GOT A MONKEY ON MY BACK
Led Zeppelin :
Tarrant County Convention Center,
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
05/22/77
(Texas Hurricane)
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GREAT SOUND ON THIS !!!
This is another
excellent soundboard
with a fairly even mix
between the instruments
similar to the other boards
from 1977.
The recording has a
heavy feel in the low end
(good for Jones and Bonham)
and Page’s guitar sounds a
little crunchier/fuzzier
than normal.
Led Zeppelin
was a little over a month
and a half into their
tour and
“The Song Remains The Same”
sounds very tight.
Sometimes Zeppelin needed
a couple of tracks
to warm up before
hitting full stride
but tonight they
get into it quickly.
Plant addresses
the audience after
“Sick Again”
and the band rolls into
the first track from
the new album,
“Nobody’s Fault But Mine”.
The start of
“In My Time Of Dying”
is stopped and has to be
started again due to
Jimmy’s guitar cutting out.
This is a great version
with the simple exception
of a near train wreck
during the coda.
Page starts playing
a few bars behind
the rhythm section
and it is rather hilarious
at how long they go on
before finally reconnecting.
“Since I’ve Been Loving You”
redeems with some nice
“light and shade”
moments and they al
l turn in some fine
English blues.
“No Quarter”
is typically excellent
with great interplay between
the musicians
and during
John Paul Jones’
lengthy piano solo
they break into a
loose version of
“Nutrocker”
which keeps up
the excitement.
Page has some
magical moments
in his solos.
Disc two
starts off with
Jones on his
triple neck acoustic.
We are now able to
hear the complete
“Ten Years Gone”
and
“The Battle Of Evermore”
which were sadly missing
from the audience sources
all these years.
Jimmy’s execution of
the main solo in
“Ten Years Gone”
is very nice.
The 1977 tour
featured a long
four song acoustic set
and Plant offers a
“cross-section of the
acoustic stuff that we’ve done…
trying to break the name
of heavy metal”
as he puts it.
He talks of the
border struggles
in English history before
“The Battle Of Evermore”
adding
“and I believe you Texans
had a bit of trouble with that too”.
He describes
“Going To California”
as more American
than English
and throws in
“it must have been a Yellow Rose”
in reference to the
“flowers in her hair”.
“Black Country Woman”
runs non-stop with
“Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp”
which is unfortunately
cut after only 1:17
and in return
misses the first minute
and a half of
" White Summer”
as well.
“Kashmir”
storms across the stage
and is interesting as
Bonzo throws in
a couple extra fills
in a few spots
even though the
Mellotron sounds
slightly out of tune
in places.
During Plant’s
extended introduction of
John Bonham,
Page perfectly plays
the opening lick to the
“Heartbreaker”
solo and clearly rouses
the audience before the
“Out On The Tiles”
intro
(“Over The Top”
is definitely the best way
to describe this,
Bonzo’s playing is monstrous
from the start and
he continues for a
staggering 25 minutes or so.
The electronic trickery
during the tympani section
sounds like a
motor speedway at times.
Page’s guitar solo follows.
I have always found
the effect he uses
very noisy and the solo
very boring up until
the violin bow section.
Perhaps you had to be there.
Page has some trouble
with his tuning in
“Achilles Last Stand”
but he does his
best to mask it.
Bonzo is on fire again here
but it is not enough
to keep it from being
a mere average performance.
“Stairway”,
on the other hand,
is epic on every level
and Page has a
nice solo break
before bringing the
main set to a close.
“Whole Lotta Love”
featuring a
prominent backing vocal
from Jimmy
makes its tour debut tonight.
It is used as a brief intro to
“Rock And Roll”
where Bonzo teases
the drum intro
many times before committing.
If this isn’t enough,
the band returns for
a second encore
and feature a cover of
Jerry Lee Lewis’
“It’ll Be Me”
with
Mick Ralphs
from Bad Company
on second guitar.
A rare
Zeppelin moment.
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