The "marathons" in the set lists...........

[Walesdad]

What do people think about listening to them today as opposed to actually seeing and hearing them at the time,live?This has been touched on already by the "1977 Noise Solo" thread from Paulus from last December,but I was wondering about opinions on the three very long pieces I witnessed.I saw the band on the last night at Earls Court,London,1975.I can distinctly remember coming out after the show,and although seeing the band was fantastic,and thinking things like 'No Quarter' ( twenty odd minutes long ), 'Moby Dick' ( nearly twenty minutes long ) and a monster in length 'Dazed and Confused" ( over thirty minutes ) took some enjoying. I mean,lets be honest,a drum solo gets to be torture after the first thirty seconds.Now,fast forward forty five years and I like nothing better than sitting down and listening to the really long versions of both 'Dazed and Confused',some of which are just simply stunning,and,in particular,'No Quarter',of which I have yet to hear a version that I didn't like.Without getting too romantic about it all, I sometimes think that during some of the pieces the band played,another element almost joined in and entered the fray.Any opinions?

[HollywoodBowl1998]

I'm way too young to properly chime in on this, but I am guessing that some of the live material would have been lost on most audience participants. Their live stuff was almost as freestyle as old jazz music. It was never the same twice; and the live stuff was quite different from the studio albums.  My first time listening to TSRTS, I didn't even know what I had listened to when it was all over.  I knew goin in that there was a ~26 min version of Dazed and Confused, and I was super excited to listen, but only about 5 mins of it was familiar.  The rest was literally new music to me, so I didn't really know what I had just listened to; and now I love it. But only because I could listen to it enough times to appreciate it.

 

On the flip side, live music is live music. It always rocks. We've all gone to concerts and knew none of the material, yet probably still enjoyed ourselves, especially if they were musically gifted. Live is just good.  So I'm guessing Zep concert goers liked it.  Their frequent concert goers probably loved it, knowing what to expect...and the fanatical would be familiar with the bootlegs and would love it even more; in fact I would guess they would have experienced nothing else like it.

[pageluvva]

10 hours ago, HollywoodBowl1998 said:

I'm way too young to properly chime in on this, but I am guessing that some of the live material would have been lost on most audience participants. Their live stuff was almost as freestyle as old jazz music. It was never the same twice; and the live stuff was quite different from the studio albums.  My first time listening to TSRTS, I didn't even know what I had listened to when it was all over.  I knew goin in that there was a ~26 min version of Dazed and Confused, and I was super excited to listen, but only about 5 mins of it was familiar.  The rest was literally new music to me, so I didn't really know what I had just listened to; and now I love it. But only because I could listen to it enough times to appreciate it.

 

On the flip side, live music is live music. It always rocks. We've all gone to concerts and knew none of the material, yet probably still enjoyed ourselves, especially if they were musically gifted. Live is just good.  So I'm guessing Zep concert goers liked it.  Their frequent concert goers probably loved it, knowing what to expect...and the fanatical would be familiar with the bootlegs and would love it even more; in fact I would guess they would have experienced nothing else like it.

For someone "too young to properly chime in" you absol nailed it my friend. Well said 👏👏👏

[Walesdad]

11 hours ago, HollywoodBowl1998 said:

I'm way too young to properly chime in on this, but I am guessing that some of the live material would have been lost on most audience participants. Their live stuff was almost as freestyle as old jazz music. It was never the same twice; and the live stuff was quite different from the studio albums.  My first time listening to TSRTS, I didn't even know what I had listened to when it was all over.  I knew goin in that there was a ~26 min version of Dazed and Confused, and I was super excited to listen, but only about 5 mins of it was familiar.  The rest was literally new music to me, so I didn't really know what I had just listened to; and now I love it. But only because I could listen to it enough times to appreciate it.

 

On the flip side, live music is live music. It always rocks. We've all gone to concerts and knew none of the material, yet probably still enjoyed ourselves, especially if they were musically gifted. Live is just good.  So I'm guessing Zep concert goers liked it.  Their frequent concert goers probably loved it, knowing what to expect...and the fanatical would be familiar with the bootlegs and would love it even more; in fact I would guess they would have experienced nothing else like it.

