Ranking The 1973 North American Shows

[Bonzo_fan]

Hi all,

Back again with another ranking, this time the North American '73 shows.  I'm going to do the Europe '73 shows in the spring because I can't remember that far back and the setlist is also different enough that I think it makes sense to separate them.  I listened to all 28 shows from this tour for which there is a recording for the first time this year, so I've included all 28 in the ranking.  A few general observations:

• Peak Page as most of us agree
• Bonham at his most creative IMO -- Europe as well, but a more aggressive version of it there
• Really unique timbre to this tour -- Page's snarly tone, Plant's raspy voice and Bonham's twangy vistalite kit really work well together
• Most definitely the peak year for "Dazed And Confused"
• "No Quarter" really finds its footing on the second leg and starts to become a showcase piece in its own right

As usual, the links to my podcast episode about this tour, just released this morning, are below.  I managed to make this episode much shorter than last week's thanks to a more detailed outline 😅 I suppose it's fitting though that the '77 episode would be very long and the '73 episode very concise!

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/rock-talk-with-dr-cropper/id1518703647?i=1000486962119

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6OAbJeN7wknMBsOiw4hMqS?si=F_6r-CrRQzyGI78w6zmiSg

Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1119254/4825073

1.   July 21 - Providence -- In the "best show of their career" conversation IMO, and the only one in that list with a completely standard setlist for the tour it's from.  Jones makes a rare screw-up during "Rock And Roll," but it's an otherwise explosive opening 1-2-3 punch, culminating in a thunderous "Black Dog" that's one of the best of the year IMO -- Plant sounds very strong on it.  Fabulous solo from Page in "Over The Hills And Far Away," unfortunately he has to cut the last verse short and skip to the outro due to the crowd.  Thankfully the crowd heeds Plant's pleas unlike the previous night.  One of the all-time best versions of "Since I've Been Loving You" -- Page is absolutely scorching and Plant sounds really good.  Best "No Quarter" of '73 and one of the best ever.  I always thought the author of The Year Of Led Zeppelin described it perfectly: "Jones' haunting melodies slowly build tension until Page's wildly passionate guitar solo explodes across the soundscape."  He plays a little motif around the 9-minute mark that I haven't heard him play in any other version and it always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  Potentially definitive version of "The Song Remains The Same" (yes 6/21/77 takes the cake for Bonham) -- Page is extremely fluid, Plant hits the high notes with power and conviction, Bonham is explosive and plays a great fill in the section for that towards the end, and Jones is grooving along as you'd expect.  Beautiful version of "The Rain Song."  Breathtaking "Dazed And Confused" which is tragically cut all the way from Page's call-and-response with Plant to the return to the main riff.  One of the best "San Francisco" interludes, Page amazingly fast and fluid throughout, one of the best outros with a cool syncopated groove from Bonham.  Over 27 minutes even with the sizeable cut, so it was probably in the 32-minute range.  All-time great "Stairway To Heaven" with Page playing a spectacular solo and Plant sounding very strong.  "Moby Dick" has a sizeable cut as well, but what we have sounds good.  "Heartbreaker" is ferocious and one of the best of the year.  An otherwise fantastic "Whole Lotta Love" is also marred by a significant cut, all the way from early in the theremin section to the end of the "Boogie Chillen" section.  Potential best-ever version of "The Ocean" for the encore.  We need the SBD of this one!

2.   June 3 - Los Angeles -- I always have trouble deciding the order to put this and Seattle in.  I gave this one the edge due to the extra encores and the special treats in WLL and because sometimes Seattle feels a bit too slow.  Very strong opening 1-2-3-4 punch.  Bonham plays a great, long fill towards the end of MMH.  Awesome SIBLY.  Sadly the tape issues in NQ make it hard to judge.  Page is on fire during TSRTS.  Very good Dazed.  Fantastic, explosive STH.  Very strong Heartbreaker.  Cool stop-star/call-and-response theremin section in WLL and the inclusions of "Going Down," "I'm A Man" and "The Hunter" make this a standout version.  Longest string of encores of the tour with Ocean, CB, Organ Solo and Thank You, all of which are really well played.  I really hope the SBD of this one surfaces someday.  

