Ranking The 1975 Shows

[Bonzo_fan]

6 hours ago, JohnOsbourne said:

Both Vancouver shows are top-notch, but the 20th is better.

My opinion oscillates on this issue...it's basically a coin flip to me.  What makes you choose the 20th?

[Bonzo_fan]

6 hours ago, Cosmic_Equilibrium said:

Standout shows for me:

Feb 12th New York - a very well known show, and possibly the first bootleg that I heard which made me sit up and take notice. Great recording quality - my favourite is Keeper Of The Seasons which I think is a matrix of some sort. Great performance too despite Plant's voice being a bit ragged here and there.

Feb 14th Nassau - a very good vibe to this show, as evidenced by the Plantations. I did wonder if the SB ran slightly fast on the Throwing The Wild Seeds boot I downloaded, so switched to the St Valentine's Day Massacre one.

March 3rd Fort Worth - good SB and a really good fun show

March 19th Vancouver - possibly the best sounding SB ever, Jones is well up front and really clear, top 5 version of No Quarter, very consistent performance

May 18th Earls Court - the best of the EC shows that I've heard, possibly an even better version of NQ than Vancouver. Go to for this is Black Dragon WIth Blue Axe. Whole band very much on it and assured.

 

Other ones worth checking out are St Louis, Baton Rouge and Seattle. What I've heard of the LA Forum shows didn't impress me a great deal, they seemed to lack energy in comparison to the ones listed above. Baton Rouge I've always wondered if the SB runs too fast as Sick Again is notably faster paced than the versions from the rest of the tour, but I've never read any complaints in this regard about the recording.

Finally Feb 3rd New York is a good one, albeit not so much for the performance but the recording of the tapers and the general audience. Really gets the ambience and vibe of what going to a Zeppelin show was like back then.

It's funny how much the Plantations can add to the experience/vibe of the show and change our impression of it.  That's part of why I love 3/21 (and 3/27).  3/24 and 3/25 are interesting because they have some of the great Plantations you'd expect at the Forum without much of the trademark Forum playing lol.

I agree with 3/19 being the best sounding soundboard ever.

[JohnOsbourne]

14 minutes ago, Bonzo_fan said:

You don't consider 5/18 stellar?  My only complaint with it is that the Dazed isn't as epic as you'd hope considering how good the rest of it is.  I think if the 5/24 Dazed was played on the 18th instead, that show would be nipping at the heels of Seattle/Long Beach/Vancouver for sure.  I expressed this a few weeks ago in the Earls Court thread that was going around, but I think part of the problem with EC is that to accommodate the acoustic set (which was a great addition), they dialled back the improvisation that was a big part of the charm of the West Coast shows in March.

The 18th is a very good show, yes, Page is playing really well, esp. NQ.  I agree with you re. DC from the 24th (probably the 2nd best version of the year, after 3-21), but I would also take Tangerine, TU, and STH from the 24th over the versions from the 18th.  Maybe I'm biased by the soundboard, but I've always loved those particular versions, they sort of color my opinion of the 24th overall.  (OTHAFW from the 25th is also killer.)  I'd agree that the 18th and 23rd are the most improvisational of the EC shows and probably overall the two best of that run.  (NQ from the 17th is a really cool, unique version, a predecessor of the '77 versions.)  But I still think the West Coast shows from March had more energy than EC, and there were enough great February shows to keep any EC show out of the top 10 IMO.  

[JohnOsbourne]

6 minutes ago, Bonzo_fan said:

My opinion oscillates on this issue...it's basically a coin flip to me.  What makes you choose the 20th?

TU and OTHAFW are killer from both nights, but both are a tad better on the 20th.  But while NQ is superb on both nights, there's definitely more improvisation on the 20th.  I also love the version of IMTOD on the 20th, Page mixes it up a lot more than on other nights (but Plant's pussy-licking lyric on the 19th is always worth a laugh).