I think you are right.Certainly for me,going to finally see led Zeppelin live during 1975 nobody knew what to expect.This was pre internet,pre MTV,pre pretty much the music saturation we can all enjoy today.Virtually the only media outlet for bands at that time was the music press.As the band gave very few interviews to the press,at least in the U.K., at that time and gig reviews were almost non existent,those first shows in Britain for something like two years really were an unknown quantity.Pretty damn fine to listen to today though.     😉

[HollywoodBowl1998]

Cool, great to hear I'm not totally in left field on this.  Like most of us, I'm fanatical about Zep. So I've read a lot, listened even more.  Nice to see my hunches of these things aren't off the mark.   

[Mikelangelo]

Those good old long jams. Bet you can't get away with those these days 😁 Like Allman Brothers' Mountain Jam etc.

[andyk17]

Saw them twice at Earls Court 17th and 24th, I remember being underwhelmed by the longer tracks at the time, but listening to the bootlegs over the years actually enjoy them. First time I listened to No Quarter was on the  bootleg of same name a few months later and my opinion changed for the better.

Still not a fan of marathon Moby Dicks though.

Edited January 24, 2021 by andyk17

[Walesdad]

7 hours ago, andyk17 said:

Saw them twice at Earls Court 17th and 24th, I remember being underwhelmed by the longer tracks at the time, but listening to the bootlegs over the years actually enjoy them. First time I listened to No Quarter was on the  bootleg of same name a few months later and my opinion changed for the better.

Still not a fan of marathon Moby Dicks though.

Ditto all the above and that 'No Quarter' boot was a classic in its time.

[Nutrocker]

On 1/20/2021 at 3:41 AM, Mikelangelo said:

Those good old long jams. Bet you can't get away with those these days 😁 Like Allman Brothers' Mountain Jam etc.

Or something like Yes' Tales From Topographic Oceans tour, where EVERY song was an epic (the four Oceans pieces themselves are 20 mins each)...short attention spans need not apply! 

[chef free]

A great band like the Mighty Zeppelin can create "music magic" in live performance, that spirit might not be as recognizable when reviewed on tape.  Long epics can be really entertaining and inspiring as you are there interacting as an audience to those musicians. A lot of 60's and 70's bands tried for that "jazz ethic" of never-play-it-the-same-way-twice improvisation; Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Yes, King Crimson, and many others.  There's a bit of "ya had to be there" to some of those long jams. I saw a '77 show and I enjoyed No Quarter, and the guitar and drum solos, but I don't want to listen to them on tape very often...,

[SteveZ98]

34 minutes ago, chef free said:

A great band like the Mighty Zeppelin can create "music magic" in live performance, that spirit might not be as recognizable when reviewed on tape.  Long epics can be really entertaining and inspiring as you are there interacting as an audience to those musicians. A lot of 60's and 70's bands tried for that "jazz ethic" of never-play-it-the-same-way-twice improvisation; Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Yes, King Crimson, and many others.  There's a bit of "ya had to be there" to some of those long jams. I saw a '77 show and I enjoyed No Quarter, and the guitar and drum solos, but I don't want to listen to them on tape very often...,

One of my buddies was at the 6/7/77 show in NYC. He said he normally hates drums solos, but seeing Bonzo do his live was amazing. And I never listen to Jimmy's "noise" solos, but I would have loved to see it in person. The sound bouncing around the arena must have been overwhelming, and how cool would it have been to see Jimmy in the middle of the laser pyramid, then the solo slowly morphing into the first few notes of Achilles Last Stand and then the blinding white lights as the rest of the band joined in. 

[BobDobbs]

I have always loved the marathon tunes. When I was living in Chicago (almost 30 years ago) in the winter I would go to a tanning place after work and play Dazed & Confused from TSRTS as it was the perfect length for my tan. I also used to love and listen to the marathons on the beach, just chillin with a Pina Colada, a sidecar of Tequila, and a nice spliff. Nothing like that combo while watching the sun set on the Coronado Beach.