3.   July 17 - Seattle -- This one has a very unique feel to it.  The tempos are a tad slower than other shows, but Bonham and Jones are both in extremely creative moods which more than makes up for it, toying with lots of ideas and variations unique to this show -- as they always seemed to in Seattle.  Excellent interplay between Page and Bonham in SIBLY and again in STH.  Jones tears the fretboard a new one during TSRTS and The Rain Song is unique with Jones switching to the electric piano halfway through.  One of the coolest versions of Dazed and the longest of '73 at 34 minutes.  Bonham goes nuts during the intro and initial verses, the lead-in to the bow has a really cool pulse to it before giving way to a heavy "San Francisco" interlude.  There's lots of stop-start action going on during the midsection and then it has one of the neatest outros with Bonham playing something similar to the stop-start groove he plays during the Hamburg outro except the pauses are much shorter (I wanna say they're dotted eighth notes on the snare), lending it an awesome spiralling effect -- sounds like you're being sucked into a whirlpool.  Epic 32-min MD and good, long versions of Heartbreaker and WLL.  The Ocean is noticeably slower than other versions -- clocks in over 4:30 -- which makes it sound really heavy.  I love the little ad-lib Page does at the end of the "na-na-na-na-na-na" section.

4.   July 23 - Baltimore -- Plant's best show of the year -- listen to him at the end of STH!  Incredibly unique Dazed.  The "I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside" tease before "The Ocean" is funny.  It's too bad the recording is so rough, because a SBD could very easily reveal that this one deserves to be a few spots higher even.

5.   June 2 - San Francisco -- Thunderous, energetic start.  Bit of a ho-hum NQ and a slightly disjointed Dazed -- maybe playing in the daylight didn't set the right vibe for these two?  Every song on the SBD of the last third is fantastic though and is a best-of-tour candidate, with "Heartbreaker" and "The Ocean" being all-time greats.  Overall a very fun, energetic show.

6.   May 19 - Ft. Worth -- Might even be a bit higher if we had the last third.  Explosive start with a great closing solo in "Celebration Day."  Great SIBLY, featuring a blood-curdling screech from Plant coming out of the solo.  Best NQ of the first leg IMO, at least until a better recording surfaces of Houston and/or the second L.A.  Fabulous TSRTS/TRS combo.  Unbelievable 32-min Dazed with Bonham wailing on his tympani during the intro, one of the best "San Francisco" interludes and an awesome outro in addition to the spectacular midsection.  Great STH as well.

7.   May 16 - Houston -- Similar to the Boston show below it but they got to play the full setlist.  This one is just downright violent, as much or more so than any show I've heard.  Bonham is very active during Jones' solo in NQ.  The AUD is pretty rough before the SBD picks up for the last third...I could see this one climbing a few spots higher even if the full SBD ever surfaces.

8.   July 20 - Boston -- Extremely explosive and powerful, with Page especially fluent and aggressive.  Song-for-song this show is as good as any of them, but the setlist omissions due to the crowd have to count against it a little bit.  Most powerful NQ of '73 and one of the heaviest ever I'd say.  Blistering, devastating Dazed.  Great STH solo.

9.   May 13 - Mobile -- Really makes me wish we had recordings of the three shows between Tampa and this one to hear the improvement, because they're really cooking by this one.  Amazing OTHAFA solo, fantastic SIBLY, flawless and focused Dazed at only 27 min and a good MD to boot!  Too bad we don't have the last third...

10.   May 31 - Los Angeles -- Very heavy and powerful sounding, at least on the audience recording, which is how I listen to this one.  Bonham is certainly playing well for his 25th.  I struggled a bit with where to place this one.  It's energetic and powerful, but it seems to me (and it could be my mind playing tricks on me) that Page plays it a tad safer than some of the other shows due to the sprained finger.  He doesn't make any glaring mistakes because of the sprain, but maybe that's because he reeled it in a tad to make sure everything came off cleanly?

11.   May 14 - New Orleans -- Always been a personal favourite.  Gets off to an energetic start.  Raw and emotional SIBLY which is one of my favourite versions, especially on Page's part.  Love the inclusion of "Crossroads" and "Cat's Squirrel" in another phenomenal Dazed.  Strong "Moby Dick."  Love these shows where Plant sings "ain't nothin' but a hound dog!" during the WLL coda.  Good CB encore.

12.   July 27 - New York -- I had some trouble ordering the MSG shows, and decided to put the three of them lumped together because I think they're all pretty close to each other.  This one yielded R&R, MMH, half of SIBLY, Dazed, STH, Heartbreaker, WLL & half of The Ocean for The Song Remains The Same.  I suppose I'm giving it a bit of benefit of the doubt since we don't have a bootleg for reference until partway through "The Rain Song."  The songs from it featured on TSRTS are strong enough to give it the edge though, lead of course by a very good Dazed and an all-time great STH.

