Description

Rare original first press in thick double box with a four page booklet and no barcode on back cover

The Led Zeppelin Dallas 18th of May 1973 soundboard is among the many that first surfaced in the late eighties which Jimmy Page claims is the result of theft by an employee. Led Zeppelin played four shows in Texas on this tour: May 16 at Sam Houston Arena in Houston, May 18 at Memorial Auditorium in Dallas, May 19 at Convention Center in Fort Worth, and May 22 at Hemisphere Arena in San Antonio. All but the last exist on tape and the other three have partial soundboard recordings. Thunder Rock runs from the introduction through Stairway To Heaven and like many of the other eighth tour soundboards is a bit flat and clinical sounding. And whereas Houston and Fort Worth are amazing performances, Dallas shows the band fighting some PA issues and Page delivers a sloppy performance rendering it substandard compared to the others. John Paul Jones also has fractured ribs, according to Plant, but he delivers a fine show. Page slips up in the Rock And Roll solo and botches the one in Celebration Day. He tests a heavy riff in the second guitar solo which is incongruent to the joy of the piece and the results sound strange. After Black Dog Plant says, John Paul Jones has got two fractured ribs and hes still managing to stand. I think thats fantastic! Thats not really fun at all we thought hed got the clap. The first Houses Of The Holy track Over The Hills And Far Away sounds much better. After the song Plant continues speaking about Jones, saying, Wed like to say welcome back to Dallas. I dont know where youve been for the last show longs it been? A year, thats right. Last time we come here I was at the doctors. This time poor old John. And he aint in good shape either. If we pack up after about ten minutes I hope you understand. Well you must understand. After Since Ive Been Loving You three more new songs are played including No Quarter. This had been added to the set specifically for this tour replacing Dancing Days. The version at Dallas is interesting because they attempt to play an almost exact duplicate of the studio track with no live elaboration. Thus Jones uses vibrato on the organ, Page and Bonham play the same breaks, and even Plant attempts to copy his vocal intonations throughout the piece. All that is missing is the piano melody during the solo. Before Dazed And Confused Plant gushes: That wasnt Woody Herman, folks, it was John Paul Jones. This is a song we made before we ever came to the United States of ahhhh America. Its a song that we made a long time ago. In fact, its almost an oldies but goodies. A twenty-nine minute rendition of the piece follows that is quite effective.

Track list:
1. Rock And Roll
2. Celebration Day
3. Bring It On Home-instrumental intro/Black Dog
4. Over The Hills And Far Away
5. Misty Mountain Hop
6. Since I’ve Been Loving You
7. No Quarter
8. The Song Remains The Same
9. The Rain Song
10. Stairway To Heaven
11. Dazed And Confused medley-St. Georges Hall, Bradford, United Kingdom 18th January 1973
12. Whole Lotta Love medley-St. Georges Hall, Bradford, United Kingdom 18th January 1973