renounce Posted June 28, 2014 Posted June 28, 2014 (edited) I'd like to share a bit of love for a show I'd overlooked for a long time but started listening to a lot recently; 24.7.79. Apologies if this is covering old ground, but am enjoying this show so much I couldn't not offer a few thoughts here, and there may well be a few of you out there who haven't come to this one yet. First up, this show benefits from from an excellent AUD recording which has to be in the top 5 Zeppelin AUDs in terms of sound quality. As with all the best AUDs, crank it up and you can well imagine the might and heft of the PA system that night, and feel the serious volume of air being pushed out by the speaker stacks. In particular this recording really captures the thunderous sound and sex-groove of John Bonham and his kit, with bass, toms, snare and cymbals all nicely audible and distinct. And is Bonzo on fire tonight! He is without doubt Led Zeppelin's master and commander during this show, and sounds fully committed, concentrated, energetic and inspired. In fact, very unusually for a post '73 show, all 4 members sound very much 'on' ......together......at the same time. Songs. The opening TSRTS recalls the intensity of the best of '77, as does NFBM and OTHAFA (featuring some unbelievable jamming during Jimmy's solo.) A fiery Black Dog gives us some very pleasingly echoed Plant vocals. To my ears both Celebration Day and Misty Mountain Hop sound a little rushed, though are still very decent listens and are driven by plenty of Bonzo hammer. SIBLY features a fine Page solo which has a new emotional depth and has to be a contender for best post '75 version IMHO. NQ has shed several pounds since '77, and gives us 13 mins of slimmed down magic here, with Bonham and Page utterly locking and firing each other along. To my ears, the show lets up slightly through the TYG, Hot Dog, Rain Song, White Summer segment, though they are all decent enough versions (and vastly preferable to a 25 minute coke-break, sorry Moby Dick/Over the Top.) Much as I like The Rain Song, I reckon it had its on-stage moment in '73, quickly sounded dated, and never quite worked on stage after that - though I'm sure many would disagree. A very listenable Kashmir features that rarest of things, a John Paul Jones f**k-up. He loses his way for a few bars during the outro, but I kind of love him all the more for it. TUF, Achilles and SA are all very much on, though Robert phones in the Stairway vocal in that familiar post-'75 way. He sang it way better the night before. Stairway sounds just gorgeous with Jonesey's grand piano though. The newly revamped WWL rounds off a magic Led Zeppelin show, and, to these ears, one of the few truly great post '75 shows. All your 24.7.79 thoughts very welcome here please. Edited June 28, 2014 by renounce Quote
BlyZeppelinaren Posted June 28, 2014 Posted June 28, 2014 I love that show, probably in my top ten Zep shows, the setlist is amazing, Jimmy is on fire, Percy's voice is probably the best it's been since 72 and Bonzo is a damn cannon Quote
ZeppMan93 Posted June 28, 2014 Posted June 28, 2014 Always liked the Ten Years Gone at this warm-up show. They didn't sound as rusty or pressured like they did at Knebworth, it felt comfortable. Quote
BlyZeppelinaren Posted June 28, 2014 Posted June 28, 2014 Always liked the Ten Years Gone at this warm-up show. They didn't sound as rusty or pressured like they did at Knebworth, it felt comfortable. Yeah that was the general feel of the Knebworth gigs, it's not easy going from no touring for 2 years to headlining a music festival with like 200 000 people with only two warmup gigs Quote
cosmic_juice Posted June 28, 2014 Posted June 28, 2014 The guitar tone on these Copenhagen warmups was so creamy... that tone compliments Pages style Quote
journeytoroom101 Posted June 30, 2014 Posted June 30, 2014 The guitar tone on these Copenhagen warmups was so creamy... that tone compliments Pages style Well said. Super shame these two shows weren't professionally recorded - I really enjoy both of the warm up gigs. Page has some very fine playing at both gigs - I really love that descending outro riff he plays in the last guitar solo in TYG (weirdly never heard again). Quote
The Only Way To Fly Posted July 7, 2014 Posted July 7, 2014 I need to give these another listen. It's been years since I've heard these gigs. I had the gig on vinyl where all the song titles were reversed on the jacket - e.g. white cat, etc... Quote
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