13.   July 29 - New York -- Only yielded BD, half of SIBLY and half of The Ocean for The Song Remains The Same, but I quite enjoyed listening to this one for the first time this year.  Page plays a great, extended solo in OTHAFA and Jones is grooving along very funkily underneath -- kind of hints at the '75 versions.  Dazed features one of the best "San Francisco" interludes and one of Bonham's best closing drum outbursts, both of which are transplanted into the 27th version on all formats of TSRTS except for the original album.  Love Bonham's four minute mini-solo at the end of WLL for the uniqueness anyway.  Nice version of "Thank You" for what turned out to be its final appearance.  Certainly has that "last night" feel.

14.   July 28 - New York -- Yielded CD, OTHAFA, NQ, TSRTS, TRS & MD for The Song Remains The Same, plus BD for the LZ DVD.  The highlight of course is the all-time great NQ, which features some of the best Page-Bonham interplay during the solo for '73 -- like a '73 version of 6/21/77 at times.  I'd say this one is the most adventurous/exploratory of the MSG shows, albeit in a bit more of a relaxed way perhaps.  It also has the coolest Bonham drum intro to Heartbreaker of the tour IMO.

15.   July 15 - Buffalo -- Great OTHAFA solo, very good NQ, beautiful Rain Song.  Another mind-blowing 30+ min Dazed -- the lead-in to the bow is even more intense than usual on this one, with that call-and-response between Page and Jones/Bonham that has hints of "The Rover."  One of the most explosive versions of "The Ocean" to close it out.

16.   July 12 - Detroit -- Nice SIBLY, another really good NQ, one of the best MD's of the tour and a 30-min one at that, really good Heartbreaker/WLL combo.

17.   July 9 - St. Paul -- Really enjoy this one.  Bonham is in a very creative mood, over and above his usual '73 self even.  It seems to throw Page off slightly in a few spots, but overall it's cool and gives the show a fun, fresh feel.  Quite powerful sounding with a nice vibe this one.  Unique NQ with a more jazzy, free-form midsection that hints at the Pacific Northwest '75 versions.  All-time great Dazed -- dark, unique and crushingly powerful -- with a cool "San Francisco" interlude and an awesome outro, and clocks in over 30 minutes...which is a good thing in '73 lol.  Awesome stop-start groove during the fast solo in "Heartbreaker" as well.

18.   July 18 - Vancouver -- Strong opening, especially "Celebration Day" and OTHAFA, fantastic SIBLY, amazing NQ which is more exploratory than most '73 versions and hints at what's to come in '75.  No TSRTS/TRS on the tape -- skipped due to Plant's condition or just a cut in the tape?  Great STH solo.  Too bad they had to pack it in early due to Plant being dosed.

19.   July 24 - Pittsburgh -- They've definitely cooled off from the three preceding shows, but it's still a good show which finishes stronger than it starts.

20.   May 26 - Salt Lake City -- Cool "Celebration Day" with neat ad-libs from Page, love the "Georgia On My Mind" bit -- too bad Page didn't just join in and play the rest of it with them once he fixed the broken string!  Unique versions of NQ & Dazed.  No "Boogie Chillen" in WLL -- altitude affecting them?

21.   July 10 - Milwaukee -- Too bad the recording is so rough and cuts off during MD because it sounds like quite a good show and Plant is in better shape than the first three of the second leg.

22.   July 13 - Detroit -- This and the Denver show are similarly fragmentary of course, otherwise they could be several spots higher by the sounds of it.  Gave this one the edge for having the only "Dancing Days" of the tour.

23.   May 25 - Denver -- ^

24.   July 7 - Chicago -- Hilarious tapers and the show is quite an improvement over the previous night, featuring quite a good Dazed.

25.   May 5 - Tampa -- Still getting their feet wet with all of the transitions in the new setlist, but overall a very solid showing before the world record crowd..."57,000 people is 4,000 more than the people that were at the Beatles' Shea Stadium, gotta boogie!" -- I thought the Beatles drew 55,000 at Shea though?

26.   May 18 - Dallas -- A bit sluggish, but I did enjoy it decently enough when I listened this year.

27.   May 28 - San Diego -- Kind of lacklustre and the massive cut which omits essentially all of Dazed doesn't help.  Cool to have "Honey Bee" in WLL a la 1970 in addition to "Going Down."

