Madison Square Garden: February 12 1975

[nick2632]

What's the deal with this show? The quality of the bootleg is excellent, the performance was spectacular with the whole band on fire that night, has a good full setlist, it's one of the only boots I can enjoy listening to completely! I would say the quality matches TSRTS. The show has a very unique feel to it, kind of a sonic distorted sound.. I think this would make a great addition to Zeppelin's official releases though I'm perfectly satisfied with the quality as it is.

Includes an awesome performance of In My Time Of Dying, Rain song, Kashmir, No Quarter, and Heartbreaker, quite a dry performance of Stairway To Heaven IMO.

So what I'm asking is how do other fans feel about this show? Was this professionally recorded? Is it multitrack soundboard? Any video footage circulating or possible (low or high quality)? Why don't I hear more about this performance!?

Please feel free to share any thoughts or information and pictures you may have on this show.

[ledzepfilm]

AFAIK, there is no footage from this show.

The recordings circulating are SBD and AUD recordings. The show wasn't multitracked.

[For My Life]

'Flying Circus' is a great recording of a decent show, but while the quality is good I think it would be a stretch to compare it to the recording quality of TSRTS. Jimmy is on excellent form for this show, but Robert's voice is definitely not 100% - I believe he was recovering from flu. This doesn't mean it isn't still great to listen to though.

[chef free]

The matrix, a mix of the soundboard recording and a very nice audience recording, is one of the best sounding Led Zeppelin bootlegs available. It is called "Four Blocks in the Snow". Which version are you listening to?

[nick2632]

The copy I have is "Keeper Of The Seasons"

[Sue Dounim]

The versions worth having:

Flying Circus (the original EVSD release)

Four Blocks in the Snow (Bluecongo matrix, best sounding, but a bit loud)

Flying Circus: Definitive Edition (fan release, most complete, patching the missing portions of the SBD with the AUD tape)

That's All Right New York (The Godfatherecord's release, cleans up the sound nicely and adds good ambience between songs)

Flying Circus DVD-A (EVSD's audio DVD, boasting a 96kHz/24bit 5.1 surround sound mix. While the soundboard was technically recorded in stereo, the false 5.1 mix does provide a nice sense of spaciousness)

AUD master cassette>DAT

Edited July 14, 2014 by Sue Dounim

[Strider]

Ummm, don't know where you've been or who you hang out with, but there has been no shortage of discussion about this show...here or elsewhere. It has to rank among the 10 or so most talked-about Led Zeppelin boots.

Peter Grant unfortunately decided to schedule the beginning of the 1975 tour to coincide with winter in the Northeast U.S., so on top of recovering from throat node surgery, Robert had to deal with the flu caught from touring thru blizzards of snow. And I'm not just talking about the Peruvian kind.

Which leaves Robert's vocals very rough and raspy in spots. Which is fine for the PG songs in which his voice was raspy on record...such as "Kashmir", "Sick Again", "IMTOD". But on songs like "Heartbreaker", where his voice cracks on the "That's All Right" part, it mars the performance level a tad.

Also lowering my overall grade for this show is the lack of the "Crunge-Funk-Theremin duel" interlude between WLL and "Black Dog", and the missing parts of "Dazed and Confused".

Still a worthy show, though, and helped immensely by the much better soundboard quality of 1975 compared to the 1973 soundboards.

Chock full of fantastic Plantations.

"For a minute I wondered about my anatomy".

[SteveAJones]

Possibly my all-time favorite Led Zeppelin show...certainly in the Top 10.

[pluribus]

A favorite of mine as well.

The two Nassau shows on 2/13 and 2/14 are good shows too, and have longer setlists and longer versions of songs, but I can't get into them nearly as much as I can with the 2/12 show. It's not just the difference in sound quality either. Even with the more experimental playing at the Nassau shows, something just seems to be more "right" at the New York 2/12 show. Plant's voice is pretty shot at all 3 shows, but for some reason I think he hides it better at the 2/12 show and his personality and banter just feels a little more special.

[IpMan]

This is a great show, the band is electric with the only shortfall being Plant's voice. Rock and Roll is pretty horrible (vocally that is) as well as bits and sections of other songs which require the earlier vocal range. Other than that the show is indeed amazing.

Plant was quite the soldier performing for that first leg of the tour, 99.9% of all other singers would have demanded the tour be postponed until FULL, and I do mean FULL recovery.

[Trapper]

As much as I love that feb 12 show, the show two days later on St.Valentine's Day is even better.

If you like feb 12, be sure to check out the shows at the end of that month (St.Louis, Baton Rouge; same excellent sound quality and performance but Robert's voice is a lot better) and the shows in march '75 (Vancouver!!!).

[Bonzo_fan]

Fantastic show for sure. Did anyone else notice that Robert sings the 2nd & 3rd verses of TSRTS out of order?