Best '73 North American Tour Show?

[Walter]

I am currently listening to the Bonzo's Birthday Party 5/31/73 show and I am wondering, what's the consensus best PERFORMANCE of the '73 N.A. Tour show? I have always loved the SF '73 show, plus many others, but this may be the best performance show of that tour, IMO.

[Sue Dounim]

I always find myself coming back to Seattle 1973/07/17, but I'd also recommend 1973/05/14

[Strider]

Pretty much all the west coast dates are excellent on this tour...from LA to San Francisco to Seattle on the second leg...and all (well, except for parts of 6.3.73) in good sound-quality.

But since we're talking about PERFORMANCE, I have to give a shout-out to two sleepers from this tour that I think rank among the most exciting shows of 1973: Boston on July 20 and Providence, RI on July 21. The band practically has the crowd frothing at the mouth.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Strider

[schmoe]

I prefer the second leg of the tour, especially for Page's playing, so I will confine my comments to that.

I couldn't agree more with the comment above on Providence; too bad the tape has some large cuts. Pittsburgh is right up there as well and you can construct a complete show from different sources. Milwaukee has a distorted recording with Plant's voice sounding awful, but Page is on fine form and NQ and Dazed are both awesome although HB and WLL are missing. St. Paul has a distant recording, but they deliver a highly improvised show with some spontaneous jams during during Dazed and WLL that do not appear on other nights.

Seattle gets a lot of votes and while I love the last hour, they sound painfully sluggish to my ears for the first half of the show. For some reason the first Detroit show never did much for me - maybe I never gave it a chance.

Edited June 1, 2014 by schmoe

[thelema]

Providence, RI - even Plant acknowledges that in the middle of the show as he is apologizing to the audience for shouting at them.

[Walter]

I have heard it is a great show (Providence) but have never listened to it before....decent recording???

Thanks for all the input so far!

[ledsox]

Providence is a good audience recording. Not great but plenty listenable.

Many great shows of course from 73.

The excitement of 3 days after is hard to beat. 6-3-73 LA!

Salt Lake City 5-26-73 is one I haven't listened to much but I was very impress with the listen the other day. A nice board tape as well, shame it cuts off a bit early. Lots of Bonzo in the mix. Jimmy is a bit under mixed but the playing is stellar. Dazed and Since... shine in this show.

[Walter]

Yes, I recently obtained a copy of Salt Lake City. Not bad, I prefer Mobile, NO, and Dallas a bit more from May's shows. Too bad the 6/3 LA show has all of those tape issues! Another great Forum show/vibe!

I will definitely be on the look out for Providence though!

[And You Know How It Is?]

41 Years Gone today, my favorite show: Kezar Stadium.

[Walter]

^ My first '73 tour show (outside of TSRTS) and still love it! Great vibe show and performance too! I bought it back in the 80's on the album 'Persistence'.

[tmtomh]

I would say the June 3 "three days after" show in Inglewood is the best performance.

However, I haven't listened to Providence June 21, and I a lot of really knowledgeable Zep bootleg folks hold that show in very high regard.

Also, the available soundboard fragment from Detroit July 13 kills, and of course Kezar June 2 is a great show as well. Mobile Alabama May 13 is a very tight show too.

All in all pretty amazing, especially when you consider they did that N American tour just a month after absolutely killing it in Europe.

[ricklin]

Madison Square Garden's THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME was the BEST concert EVER.

[ZepFanatic]

For me, the best two shows of this tour are the Kezar Stadium show from 6/2/73 and the Mobile, AL show from 5/13/73...both are just stunning.

[Badgeholder Still]

Longtime fan of Providence and Pittsburgh. Detroit 7/12/73 shouldn't be underestimated. Nice recording too.