28.   July 6 - Chicago -- Pretty sloppy overall, Plant sounds rough.  Possible they were distracted by the especially rowdy crowd a bit as well.

[JohnOsbourne]

Nice list.  Generally in agreement w/the individual songs you mention, but I'd change the overall order of shows.  The second leg is my favorite tour ever, so I'm going to cheat and only go into detail for July:

1.  7-12 Detroit.  All-time great show, with an especially strong finish.
2.  7-17 Seattle.  Just a shade behind Detroit.
3.  7-21 Providence.  Superb show after a few nights of hiccups. 
4.  7-24 Pittsburg.  Top-notch, definite preview of the MSG shows.
5.  7-10 Milwaukee.  Very over-looked show.
6.  7-23 Baltimore.  This tops most lists of shows desperately in need of an upgrade.  Even with the awful source, it's clear it's a special night.
7.  7-7 Chicago.  After the problems of the previous night, the band really brings the A-game.
8.  7-27, 28, 29.  I group the NY shows together, because even though no single night is the best of the tour, collectively they contain some of the year's best playing, if not the band's career.  Probably the 29th is the best overall.  A complete tape of the 27th is my personal holy grail.
9.  7-18, 20, 15 Vancouver/Boston/Buffalo.  All of these nights have an unfair reputation.  They all have problems of course, but overall there is some really great playing, esp. from Page.
10.  7-6 Chicago.  This is a much-maligned show, but I'll always have a soft spot for it because it was probably the show that turned me into a bootleg fanatic.  If nothing else, it illustrates just how important the chemistry w/Bonham was to Page.
11.  7-9 St Paul.  Another overlooked night.  Not the greatest by any means, but it's got some very nice, loose playing.
12.  7-13 Detroit.  This one's intriguing because of the only known '73 American performance of Dancing Days, but the fragment we have doesn't suggest the show is anywhere on par with the first night.

Re. May, I love those shows of course, but they just don't capture my imagination like July.  I'm probably in the minority here, but I think the LA-SF shows are a bit overrated.  Personally I like San Diego the best of the California shows.  I think the Texas shows are better than the West Coast shows.  The first night in Dallas is another one of my soft spots, but Ft Worth has some really good playing, and it'd be interesting to hear a complete soundboard of Houston.  Also a minority opinion, but I love the Salt Lake City show.  It's sloppy, to be sure, but to me it has a certain spark.  A complete Denver tape is another holy grail of mine, the fragment we have is sizzling.  I do believe Mobile lives up to its reputation, it's an excellent show.  New Orleans is another somewhat overrated show, but it does have some classic moments (one of the best-ever Communication Breakdowns).  Tampa is a bit of a warm-up show, frankly.

Edited August 3, 2020 by JohnOsbourne

[clyde devins]

Tremendous posts.  It helps in dusting off some of these shows for a re-listen.  

[Strider]

Bonzo_fan, you really are making the most of your downtime during the coronavirus, haha.

Looking over your list, the only thing that leaps out at me is...

1. I would have Boston higher, ahead of Houston, Ft. Worth, and San Francisco. Yes they had to cut out some songs because of the rowdy crowd but what they did play is killer...some of the best playing of the tour. In fact, taken together the July 20-21 Boston-Providence shows are Led Zeppelin's best 1-2 punch of the tour. Better than the two nights in L.A., the two nights in Chicago, the two nights in Detroit.

2. I think you undervalue the Madison Square Garden shows, too. I would have them, or at least the July 28 and 29 ones, in the Top 10 ahead of San Francisco, Texas, and the May 31 Forum. It was July 29 that gave us that incredible "Celebration Day" on the original TSRTS soundtrack. And that incredible WLL with Bonham supplying a jungle beat for Mike Quashie the fire dancer at the end. Plant sings Stairway to Heaven better on the 29th than on the 27th.

In fact, with the exception of June 3 Forum, I think my top 10 would all be from the second leg. The May shows lack a fully developed "No Quarter" and even "Celebration Day" sounds wayward and haphazard on the outro solo....like Jimmy hadn't figured out what he wanted to do yet. That, and other flaws, takes the May shows down a notch for me.