[Bonzo_fan]

3 minutes ago, JohnOsbourne said:

The 18th is a very good show, yes, Page is playing really well, esp. NQ.  I agree with you re. DC from the 24th (probably the 2nd best version of the year, after 3-21), but I would also take Tangerine, TU, and STH from the 24th over the versions from the 18th.  Maybe I'm biased by the soundboard, but I've always loved those particular versions, they sort of color my opinion of the 24th overall.  (OTHAFW from the 25th is also killer.)  I'd agree that the 18th and 23rd are the most improvisational of the EC shows and probably overall the two best of that run.  (NQ from the 17th is a really cool, unique version, a predecessor of the '77 versions.)  But I still think the West Coast shows from March had more energy than EC, and there were enough great February shows to keep any EC show out of the top 10 IMO.  

Fair enough.  The 24th is one of the most confusing shows to me.  Tangerine aside, the difference between TUF to the end and the start to TUF is astonishing.  

I've thought that about NQ on the 17th before too!  Glad it's not just me lol.

[Bonzo_fan]

2 minutes ago, JohnOsbourne said:

TU and OTHAFW are killer from both nights, but both are a tad better on the 20th.  But while NQ is superb on both nights, there's definitely more improvisation on the 20th.  I also love the version of IMTOD on the 20th, Page mixes it up a lot more than on other nights (but Plant's pussy-licking lyric on the 19th is always worth a laugh).

All good points.  I love the 20th NQ -- it's got to be the least-talked about great version.  Page does shake it up a lot on IMTOD on the 20th, true.  Yeah, Plant's "LYP" ad-lib on the 19th always cracks me up.  I wish he sang the "Oh Georgina" part more often...

[Sticks of Fire]

Man I’m going to have to revisit some of these March 1975 shows.   I listened to 3/12/75 again and yep totally loved it all over again!! Bring on the soundboard.  Best ever No Quarter intro.   It was one of my first live tapes and back then all you could get was a 80 min recording of the middle of the show.    We’re really lucky now!

I really need to give the two night run of Vancouver a good listen. 

Edited March 31, 2020 by Sticks of Fire

[Bonzo_fan]

1 hour ago, Sticks of Fire said:

Man I’m going to have to revisit some of these March 1975 shows.   I listened to 3/12/75 again and yep totally loved it all over again!! Bring on the soundboard.  Best ever No Quarter intro.   It was one of my first live tapes and back then all you could get was a 80 min recording of the middle of the show.    We’re really lucky now!

I really need to give the two night run of Vancouver a good listen. 

You sure do!

 

[Sticks of Fire]

2 minutes ago, Bonzo_fan said:

You sure do!

 

Thanks bro.  I’ll be listening all night!

[Bonzo_fan]

2 minutes ago, Sticks of Fire said:

Thanks bro.  I’ll be listening all night!

Of course 🤘 Enjoy!

[ZepHead315]

1975 is one of my least favorite live years for several reasons (Plant's voice, Jimmy's tone, the lengthy and bombastic setlist, etc.). That being said, if I were to put together my top 5 favorites, it would look something like this:

Seattle 3/21 - This has everything but the kitchen sink! Great performance with Plant having his best night of the year. And the momentum keeps up for the entire 3 and a half plus hours.

Long Beach 3/12 - Great energy with another performance that sustains itself all the way through

Philadelphia 2/8 - Page's best night of the year imho. Such a treat to hear him playing at almost 1973 levels!

Earls Court 5/18 - I agree with what others have said. I think the Earls Court shows as a whole are overrated, but this is the best one imho and definitely an essential show. NQ is the version of the year and one of the best ever.

Chicago 1/22 - I chose this mainly because of the unique setlist, and because Page and Plant are surprisingly good despite their shortcomings.

As for the other shows from that year, I'll be perfectly honest, many of them have that feeling of the "same old same old". The setlist (from early February onwards) barely changed at all, and while we have so many excellent soundboards, they all have a similar feel. But I digress. I think I could do fine with just the above five.

