Led Zeppelin To Do A Benefit Show


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Led Zeppelin is announcing a reunion concert in London to benefit the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. Too bad that even in their prime their concerts sucked like an Oreck. Zeppelin were the only band ever to have had the pleasure of being blown off the stage by Grand Funk. The sound of a recent busboy kitchen accident at my local Chinese restaurant was more compelling than any Zeppelin show I’ve ever heard.

Unlike other trios that multi-tracked their records and then toured with backing musicians, Led Zeppelin opted to forgo that route and instead play pared down arrangements of their songs during live performances. Not a good idea. Their records usually consisted of Jimmy Page playing 4 or 5 guitar parts (often doing dozens of takes,) the oft underrated multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones covering several keyboard parts as well as the bass, and singer Robert Plant adding multiple vocal tracks. And while they did make some great ones using that technique, their live versions of those records were at best - mildly interesting, and at worst - an abomination. Not only were the arrangements lacking by comparison to the recordings, but Plant couldn’t reproduce his trademarked falsetto live and Page’s guitar work was revealed as sloppy. I shudder to think what they are going to sound like today.

Having said that, I’ll probably still rent the requisite DVD so I can revel in my own self-righteousness at the sheer banality of the show …

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September 12th, 2007
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Viewing 18 Comments

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    I'm going to just torture everyone by saying, "Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Electric Factory, 1968."
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    Hmmm...that doesn't seem to jive with my recollections. I saw Led Zep 2 times (70, 73) and I was astonished by Page's clean playing. I remember watching him play "naked" (working with just bass & drums- no keyboard or another guitar to help take off some of the pressure)and wondering when he was going to toss a clam. If he did I missed it- and I had been playing guitar in public for a good while by then, so I was watching closely. My hands hurt just watching him play so consistently for what were very long sets.

    But that's just me.
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    Never saw Zep, but give a listen to the live show recorded before a small audience for a BBC radio broadcast from 1971, available on the second disk of the BBC Sessions CD set. Maybe the greatest rock set by a live trio I've ever heard.

    The group had just recorded, but not released, Zoso so all that material which we take for granted--black dog, rock n roll, stairway--is new to the audience. Just spectacular. Hard. Tight. Fast. Smoking.

    Generally I agree that Zep's magic was in all the studio layers (I still don't think Page is a very good soloist. His solos are long, dull and unimaginative as a rule, but his layered recorded riffs are mindblowingly good.) But they were a great rock and roll band, not just a great studio band, and listening to this stripped down set that catches the on the cusp of becoming an FM rock dinosaur, is worth every penny. Maybe my favorite Zep record.
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    I tend to agree with much of what you said Jason. I'll have to go back to disc 2 of BBC. Lots of the stuff that was done for the BBC by many bands in the 60's included overdubs, so I tend to discount those sessions as "live."

    I had fun writing that post - but the truth is I'm a big fan of Led Zeppelin in spite of my honest criticisms of them. I agree with your assessment of Page - he was a great guitarist but not the best soloist (as a kid I was blown away by the guitar break in Heartbreaker, but listening to it now it sounds so sloppy - no clams per se - it just isn't very clean) - which is why I'm so critical of their live stuff. When he played a solo, in spite of the fact that Bonham / Jones were an explosive rhythm section the band often fell flat.

    One of my favorite records of theirs is the opening track from Houses of the Holy - The Song Remains the Same. Sounded great in the studio - but the live version is just pitiful.
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    I'll just add the one of my favorite guitar solos of all time is a dark horse choice - it's the one from Fool in the Rain - very evocative and inspired. I crank it up every time it comes on in the car.
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    Check out the bbc show, it's a complete set played live for a small audience in a theater. Real live. The first disk of the 2 disk set is studio stuff recorded for the BBC, the second disk show went out live over the air and was oft-bootlegged.

    BTW, I love Houses of the Holy, prolly my fave Zep studio album, and The Song Remains the Same in particular. Our Zep tastes appear to be very close, so I think you'll dig the BBC date.
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    Based on the one time I saw Led Zep (Chicago, 1972?), I would have to agree with Viscount. Even though they played for hours, it was a bit of a letdown. At one point, during a long Bonham drum solo, my friend started nudging me and pointing at his watch. I was in kind of a daze (you know) and didn't know what he meant. So he shouted in my ear: "He's been soloing for half an hour!" It was that kind of night.
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    drum solo - 1/2 hour

    As someone who thinks that Bonham was one of the best drummers of the rock era, and as a bass player myself, I say that ANY drum or bass solo that is longer than 32 bars is pure wank...
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    I saw Zep at the Garden in 1975, the "Physical Grafitti" tour. I thought they were absolutely splendid, and I left MSG buzzed on more than the aromatics. Of course, I was 16, so I might just have been caught up in the moment (and from having snuck in to the Garden with an old Ticketron ticket and a tightly-folded $1 bill for the easily-bribed ticket-taker), but I thought it was an AMAZING concert.
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    Well I can see that the song remains the same. Everyone is a critic. Even though you have enjoyed and listed to stoned or otherwise for hours and hours you can't just let slepping dogs lie. I think it;s great that they are reuniting to do this gig. I think people want it and wnat to share it as is evident here. But once aging we come to the table empty handed and wanting more that we will ever get from one of the greatest groups that ever recorded their music for us. O.K. I saw there 1st tour in L.A. I was so young I was afraid to go but my new band mates made me. I was never so happy they did. I was lucky enough to have had seen Jimmy Page play "Black Mountain Side" on a Japanese guitar he said he recorded the song on. Said he payed $35.00 dollars for it. He sonded great. As well as the whole first Cd. Given that first cd was less dubbing and whatnot but who cares. Critics, critics, critics. When will we learn to just enjoy what comes along once in a life time and let it go. Thatk you Zep for doing what you wnat to do and pleasing people in the meantime.
    Peace,
    Lynn
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    I think Zeppelin was a great studio band. I'm a fan. Would it have killed them to tour with another guitarist and keyboard player? That's the point. The Who has done it, Genesis has done it. Even Nirvana...
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    PS to Karen...I saw them the same tour at Nassau Coliseum. I was 17. Had a great time, but was also disappointed. I actually recorded the show, and even though the sound quality was poor, I was able to hear what they were doing. They really should have swallowed their egos (and their lust for cash) and invited some other musicians to support them.
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    I believe you meant to say, "pared down," my friend.
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    Thanks Sticky.

    Nice thing about the internet - one can fix these things.
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    Just because they sucked live most of the time doesn't mean that they sucked live all of the time. And even they thought that they should never have released their live album--Cameron Crowe in his notes for their first box set refers to the performances on TSRTS as "achingly average." Plus, adding extra musicians to fill out the sound in live performance didn't become common practice until after they had disbanded. So take them for what they were--a mostly studio band that could under the right circumstances turn modified versions of their recorded work into compelling live material. Hell, the Replacements were glorified for doing shitty shows half the time. Why use a different standard for LZ?
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    ...adding extra musicians to fill out the sound in live performance didn’t become common practice until after they had disbanded.

    True enough, although The Rolling Stones had been doing it for some time. But what about the odd few shows they've played since? Live Aid? Atlantic Records anniversary?
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    Yea, 'The Song Remains The Same' must be one of the most boring and silly concert movies. I remember thinking at the time, "man, they got all those great songs, and here they are playing 25 min version of Dazed and Confused and 15 min of Whole Lotta Love. They coulda fit at least 6 or 7 other Zep songs in that same time frame. But then, they'd have to work harder.
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