It's been a while since I've listened to some of the 1973 shows...Tampa, Salt Lake City, San Diego. When I go through them all in chronological order I'll see if my ranking changes.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Strider

[Bonzo_fan]

10 hours ago, JohnOsbourne said:

Nice list.  Generally in agreement w/the individual songs you mention, but I'd change the overall order of shows.  The second leg is my favorite tour ever, so I'm going to cheat and only go into detail for July:

1.  7-12 Detroit.  All-time great show, with an especially strong finish.
2.  7-17 Seattle.  Just a shade behind Detroit.
3.  7-21 Providence.  Superb show after a few nights of hiccups. 
4.  7-24 Pittsburg.  Top-notch, definite preview of the MSG shows.
5.  7-10 Milwaukee.  Very over-looked show.
6.  7-23 Baltimore.  This tops most lists of shows desperately in need of an upgrade.  Even with the awful source, it's clear it's a special night.
7.  7-7 Chicago.  After the problems of the previous night, the band really brings the A-game.
8.  7-27, 28, 29.  I group the NY shows together, because even though no single night is the best of the tour, collectively they contain some of the year's best playing, if not the band's career.  Probably the 29th is the best overall.  A complete tape of the 27th is my personal holy grail.
9.  7-18, 20, 15 Vancouver/Boston/Buffalo.  All of these nights have an unfair reputation.  They all have problems of course, but overall there is some really great playing, esp. from Page.
10.  7-6 Chicago.  This is a much-maligned show, but I'll always have a soft spot for it because it was probably the show that turned me into a bootleg fanatic.  If nothing else, it illustrates just how important the chemistry w/Bonham was to Page.
11.  7-9 St Paul.  Another overlooked night.  Not the greatest by any means, but it's got some very nice, loose playing.
12.  7-13 Detroit.  This one's intriguing because of the only known '73 American performance of Dancing Days, but the fragment we have doesn't suggest the show is anywhere on par with the first night.

Re. May, I love those shows of course, but they just don't capture my imagination like July.  I'm probably in the minority here, but I think the LA-SF shows are a bit overrated.  Personally I like San Diego the best of the California shows.  I think the Texas shows are better than the West Coast shows.  The first night in Dallas is another one of my soft spots, but Ft Worth has some really good playing, and it'd be interesting to hear a complete soundboard of Houston.  Also a minority opinion, but I love the Salt Lake City show.  It's sloppy, to be sure, but to me it has a certain spark.  A complete Denver tape is another holy grail of mine, the fragment we have is sizzling.  I do believe Mobile lives up to its reputation, it's an excellent show.  New Orleans is another somewhat overrated show, but it does have some classic moments (one of the best-ever Communication Breakdowns).  Tampa is a bit of a warm-up show, frankly.

Interesting revisions.  I'm surprised you have Pittsburgh ahead of Baltimore.  Amazing how we can all come up with such different opinions of the same batch of shows -- and shows with essentially the exact same setlists at that!

[Bonzo_fan]

4 hours ago, clyde devins said:

Tremendous posts.  It helps in dusting off some of these shows for a re-listen.  

Thank you, Clyde...glad you're enjoying them.

[Bonzo_fan]

3 hours ago, Strider said:

Bonzo_fan, you really are making the most of your downtime during the coronavirus, haha.

Looking over your list, the only thing that leaps out at me is...

1. I would have Boston higher, ahead of Houston, Ft. Worth, and San Francisco. Yes they had to cut out some songs because of the rowdy crowd but what they did play is killer...some of the best playing of the tour. In fact, taken together the July 20-21 Boston-Providence shows are Led Zeppelin's best 1-2 punch of the tour. Better than the two nights in L.A., the two nights in Chicago, the two nights in Detroit.

2. I think you undervalue the Madison Square Garden shows, too. I would have them, or at least the July 28 and 29 ones, in the Top 10 ahead of San Francisco, Texas, and the May 31 Forum. It was July 29 that gave us that incredible "Celebration Day" on the original TSRTS soundtrack. And that incredible WLL with Bonham supplying a jungle beat for Mike Quashie the fire dancer at the end. Plant sings Stairway to Heaven better on the 29th than on the 27th.

In fact, with the exception of June 3 Forum, I think my top 10 would all be from the second leg. The May shows lack a fully developed "No Quarter" and even "Celebration Day" sounds wayward and haphazard on the outro solo....like Jimmy hadn't figured out what he wanted to do yet. That, and other flaws, takes the May shows down a notch for me.

It's been a while since I've listened to some of the 1973 shows...Tampa, Salt Lake City, San Diego. When I go through them all in chronological order I'll see if my ranking changes.