[Victor]

In 1975 I was lucky enough to see them on the final night of Earls court. 4 hours if you include the audience cheering between encores. I've seen alot of bands and alot of concerts before and especially since then, nothing ever came close. The bootlegs, videos etc just dont capture it. Bonzo's drums reverberated through the stage, Pages violin bow was actually painful on the high pitch notes.

[Mr_K]

On 3/30/2020 at 1:40 PM, Bonzo_fan said:

Interesting.  I can't argue with choosing 3/20, it's definitely a great show, and Robert is very strong.  It sounds like he's going for his "Immigrant Song" Valhalla cries during WLL!

That's funny that you feel that way about 3/21.  To me, if you listen to the four Pacific Northwest shows chronologically, each one sort of builds on the ideas of the previous one, finally culminating in Seattle on the 21st.

Glad Strider passed along the link for Ft. Worth for you -- enjoy!

Can't believe that you enjoyed a live "Moby Dick"?

That's an interesting perspective as far as them not having to conquer anymore.  I can see what you mean; there is a sort of relaxed deliberateness to the '75 shows.  Sometimes it results in sounding a bit flat, but when they mix in a bit of the old energy, it can be pretty great IMO.

This forum. Great music. Great discussion.

Call me a crazy Zep Head but I think they ran out of steam on March 21. At least compared to Vancouver.

I'm listening to Ali Akbar Khan, the great sarodist. The Indian Jimmy Page. Maybe that will clear my head.

Thanks.

[JohnOsbourne]

Really loving these two Vancouver shows.  Even Black Dog is above average on the 19th.  Another funny Plantation is his quip about getting a blow job from Peter Grant (not sure I want that imagery in my head, however...)

[Sticks of Fire]

2 hours ago, JohnOsbourne said:

Really loving these two Vancouver shows.  Even Black Dog is above average on the 19th.  Another funny Plantation is his quip about getting a blow job from Peter Grant (not sure I want that imagery in my head, however...)

If you want a good Plant comment.  Listen to the 3/19 link up above at the 29:46 mark.  👅

[JohnOsbourne]

6 minutes ago, Sticks of Fire said:

If you want a good Plant comment.  Listen to the 3/19 link up above at the 29:46 mark.  👅

Haha, yes indeed.  Also funny on the 20th, before IMTOD, Plant says it's the first song they're going to play from the new album, then says "No, wait, it's the third."  (Actually the second one of the night.)

[Mr_K]

"March 19 - Vancouver -- The 5/24/75 Dazed was my introduction to live Zepp, but I'm pretty sure this was the first full show I listened to.  Other shows (like the two above it) might have slightly higher peaks, but this one is just rock-solid, good to great versions all the way through, including my all-time favourite version of "The Rain Song."  One of the coolest, best, most concise (22 minutes and change) versions of "No Quarter" as well.  It helps that it's probably THE best sounding soundboard of them all. ..."

This one really grows on me. Maybe the best D and C of 75. Jimmy's guitar is consistently good throughout. And Jonsey's bass is so clear and prominent. What a fine player he was.

For the band in this half hour plus - Not an off moment in the whole.

Thanks for posting the topic so I could relisten to this great show.

 

[Bonzo_fan]

40 minutes ago, Mr_K said:

"March 19 - Vancouver -- The 5/24/75 Dazed was my introduction to live Zepp, but I'm pretty sure this was the first full show I listened to.  Other shows (like the two above it) might have slightly higher peaks, but this one is just rock-solid, good to great versions all the way through, including my all-time favourite version of "The Rain Song."  One of the coolest, best, most concise (22 minutes and change) versions of "No Quarter" as well.  It helps that it's probably THE best sounding soundboard of them all. ..."

This one really grows on me. Maybe the best D and C of 75. Jimmy's guitar is consistently good throughout. And Jonsey's bass is so clear and prominent. What a fine player he was.

For the band in this half hour plus - Not an off moment in the whole.

Thanks for posting the topic so I could relisten to this great show.

