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Posted (edited)
39 minutes ago, Strider said:

Four of the shows I went to are in the top 10, including #1 and #2.

What is fascinating is that after the 1975 U.S. tour, Led Zeppelin added "Tangerine" and a complete acoustic set for the Earls Court gigs and they still ended up shorter than March 27 and March 21, 1975.

Indeed. That list seems a bit odd though -- I take it they've cut out every second of between-song banter and such, but how does that shave 40 minutes off of May 25, 1975, yet only 23 minutes or so off of March 27?  I suppose 20 songs as opposed to 15 could make that much of a difference, but that seems nuts...

It also tells me that Seattle '72 is likely in the bottom half of the Top 10 in actuality since there's a good 10, maybe 15 minutes cut.

Edited by Bonzo_fan
Posted
11 hours ago, Strider said:

I don't have the exact timings and order memorized but I know I was at least two of them. 

June 27 '77 was one, yes?

Posted
55 minutes ago, Nutrocker said:

June 27 '77 was one, yes?

Yes, and March 27, 1975, June 23, 1977, June 25, 1977 also are in the Top 10 longest shows list.

Posted
2 hours ago, brisk said:

My bootlegs are showing:

Mar 27, 1975 > 3:42:09

Jun 27, 1977 > 3:39:29

Mar 21, 1975 > 3:38:34

Jun 25, 1977 > 3:28:58

May 25, 1975 > 3:54:20 !!!!!

May 24, 1975 > 3:38:02

May 23, 1975 > 3:31:46

Jul 17, 1977 > 3:29:35

Jun 23, 1977 > 3:30:05

Ok I guess it depends when you want to count when the show starts and ends, I'm just going off the tracks in the bootlegs.

Yeah, judging from the discrepencies between the ledzeppelinreference.com list and the actual cd timings, I think a reevaluation of the ledzeppelinreference.com list is due.

When you are at a concert, the concert starts when the band comes on and ends after the final encore. You don't sit there with a stop watch and say the concert stops every time a song ends and Plant begins to talk.

Even the bootlegs are inaccurate because many songs are cut and the audience applause between songs and during the encores is often edited out. After Led Zeppelin finished their main set you might have to clap and cheer for another 5 to 10 minutes to get an encore. That is part of the concert.

The general rule for a Led Zeppelin concert was to plan on it being three hours. Now, whether that meant there was 2:33 or 2:49 of actual music, I'll leave that to the trainspotters. But, as a rule the band went on at the Forum around 9 - 10pm and finished sometime between midnight and 1am. If you were lucky, they got on stage before 9pm but that was rare in the 1970s.

Nowadays, concerts are run tightly on a rigid schedule and everyone worries about curfews. Most concerts now end around 11pm, with a few going to midnight.

Posted

Based on Dave Lewis' latest book, Evenings with Led Zeppelin:

5/25/75     3:54

6/27/77      3:42

3/21/75      3:37

3/27/75       3:34

Posted
2 minutes ago, John M said:

Based on Dave Lewis' latest book, Evenings with Led Zeppelin:

5/25/75     3:54

6/27/77      3:42

3/21/75      3:37

3/27/75       3:34

And even those are still off. Seattle 3/21/75 is closer to 3:39 and is still missing crowd noise between encores, which was probably another 4-5 minutes.

LA 3/27/75 is closer to 3:42, but is also likely missing 4-5 minutes of crowd noise between encores.  Add in varying tape speeds across recordings, and the list would likely change some more.

Posted
34 minutes ago, pluribus said:

And even those are still off. Seattle 3/21/75 is closer to 3:39 and is still missing crowd noise between encores, which was probably another 4-5 minutes.

LA 3/27/75 is closer to 3:42, but is also likely missing 4-5 minutes of crowd noise between encores.  Add in varying tape speeds across recordings, and the list would likely change some more.

3/21/75 and 3/27/75 are both 3:42 and change, minus crowd noise between encores.  I was paying close attention to it when I was listening three months ago lol.

Posted

Keep in mind that the longer shows don't automatically = better shows. For some of the ones listed, like Seattle 7/17/77, Earls Court 5/23-25/75, and LA 3/27/75, 6/25/77, and 6/27/77...none of those would be considered their "Best" show of those tours. Oftentimes, what pushed the length of the show was something like Bonham going 10 minutes longer on his drum solo, or a few additional minutes from an extra bit of banter or a guitar solo that went a few bars longer. Or they played a single standard encore vs not playing any. It's not like Osaka 9/29/71 or Seattle 6/19/72, where the band played EVERY song longer, and did extra encores.  In the case of 7/17/77, that's not a good show by any stretch. Both 3/27/75 and 6/27/77 are so long because Page drew everything out, for the final nights at the venue those years, but to little actual effect.

Stand-outs for the "long shows" are: 

LA 6/22/77, 6/23/77

Long Beach 3/12/75

Seattle 3/21/75

Memphis 4/17/70

Osaka 9/28-29/71

Seattle 6/19/72

Posted
2 hours ago, pluribus said:

Keep in mind that the longer shows don't automatically = better shows. For some of the ones listed, like Seattle 7/17/77, Earls Court 5/23-25/75, and LA 3/27/75, 6/25/77, and 6/27/77...none of those would be considered their "Best" show of those tours. Oftentimes, what pushed the length of the show was something like Bonham going 10 minutes longer on his drum solo, or a few additional minutes from an extra bit of banter or a guitar solo that went a few bars longer. Or they played a single standard encore vs not playing any. It's not like Osaka 9/29/71 or Seattle 6/19/72, where the band played EVERY song longer, and did extra encores.  In the case of 7/17/77, that's not a good show by any stretch. Both 3/27/75 and 6/27/77 are so long because Page drew everything out, for the final nights at the venue those years, but to little actual effect.

Stand-outs for the "long shows" are: 

LA 6/22/77, 6/23/77

Long Beach 3/12/75

Seattle 3/21/75

Memphis 4/17/70

Osaka 9/28-29/71

Seattle 6/19/72

Bravo, excellent statement!

Posted
5 hours ago, pluribus said:

Keep in mind that the longer shows don't automatically = better shows. For some of the ones listed, like Seattle 7/17/77, Earls Court 5/23-25/75, and LA 3/27/75, 6/25/77, and 6/27/77...none of those would be considered their "Best" show of those tours. Oftentimes, what pushed the length of the show was something like Bonham going 10 minutes longer on his drum solo, or a few additional minutes from an extra bit of banter or a guitar solo that went a few bars longer. Or they played a single standard encore vs not playing any. It's not like Osaka 9/29/71 or Seattle 6/19/72, where the band played EVERY song longer, and did extra encores.  In the case of 7/17/77, that's not a good show by any stretch. Both 3/27/75 and 6/27/77 are so long because Page drew everything out, for the final nights at the venue those years, but to little actual effect.

Stand-outs for the "long shows" are: 

LA 6/22/77, 6/23/77

Long Beach 3/12/75

Seattle 3/21/75

Memphis 4/17/70

Osaka 9/28-29/71

Seattle 6/19/72

Absolutely right.  I'm personally quite fond of 3/27/75, but yes, length is not synonymous with quality, for individual songs or entire shows.  Speaking of 3/27/75 and length, it holds the crown of average length per song by a significant margin.  They only played 15 songs that night, compared to 17 on 3/21/75, 20 on 5/25/75, 21 on 6/27/77 and 24 on 6/19/72.

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