I'm trying to -- I think I'm at about 200 shows watched/listened to since April 24 between Zepp and Dead mostly, with a bit of Stones, Phish, Doors and AC/DC sprinkled in 😅

I can certainly get behind bumping Boston.  The shortened setlist was the only thing holding it back in my mind, but it was for reasons beyond their control so perhaps I shouldn't have made it such an important factor.  Boston-Providence are definitely an incredible 1-2 punch, and I would go so far as to say that Boston-Providence-Baltimore is at the very least Page's best 1-2-3 punch of their career.  Hamburg-Essen-Offenburg from March would probably be the closest competition I suppose, but the addition of "No Quarter" as a new (and different type of) showcase piece tips the scales towards those three in July for me.

RE: MSG -- Fair, I might have put San Francisco too high and could see putting the MSG shows ahead of it and Bonzo's Birthday, but I'm sticking to my guns about Ft. Worth 😛 The Houston recording pre-SBD is too rough to judge with certainty honestly 😏

"No Quarter" definitely takes a big step forward in July, which gives the second leg an edge.  I've never noticed that about "Celebration Day" -- I'll have to re-examine some of them.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Bonzo_fan

[JohnOsbourne]

On ‎8‎/‎3‎/‎2020 at 12:40 PM, JohnOsbourne said:

12.  7-13 Detroit.  This one's intriguing because of the only known '73 American performance of Dancing Days, but the fragment we have doesn't suggest the show is anywhere on par with the first night.

I couldn't have been more wrong about this one.  A great-sounding audience tape just surfaced (literally today, there's another thread about it here), and it is a red-hot show, Page is out-of-this-world.  The soundboard for the last third doesn't do it justice, it doesn't capture the energy level.  Could easily make it to the top 5.

[1975NQ]

Love this thread. Long time Zep fan, took a long, long extended break from listening due to burnout (stopped around 1995) and just got back into it last year. For the longest time, I didn't bother with boots from the US 73 tour beyond the LA shows, making completely wrong assumptions that it wasn't necessary due to SRTS soundtrack, UK and Euro shows, etc. I could not have been more wrong. After casual listening to shows from this tour starting last year, I'm suddenly (this week) fully hooked on this tour. Been listening all week, and I'm sure it will extend to next week. No rankings to make, just wanted to comment on how fun it is to be back in the grips of Zep fever. Haven't been on a run like this since 1988 (as far as the band just completely dominating my listening). At present, the July shows are my main focus, but LA 6-3 is still one of my all time favs.  

[1975NQ]

On 8/3/2020 at 6:16 PM, Strider said:

 

 In fact, taken together the July 20-21 Boston-Providence shows are Led Zeppelin's best 1-2 punch of the tour. Better than the two nights in L.A., the two nights in Chicago, the two nights in Detroit.

 

After doing a deep dive into this tour recently, I def agree with this. The run they had from Seattle through Pittsburgh is just crazy good. 

[Willow]

A little late on replying  but Boston? Really? Songs cut out, no encores, bad audience.  Now Pittsburgh  is gotta be higher, Robert Plant is mean on Dazed, he is going off- tops!. And WLL is excellent.  The new release of Detroit  7/13 you gotta love both the versions of No Quarter  and Dazed. I'll admit  always a big fan of Baltimore, Providence and Seattle  is the first boot I ever heard, early 80's vinyl.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Willow
Bad grammar

[JohnOsbourne]

4 hours ago, Willow said:

A little late on replying  but Boston? Really? Songs cut out, no encores, bad audience.  Now Pittsburgh  is gotta be higher, Robert Plant is mean on Dazed, he is going off- tops!. And WLL is excellent.  The new release of Detroit  7/13 you gotta love both the versions of No Quarter  and Dazed. I'll admit  always a big fan of Baltimore, Providence and Seattle  is the first boot I ever heard, early 80's vinyl.

Sure, the Boston show had a lot of problems, but the playing is really great.  It shows that even with an unruly audience the band really was out of this world in July '73.  Certainly other nights come out ahead for various reasons, but Boston shouldn't be overlooked.

[1975NQ]

1 hour ago, JohnOsbourne said:

Sure, the Boston show had a lot of problems, but the playing is really great.  It shows that even with an unruly audience the band really was out of this world in July '73.  Certainly other nights come out ahead for various reasons, but Boston shouldn't be overlooked.

