???

Someone just upped this at 10 Pennies. Listening now at full throttle and it delivers! Yes, the recording is a bit distant, but oh, the atmosphere! The energy of the crowd is clearly driving the boys to up their game. Thanks to everyone here for pointing me to this one.

That version upped at ten pennies is the best version of the Pontiac show in circulation...if you don't have it, get it. Ditto for the version of the Atlanta '77 show also put up over there today.

In other words, the audience tape is out there, jpenzabene...if you can't get the torrent over at 'ten pennies' shoot me a PM.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am wondering if there is any recordings out there of the show they did at the Silverdome ?????

@jpenzabene, in the timeline part of this website there is an article about filming the show. it mentions a man named Newsome and his firm Mobile Tape who did a KISS show at COBO. the article isn't full and i dont no what paper its from but it might lead us to something. rock and roll on.
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^^^

The square highlighted in the last pic is just a mirror, used for reflecting spotlights. Genesis famously used this lighting effect on their 1978 tour (actually nicknamed the "Mirrors" tour by fans).

Methinks those are all just really good photos, not pro shot screenshots, Geez. The photos showing the cameramen in particular have been discussed ad naseum over the years, both here and over at the Royal Orleans site.

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As Nutrocker said, these photos from Pontiac 77 have been out there and discussed for years. In fact, the top one has been used numerous times in magazines...most famously as the cover for Creem magazine's February 1979 issue. That's when I first realized that there was footage shot of the 1977 tour and began fantasizing that a 1977 tour film might be forthcoming.

By the way, that Feb.'79 is an absolute must-have...and not just for the cover photo. For it contains Susan Whitall's fantastic "Led Zeppelin: A Psycho-sexual History" article, one of the best contemporaneous articles on Led Zeppelin printed in the 70s. Certainly better than anything Rolling Stone belched out.

A MUST-READ!

Regarding mirrors on stage, the Rolling Stones in 1972 was the first time I saw mirrors used to reflect stage lights in concert. Led Zeppelin borrowed this effect on their 1973 US tour.

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