joeboy Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I've searched through the archives and no topic asked this specific question. So here's the question: What show by itself or as a group of shows together finds the whole group performing at the top of there musical abilities. Remember the key word is peak which assumes a level never reached again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillumpuffer Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 June 25th LA Forum 1972 or a few days earlier in Seattle Centre Coliseum on the 19th June. The band were on fire AND enjoying themselves. I mean 3 1/2 hour + shows and to be honest they would have gone further. The golden age of live Zeppelin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeboy Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Robert's tight pants certainly helped him sing high in LA 1972. I guess it was his peak. In 1977 some of those songs played required split second timing. Jimmy could not have been as spaced out as some suggest. Also Robert's voice in 77 was more powerful than 72. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Dounim Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 All of June 1977 IMHO. Maybe count San Diego out of that, but otherwise, it's an entire month of solid shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Robert's tight pants certainly helped him sing high in LA 1972. I guess it was his peak. In 1977 some of those songs played required split second timing. Jimmy could not have been as spaced out as some suggest. Also Robert's voice in 77 was more powerful than 72. Are you nuts? Compare how he consistently hits the high notes in Rock and Roll, Black Dog and OTHAFA in 1972 as oposed to the lower register he adopted for 1977. Now, Plant's voice in '77 was more powerful than it had been in 1973 and 1975, but pre-73 is the peak of Plant's vocal range. And yes, this topic has been discussed before. Hell, someone just the other day created a thread asking which era of Zeppelin was the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecongo Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Japan 71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Japan 71 That is probably my answer...or the entire year of 1971. No deaths, drugs or health issues messing things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeboy Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 How about May 31st 1973 in Los Angeles? Even with Jimmy's hand all busted up he gave one of his best performances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 How about 1968-1980? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zooma Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 My vote goes to Germany'73. The band was never better. Page and Bonham at their peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeboy Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Zooma I agree with you. The run of shows in Germany are the peak. Specifically Munich on March 17th 1973. Everyone at the top of there game. The power of the drumming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles J. White Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 For a carbon copy of vocals and so on 1971. For overall perfection from an audience point of view the O2 gig, everything just came together so well at the O2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlJones Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I would say regarding all members at once 71' - 73.' However I feel Robert's voice in 77' was the best period. Why? His voice had the most power overall, maybe not the range of 72' but much more powerful than 72' IMO. Just listen to that section of BCW on LTTE when he goes into the verse before they segue into BYAS...Holy shit!!! So, all said and done, 73' as a group, 73' - 75' for Page & Bonham, Jones was always perfect, and 77' for Robert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 How about 1968-1980? Nailed it! 1974 for me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeppMan93 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 April - June 1977 in my opinion. From the bootlegs I've heard they sound good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantpothead Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 For a carbon copy of vocals and so on 1971. For overall perfection from an audience point of view the O2 gig, everything just came together so well at the O2You're joking right? Plants voice was atrocious throughout the whole concert.Early to mid 70s for me, when he could reach the notes, instead of the O2 gig where he just left out the words he couldn't reach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmtomh Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I'd say they peaked in June 1972. Specifically, the June 19, 25 and 27 shows in Seattle and the L.A. area. Some of the August-Sep '71 shows are unbelievable, but by June 1972 they'd really gotten into the marathon concerts; they were starting to introduce material from Houses of the Holy for a more complete setlist; they were incredibly heavy and "tight but loose" - it all came together. March '73 is amazing as well - the playing of Page, Johes and Bonham is on radar-lock the entire month. But Plant's voice already had started to go by then. This is why How the West Was Won is such an incredibly fortunate document to have: amidst all the screw-ups and lost opportunites of the following years (TSRTS not being their best '73 shows; Plant's voice being a mess in '75; the '77 tour's best shows not being professionally recorded), HTWWW captures them at their absolute peak. Aside from Albert Hall 1970, HTWWW is really the only professionally recorded show that hit Zep at the very best time of a tour. I only wish soundboard recordings of June 19, and the unreleased tracks from June 25, would surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ListenToThis Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 June 1972. Jimmy said this was when they really were firing on all cylinders. Anybody wanna disagree with him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeppMan93 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 June 1972. Jimmy said this was when they really were firing on all cylinders. Anybody wanna disagree with him? Yep. April-June 1977. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeboy Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 The group almost returned to the peak in Copenhagen July 23rd, 1979 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magerogue Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 June 1972. Jimmy said this was when they really were firing on all cylinders. Anybody wanna disagree with him? I actualy disagree with him. To me it depends on what type of peak we are talking about. As far as live performances, the 1973 European Tour has the best shows the band ever played. The creative peak of the band was when they were recording Physical Graffiti in 1974, it's really hard to argue with the period were they wrote Kashmir and Wanton Song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirchzep27 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I actualy disagree with him. To me it depends on what type of peak we are talking about. As far as live performances, the 1973 European Tour has the best shows the band ever played. The creative peak of the band was when they were recording Physical Graffiti in 1974, it's really hard to argue with the period were they wrote Kashmir and Wanton Song. I agree. I think it's safe to say that, the song remains the same album/show 73, got most of us wanting to hear more shows. So it's gotta be some sort of peak. When I started collecting bootlegs and finally found some reviews of the shows. I read about blueberry hill, being a must have. Ofcourse it's a great show...but I thought the vocals sounded shrill on that tape and I always preferred the 73, 75 and even 80 shows, for the variety of songs. I would rather hear the songs with the sloppy moments, where they found they're collective creative soul as a band and as artists. Also agree with graffiti being some kind of creative/studio peak. The power and the flashes of creativity on the first album and tour...came full circle with the making of this album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiptop22 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 25th May 1975... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles J. White Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 You're joking right? Plants voice was atrocious throughout the whole concert.Early to mid 70s for me, when he could reach the notes, instead of the O2 gig where he just left out the words he couldn't reach. The O2 gig for me was such a special moment, it sounded so warm, and so comforting for me, I also loved Jimmy's tone which I thought had the best tone of any gig he has ever played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick2632 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 I would say they peaked in 72' when they just kept playing very long concerts featuring so much work, pulling off 3 or 4 encores completely flawless (hell they finished 6/19/72 Seattle with a second play of Dancing Days!) then 73' pretty much had the same setlists with a change of 4 different encores which were great shows but tough to compare with before.. On another note Celebration Day (the concert) would've been crazy if Plant sounded like he did back then lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.