Boston s a top 10 show, easy. The playing and intensity just got hotter as the night went on, and it's very possible we can thank those unruly southies for that lol. Robert starts off with admonishment, pleading for order, "take it easy" etc. But at some point, towards the second half of the show, you can tell they're just like "eff it" and go into we-are-gonna-pound-your-brain-senseless-with-rock mode. I think Jimmy ups his game in these types of situations, he's done the same on plenty of other nights with unruly crowds. Yes, they cut the show short and didn't give encores,. But man, did they play their asses off. Dazed is one of the best of the tour, and so is STH. 

The unstoppable force met the immovable object, basically. I was reading YouTube comments on this show earlier while listening, and some guy said "toxic love" lol, That one made me chuckle, pretty clever,

[JohnOsbourne]

20 hours ago, 1975NQ said:

Boston s a top 10 show, easy. The playing and intensity just got hotter as the night went on, and it's very possible we can thank those unruly southies for that lol. Robert starts off with admonishment, pleading for order, "take it easy" etc. But at some point, towards the second half of the show, you can tell they're just like "eff it" and go into we-are-gonna-pound-your-brain-senseless-with-rock mode. I think Jimmy ups his game in these types of situations, he's done the same on plenty of other nights with unruly crowds. Yes, they cut the show short and didn't give encores,. But man, did they play their asses off. Dazed is one of the best of the tour, and so is STH. 

The unstoppable force met the immovable object, basically. I was reading YouTube comments on this show earlier while listening, and some guy said "toxic love" lol, That one made me chuckle, pretty clever,

And Plant was so pissed off, he was still bitching about them the next night in Providence, LOL.  And of course the story of Boston Zep fans trashing the Garden waiting for tickets in '75 is a classic.  A lot of passion in that city, I guess.

[1975NQ]

55 minutes ago, JohnOsbourne said:

And Plant was so pissed off, he was still bitching about them the next night in Providence, LOL.  And of course the story of Boston Zep fans trashing the Garden waiting for tickets in '75 is a classic.  A lot of passion in that city, I guess.

A lot of passion indeed lol. 

[Strider]

Boston Cream Pie is one of my favourite 1973 boots.

[JohnOsbourne]

Speaking of Boston '73, MMH from Providence just came up on my playlist, and before the song Plant goes on about how the previous night was a complete "menagerie".  LOL, how many American stoners (or non-stoners) in the 70's (or now) would know what that means.   But, right before NQ, he apologizes and tells the audience they're gonna play the next song "fantastically", and boy was he right!

[1975NQ]

On 2/12/2022 at 5:19 PM, JohnOsbourne said:

Speaking of Boston '73, MMH from Providence just came up on my playlist, and before the song Plant goes on about how the previous night was a complete "menagerie".  LOL, how many American stoners (or non-stoners) in the 70's (or now) would know what that means.   But, right before NQ, he apologizes and tells the audience they're gonna play the next song "fantastically", and boy was he right!

Sadly, you're right. Only Star Trek geeks (and maybe not even them) know what that words mean in 2022. It was an extremely refined and very English insult - very Robert lol. He knew the bootleggers and crowd wouldn't catch the inference, it was probably more of an inside joke for the band. As opposed to: "Jesus, last night was like playing for animals at a zoo that hadn't been fed for a week!"

Of course, Plant loved to make each crowd feel special. "Last night at fill-in-the-blank-city was ok, but not the greatest. We're REALLY glad to be back here in fill-in-the-blank-city and that's no bull!"

[Strider]

On 2/12/2022 at 5:19 PM, JohnOsbourne said:

Speaking of Boston '73, MMH from Providence just came up on my playlist, and before the song Plant goes on about how the previous night was a complete "menagerie".  LOL, how many American stoners (or non-stoners) in the 70's (or now) would know what that means.   But, right before NQ, he apologizes and tells the audience they're gonna play the next song "fantastically", and boy was he right!

 

On 2/14/2022 at 6:05 PM, 1975NQ said:

Sadly, you're right. Only Star Trek geeks (and maybe not even them) know what that words mean in 2022. It was an extremely refined and very English insult - very Robert lol. He knew the bootleggers and crowd wouldn't catch the inference, it was probably more of an inside joke for the band. As opposed to: "Jesus, last night was like playing for animals at a zoo that hadn't been fed for a week!"

Of course, Plant loved to make each crowd feel special. "Last night at fill-in-the-blank-city was ok, but not the greatest. We're REALLY glad to be back here in fill-in-the-blank-city and that's no bull!"