 

37.5 minutes, to be exact 😉 6th-longest version.  It is indeed a good one.

My pleasure!  '77 seems to get a lot of mileage on here (not complaining), so I thought I'd give '75 some love seeing as it was its time of year...

[pujols05]

1975 is my favorite tour...aided in no small degree by the amount of many excellent soundboards (sounding better than soundboards from other tours). I tend to listen to the '75 shows on their anniversary dates when I can. It can be a bit much at times...yes, there can be too much live Zeppelin at some point. And, this year...it wasn't quite as enjoyable as it has been. Maybe I've overdosed on these shows in recent years. 

In 2011, I did some spreadsheet calculations using my iTunes star ratings for each song of each 1975 show to calculate which show would come out on top. I even did a variation with weighting some songs (OTHAFA, Kashmir, NQ, D&C).  That was a few soundboards ago and since I'm sitting at home with time on my hands...I decided to do it again so I can comment with some competence.

For the record, the only '75 audience shows I have are the LA Forum tapes. I'm usually pretty ambivalent about non-soundboard recordings, so my '75 collection isn't as extensive as others'. 

CAUTION: Geek zone ahead. 

• Unweighted, my top five in order are: 2-12, 3-11, 3-5, 2-14, 3-27. If counting Earl's Court, 5-25 would be 3rd
• Weighted switches it up a bit: 3-11, 2-12, 3-5, 3-27, and a tie of 3-3 and 2-28. 2-14 falls to 6th (tied with 3-19) and 5-25 would be 7th. 
• The "average" score for a US show was 4.01 (out of 5) weighted and 5.38 weighted. Both 2-13 and 2-16 were 4.00, so I guess they're average shows.  And, 2-16 and 3-4 were right on 5.38 for weighted. 

I'm surprised 2-12 stands out here. It IS a very notable show and for recording quality at least it should be in every collection. But...I thought some of the recent '75 SBs had surpassed it in overall show quality. Maybe not. Or...maybe subconsciously I'm using 2-12 as a bar for every other show. 

I view 3-21 as simply another very good 1975 soundboard rather than a Holy Grail (Deus Ex Machina). I was surprised to find that based on an average of the average, 3-21 comes out "below average" weighted (5.00) and unweighted (3.93). Haven't listened to it for more than a year, so maybe I'm due. 

Other below average shows:

• 2-10 (surprised, but I don't have any 5-star tracks here)
• 3-10 (always saw it as a dud...but a 5-star NQ)
• 3-17 (this one also a dud, at least early...no 5-star track)
• 3-20 (very surprised by this, but hurt by an average D&C and only NQ gets 5 stars)
• The first two LA shows, but this is probably me grading the quality of the audience recording rather than the performance

So, that's what I get using my head. A mixed bag....

Using my heart, some years ago I landed on 5-25 as my ultimate LZ live show just because the vibe is so amazing. Even though I'd put it top, I don't think any one song that night is a "best ever," so it's a bit ironic. And...I've never bothered with the audience recordings from Earl's Court. Maybe I should stop hoping for SBs from those.  As for U.S. shows in '75, my favorites show up well this way (3-11, 2-12, 3-5, 3-27)

By the way, I don't have a single performance of NQ ranked less than 4 stars. Always a highlight of a '75 show for me (all-time fave is 5-24). 

Edited April 7, 2020 by pujols05

[pujols05]

19 hours ago, pujols05 said:

In 2011, I did some spreadsheet calculations using my iTunes star ratings for each song of each 1975 show to calculate which show would come out on top.

For some reason couldn't edit my original. What I mean to say here is each 1975 show that I have...

[JohnOsbourne]

20 hours ago, pujols05 said:

1975 is my favorite tour...aided in no small degree by the amount of many excellent soundboards (sounding better than soundboards from other tours). I tend to listen to the '75 shows on their anniversary dates when I can. It can be a bit much at times...yes, there can be too much live Zeppelin at some point. And, this year...it wasn't quite as enjoyable as it has been. Maybe I've overdosed on these shows in recent years. 

