I HAD A DREAM, OH YEA
CRAZY DREAM, OH NO
ANYTHING I WANTED TO KNOW
ANY PLACE I NEED TO GO
Press Review:
Led Zeppelin's
British rock quartet shows
sell-out at
Madison Square Gardens
Even though millions
of young people
have managed to acquire it,
Led Zeppelin
remains an acquired taste.
The British rock quartet,
which this week
opened a run of
six long-since
sold- out shows
at Madison Square Gardens,
makes a monstrously loud,
deliberately abrasive
kind of music
far removed
not only from
the sweet rustlings of
classical music,
jazz and Tin Pan Alley,
but even from
the tuneful,
rhythmically enlivening
rock songs
of the 1960s.
That said,
this was the best
Led Zeppelin show
It is certainly superior to the
1975 Garden shows,
the last the band
had given in New York.
That time the guitarist,
Jimmy Page,
had an injured finger.
Since then Led Zeppelin
has been off the road,
waiting for the singer,
Robert Plant,
to recover from first
an auto accident
and then a
throat infection.
This tour amounts
to a re-assertion of
the band's preeminence
in the fickle
youth market of America,
and on its own terms
the opening show
was certainly a
triumphant reassertion.
It lasted three hours
and included some
18 songs,
depending on how you count
a Led Zeppelin
"song"
is often an excuse for
a meandering instrumental
that sucks in all sorts of
extraneous material
as it goes along
and sometimes segues
subtly into something
altogether different.
The repertory included
much that was predictable, from
"The Song Remains the Same"
to
"Stairway to Heaven"
by way of
"In My Time of Dying"
"The Battle of Evermore"
"No Quarter,"
"Kashmir,"
"Achilles Last Stand"
and others,
But there was also an
acoustic set
that lightened
the heavy-metal load.
The mood of the Garden concert,
offstage and on,
seemed fresher and less
hostile than some
Led Zeppelin concerts
and crowds of yore.
The audience waited more
or less docilely for
70 minutes past
the scheduled starting time
before the band appeared.
When it did so,
the mood of the musicians
was good-natured
and almost puckish.
And Plant laudably and earnestly
attempted to discourage
the hurling of firecrackers
and cherry bombs.
Quite apart from its
sheer massiveness
and its mood,
this was a first-class
Led Zeppelin performance
on several objective criteria.
Plant's voice
sounded fresh throughout,
but especially during
the acoustic portion, in
"Going to California."
And it was aided by a
whole battery of
echo and filter effects.
Similarly Page's
guitar playing,
always concerned with
coloristic exploration
was positively kaleidoscopic
in that respect.
And his work along with
everybody else's
was projected forcefully
and clearly by
the sound system.
The other two
held up their ends, too.
The final night
at the Garden
and an excellent show.
The band is very powerful
and Page is playing a
great concert,
stopping the hearts
of the crowd in
Since I've Been Loving You
and especially
No Quarter.
Ten Years Gone
is an excellent version
and the concert is powerful
where the tape finishes.
This is all that exists
of the show.
The sixth night at
The Garden and
the band's final
New York performance
in its original form
begins with a fiercely energetic
The Song Remains the Same.
Plant's aggressive snarl
dominates a ferocious
Sick Again.
As the song ends,
he apologizes for
the delay, saying
"there was a real reason for it,
I'd got no clothes to wear,"
which is met with shouts of "bullshit!"
from the crowd.
Page's fingers are like
razor blades
as he slashes and shreds
through an erratic
guitar solo during
Nobody's Fault But Mine.
Plant again tries to sing
the chorus of
Over the Hills and Far Away
in its original melody,
but falls short.
Page is all over the place
during the guitar solo.
Plant introduces
Since I've Been Loving You
as
"a song about the doubts of love,"
adding
"and if there's anybody wandering
around this
auditorium tonight who's in doubt... don't be."
Page has reverted
to the sharp,
angular soloing style
characteristic of the
1975 North American tour.
Jones is introduced as
"one of the greatest yachtsmen on Central Park"
before
No Quarter.
Page and Jones
get into a spirited interplay
prior to an epic
guitar solo section.
There is a cut in the tape
during the final verse.
Page nearly destroys
the guitar solos
during Ten Years Gone.
Plant hints at
Gallows Pole
before
The Battle of Evermore.
Going to California
is introduced as
"a song about the desire to find what
you want and sometimes almost giving up."
Page hints at
Pinball Wizard
at the beginning of
Black Country Woman,
which is dedicated to
Ral Donner.
Plant delivers a
powerful performance during
Kashmir.
Unfortunately,
the recording ends
just over three minutes into
Over the Top.
TRACKLIST
CD 1
The Song Remains the Same
Sick Again
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Over the Hills and Far Away
Since I've Been Loving You
No Quarter
CD 2
Ten Years Gone
The Battle of Evermore
Going To California
Black Country Woman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
White Summer/Black Mountain Side
Kashmir
Moby Dick (Over The Top) [*]
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