I don't know why you think so, but 'menagerie' is not that rare a word. I use it at least once a week and it was a word that I heard and knew back in the 1970s. Ever hear of Tennessee Williams? He wrote the famous play "The Glass Menagerie" long before "Star Trek" even existed. If you even moderately well-read, you will have likely come across the word 'menagerie' in all sorts of books, essays, articles, movies, etc.

So yeah, I think plenty of people in Providence knew what Plant meant that night.

[1975NQ]

54 minutes ago, Strider said:

 

I don't know why you think so, but 'menagerie' is not that rare a word. I use it at least once a week and it was a word that I heard and knew back in the 1970s. Ever hear of Tennessee Williams? He wrote the famous play "The Glass Menagerie" long before "Star Trek" even existed. If you even moderately well-read, you will have likely come across the word 'menagerie' in all sorts of books, essays, articles, movies, etc.

So yeah, I think plenty of people in Providence knew what Plant meant that night.

Strider, you're coming off as passive aggressive in your comment here. Even a bit hostile. Yes, I'm aware of the play. No, I don't use that word once a week and neither does anyone else I know - and we're all well-read and highly intelligent. I highly doubt YOU use it once a week, either - calling BS on that one. It's not a crazy word to know but certainly not used often in conversation. Not sure what to say  here other than ... whatever bruh.

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by 1975NQ

[JohnOsbourne]

1 hour ago, Strider said:

 

I don't know why you think so, but 'menagerie' is not that rare a word. I use it at least once a week and it was a word that I heard and knew back in the 1970s. Ever hear of Tennessee Williams? He wrote the famous play "The Glass Menagerie" long before "Star Trek" even existed. If you even moderately well-read, you will have likely come across the word 'menagerie' in all sorts of books, essays, articles, movies, etc.

So yeah, I think plenty of people in Providence knew what Plant meant that night.

I'm willing to believe there were some Trekkies there that night, a bit skeptical that many Tennessee Williams fans showed up.

[Strider]

On 2/17/2022 at 4:19 PM, JohnOsbourne said:

I'm willing to believe there were some Trekkies there that night, a bit skeptical that many Tennessee Williams fans showed up.

You underestimate the literacy of Led Zeppelin fans.

[Strider]

On 2/17/2022 at 3:49 PM, 1975NQ said:

Strider, you're coming off as passive aggressive in your comment here. Even a bit hostile. Yes, I'm aware of the play. No, I don't use that word once a week and neither does anyone else I know - and we're all well-read and highly intelligent. I highly doubt YOU use it once a week, either - calling BS on that one. It's not a crazy word to know but certainly not used often in conversation. Not sure what to say  here other than ... whatever bruh.

 

Hostile? Who took the jam out of your donut? Is there no fun allowed on this forum anymore?

Okay. Let me be more specific. "Menagerie' is not that rare a word when you work and live in Hollywood and have to deal with the menagerie of creeps outside every freaking day and the cops don't do a damn thing.

Believe what you want to believe. But you don't see me criticizing other people's vocabulary usage. But I am the one who is hostile.

 

[1975NQ]

5 hours ago, Strider said:

Hostile? Who took the jam out of your donut? Is there no fun allowed on this forum anymore?

Okay. Let me be more specific. "Menagerie' is not that rare a word when you work and live in Hollywood and have to deal with the menagerie of creeps outside every freaking day and the cops don't do a damn thing.

Believe what you want to believe. But you don't see me criticizing other people's vocabulary usage. But I am the one who is hostile.

 

Life. Life took the jam out of my donut. And then life took the jam and spread it all over my face and said "HERE!! Have some JAM!! HahahahaHAHA!!!" And then put the jam on the ground and made me do pushups so that every time my face lowered, it got covered in JAM!!

Too far? I am, of course, joking.

Anyway, that's weird .. the way I read your post, the whole thing struck me as very passive aggressive indeed. I was thinking "why does he care so much about this menagerie thing lol"? That's the thing with written posts/texts I suppose .. you can lose inflection in the translation sometimes.

Sorry to hear about your menagerie problem.

Edited February 20, 2022 by 1975NQ

[Bonzo_fan]

On 1/30/2022 at 3:23 PM, 1975NQ said:

After doing a deep dive into this tour recently, I def agree with this. The run they had from Seattle through Pittsburgh is just crazy good. 

Yup...TSRTS is great, but imagine if the tapes had started rolling 10 day earlier 😩 Glad to hear you're on a nice Zepp binge after such a long time away!  You started your break when I was born 🤣