In 2011, I did some spreadsheet calculations using my iTunes star ratings for each song of each 1975 show to calculate which show would come out on top. I even did a variation with weighting some songs (OTHAFA, Kashmir, NQ, D&C).  That was a few soundboards ago and since I'm sitting at home with time on my hands...I decided to do it again so I can comment with some competence.

For the record, the only '75 audience shows I have are the LA Forum tapes. I'm usually pretty ambivalent about non-soundboard recordings, so my '75 collection isn't as extensive as others'. 

CAUTION: Geek zone ahead. 

• Unweighted, my top five in order are: 2-12, 3-11, 3-5, 2-14, 3-27. If counting Earl's Court, 5-25 would be 3rd
• Weighted switches it up a bit: 3-11, 2-12, 3-5, 3-27, and a tie of 3-3 and 2-28. 2-14 falls to 6th (tied with 3-19) and 5-25 would be 7th. 
• The "average" score for a US show was 4.01 (out of 5) weighted and 5.38 weighted. Both 2-13 and 2-16 were 4.00, so I guess they're average shows.  And, 2-16 and 3-4 were right on 5.38 for weighted. 

I'm surprised 2-12 stands out here. It IS a very notable show and for recording quality at least it should be in every collection. But...I thought some of the recent '75 SBs had surpassed it in overall show quality. Maybe not. Or...maybe subconsciously I'm using 2-12 as a bar for every other show. 

I view 3-21 as simply another very good 1975 soundboard rather than a Holy Grail (Deus Ex Machina). I was surprised to find that based on an average of the average, 3-21 comes out "below average" weighted (5.00) and unweighted (3.93). Haven't listened to it for more than a year, so maybe I'm due. 

Other below average shows:

• 2-10 (surprised, but I don't have any 5-star tracks here)
• 3-10 (always saw it as a dud...but a 5-star NQ)
• 3-17 (this one also a dud, at least early...no 5-star track)
• 3-20 (very surprised by this, but hurt by an average D&C and only NQ gets 5 stars)
• The first two LA shows, but this is probably me grading the quality of the audience recording rather than the performance

So, that's what I get using my head. A mixed bag....

Using my heart, some years ago I landed on 5-25 as my ultimate LZ live show just because the vibe is so amazing. Even though I'd put it top, I don't think any one song that night is a "best ever," so it's a bit ironic. And...I've never bothered with the audience recordings from Earl's Court. Maybe I should stop hoping for SBs from those.  As for U.S. shows in '75, my favorites show up well this way (3-11, 2-12, 3-5, 3-27)

By the way, I don't have a single performance of NQ ranked less than 4 stars. Always a highlight of a '75 show for me (all-time fave is 5-24). 

As far as audience shows (3-10 is audience, BTW), how can you leave 3-12 off your list?

[pujols05]

On 4/8/2020 at 11:22 AM, JohnOsbourne said:

As far as audience shows (3-10 is audience, BTW), how can you leave 3-12 off your list?

Messed up my dates. Meant 3-14, not 3-10. 

I had 3-12 once, but it was a poor audience recording. I don't have much listening stamina for those. 

[JohnOsbourne]

9 minutes ago, pujols05 said:

Messed up my dates. Meant 3-14, not 3-10. 

I had 3-12 once, but it was a poor audience recording. I don't have much listening stamina for those. 

I think there have been two new sources with much better sound quality to appear recently, you should definitely check out the link posted earlier in this thread.  3-12 is an all-time great show.

[pujols05]

4 minutes ago, JohnOsbourne said:

I think there have been two new sources with much better sound quality to appear recently, you should definitely check out the link posted earlier in this thread.  3-12 is an all-time great show.

Thanks for the tip!

[johnlennon696]

1 hour ago, pujols05 said:

Thanks for the tip!

This is what you need http://www.rambleonzep.com/dates/info/1975-03-12LongBeachSrc3Mix.htm