Description
Triple disc. Mega rare original Silver Rarities 1993 pressing
An amber galaxy of match flames cast a dim glow over the crammed Sports Arena as Led Zeppelin took possession of the stage on the 19th of June 1977. It was a salute from 14,210 ecstatic fans, a sign of their affection and a symbol of their expectations of a superb rock show. Then, as guitarist Jimmy Page bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham thundered out the opening chords of The Song Remains The Same, golden-dressed singer Robert Plant threw back his head and grinned broadly, revelling in the crowd’s jubilant welcome and the power of the music. They were opening a concert that would last nearly three hours of wide-ranging often exhilarating, sometimes boring rock and three hours of vividly imaginative visual effects. At its best, the show captured what is best about rock-n-roll, its power to stir the human juices and inspire feelings of joyous abandon. At other times though, particularly during the several extended, pointless solos indulged in by Page, it dragged and sagged and let its momentum wheeze to a halt. Plant did much to keep the fire burning, however, strutting like a pouter pigeon about the stage in his shiny white trousers, his burgundy shirt-jacket, open to reveal his chest, his long shaggy hair tossing about like a tree caught in a hurricane. He sang rock and the blues passionately, freely and skilfully. By reaching further into his chest for his voice than he has in the past, he brought increased power to his performance. Oddly, a high moment in the evening came during a quitter time when Plant and Page performed a blues duo, seated side by side in the middle of the stage, Plant singing (for him) softly, Page strumming a right bluesy acoustic guitar. They opened the set with Mystery Train, Plant pointedly imitating the classic Elvis Presley version of the song. But what made Led Zep special? Why was it that this group of Englishmen sold out the Sports Arena, indeed their entire tour, the first day tickets went on sale? Why them and not some other rock group? Yes, they play louder than the rest but the explanation involves more than volume. Led Zeppelin puts on a better show. It presents the string-haired Page bent low over his guitar, glancing a violin bow off its strings, a green pyramid of laser light shining down on him from above, a red light bathing his lower body from below, smoke swirling all about. It has a sense of dramatic pacing, Page dancing rhythmically from the drum stand to the foot of the stage and back again during a brief lull, then signalling a thunderous resurgence. It has Jones bathed in green and iridescent red light during a long Elton John-ish piano solo in No Quarter, the green laser swirling through the rafters. Led Zep blasts its audience with a multitude of explosions and storms of glaring white light. Then, Led Zeppelin encores, after a six-minute standing ovation with Whole Lotta Love and plays Rock & Roll at its stirring best.
Track list:
1. The Song Remains The Same
2. Sick Again
3. Nobody’s Fault But Mine
4. In My Time Of Dying
5. Since I’ve Been Lovin’ You
6. No Quarter
7. Ten Years Gone
8. The Battle Of Evermore
9. Going To California
10. Mystery Train
11. Black Country Woman
12. Bron-y-aur Stomp
13. White Summer / Black Mountainside
14. Kashmir
15. Guitar Solo – Jimmy Page
16. Achilles Last Stand
17. Stairway To Heaven
18. Whole Lotta Love
19. Rock And Roll