L.A. Forum, '77. Are these . . . .

[Walesdad]

 . . . . the bands greatest series of shows at a single venue? The group played multiple consecutive shows at single venues all through their career and places like Madison Square Garden in New York, the Budokan in Tokyo and Earls Court in London saw some great performances. But these L.A. shows have a power, breadth of material and terrific performances all of their own. All are worth hearing and probably three or four would be in most people's top twenty or so best performances, and just joys to listen too, by the group. Any opinions?

[chillumpuffer]

No. By 1977 the band were overblown and, quite frankly boring. Whilst the recordings are good, the shows go on and on. "Welcome to 3hrs of lunacy".  And please 45 minutes of No Quarter and a "guitar noise solo"? No thanks. Give me 1970- 1973 any day

 

[Badgeholder Still]

One common aspect of Zep fandom is the quest to identify the idealized version of the band, usually based on certain time frames, then find ways to disregard the rest. Playing that game i would point to Fall 71 as the classic idyllic version of the band. With that, Japan 71 has it's own significance.  It is it's own version of perfect, but really just a plateau from where they continued with an upward trajectory. Same for NYC73.

I think it would be between EC75 and LA77, and for me it's the latter.

LA '77 has certain significance beyond the performances themselves and really spotlights the dynamic of the band/crowd relationship. The magic of the band, for me, is based on the Tight But Loose concept, musically & otherwise, and LA77 is the epitome of TBL, musically & otherwise in the best ways. The band produces some all timer performances while being absolutely one with the crowd. Now, i'll say the same about EC75, but consider that a more formal affair. An official homecoming with family. Proper enough for the bloody Queen even. LA77 is the after party where it all hangs out. Rock n Roll Ground Zero. Warts and all, LA77 is for me the finest documented example of rock concerts as communal events. As opposed to say, a crowd just getting played at. And 6/23 is the crown jewel. Did they play spot the looney in Japan 71, NYC73, EC75? Over time I've noticed many don't have regard for this aspect, the personality of the event itself,  and continue to obsess over flubs, the flu, heroin... to each their own. Of course their recorded history is riddled with examples of the band and crowd playing off each other. But LA 77 is a destination of sorts. Like other special things in life, it can be hard to put into words. But i always kinda thought LA77 spoke for itself.

[right-there]

1977 fans might be interested in what's displayed in the image below. While not every show is from the LA Forum in '77, the image is the top menu 'page' from a virtual DVD that compiles California Mystery Train; Listen To This, Eddie; For Badgeholders Only; Saturday Night's Alright; and Deep Striker.

As well as providing the entire shows (as much as each of those sets delivers), the 'disc' also presents all the songs from each show accessible in 'end to end' sequence - that is to say you can play 'The Song Remains The Same' from each show one after the other in order to experience, and yes, assess, the performance of every song from across the shows presented.

It's a virtual DVD because after downloading the folder you drop it onto the play window of the VLC app on your PC or Mac and you are presented with the menu screen as below that looks exactly the same and is just as navigable with clicking images/buttons as a DVD offers.

The audio is in [tisdu] sound, offering a 'bigger' sound than the original boot sources.