SCHAEFER MUSIC FESTIVAL, WOLLMAN RINK THEATER, CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK
Back to the Big Apple, Led Zeppelin play 2 sets sharing the bill with blues legend BB King, It's a 'standard' set list, pushing You Shook Me ahead of Jimmy's showcase before the ever extending How Many More Times. 
They're having a whale of a time, Robert sounding happy and confident inbetween fantastic vocals in his call and response games with Jimmy in I Can't Quit You Baby and particularly an extended You Shook Me that includes a hint of Rock Me Baby, tipping their hats to BB no doubt.
The set finale is the highlight, with a joking Woody Woodpecker Theme before they get into a groove that includes (probably) the first time they get into For What It's Worth.
The set finale is the highlight, with a joking Woody Woodpecker Theme before they get into a groove that includes (probably) the first time they get into For What It's Worth.
As it climaxes, Robert croons You Make Me Feel So Young after an x-rated Lemon Song interlude that has everyone laughing and smiling. The final blowout is chaos. Communication Breakdown is fast, punk and breathless.
This must be the first set, for a start it's very relaxed and you would expect that by the second set it would be more edgy. Also, one review mentioned a 'four encore colossus'. Doubtful the taper would have stopped recording after the first encore, and the main tape edit is around the 42/43 minute suggesting it was a C90 tape so there was plenty of room for the rest....
This was also the first time Stanley Elsen (Paul Stanley) and Chaim Witz (Gene Simmons) of Kiss saw Led Zeppelin, an event they remember with enthusiasm and wonder, one of the pivotal moments in their determination to be Rawk Stars!
Originally the circulating tape was very poor, phasing mono and some distortion too. Over the years we've had upgrades making it a better more pleasurable listen. The first vinyl bootleg I saw was the 2 picture disc set that included the Milan 71 snippet on side 4.
There was also a terrible quality Japanese Acetate The Dirty Dozens on the appropriately titled Ass record label. On CD there are a few, with Live At Central Park on Empress Valley probably the clearest. Great, great show.
There was also a terrible quality Japanese Acetate The Dirty Dozens on the appropriately titled Ass record label. On CD there are a few, with Live At Central Park on Empress Valley probably the clearest. Great, great show.
Incidentally, overnight on July 20/21st a much more historical event took place - the Apollo 11 moon landing. One Zeppelin related thing I remember is being given a copy of the complete Alexis Korner BBC session on tape before the Page & Plant Poole show on July 16th 1995 and the story goes the taper left a reel to reel running to record the BBC World Service transmission of the landing and after that broadcast finished the session was among other stuff on air that night.
JULY 21st 1973
CIVIC CENTRE, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
Fantastic show, a fave of mine from this tour. Robert's voice is getting stronger and he's going for it,cracking at first but getting back to his best of the tour. The crowd is rowdy, a noticeable problem on this tour, and he has to lecture them after the 'silliness' as he puts it in Boston the night before, giving a big clue as to why that show was truncated without the encore bacchanalia.
The section of Misty Mountain Hop, Since I've Been Loving You and No Quarter is amazing, the 4 instruments (to me Robert's voice IS that 4th instrument) dovetail,duck and weave and create some truly magical moments of musicality and drama. Jonesy pushes them in No Quarter and the response is unique and makes you smile.
Although slightly cut, Dazed And Confused is a downright brutal aural assault, Jimmy flying out of this world and matched by his co conspirators beat for beat. Performances like this stand up the theory of a form of ESP, double guessing or anticipation of each other's next move, lick or riff. NO ONE else has ever sounded like Led Zeppelin in heat.
Sadly, after a five string bass led Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love misses much of the wonderfully lunatic Theremin sketch, but the final climax with The Ocean rounds off an outstanding show. With 5 shows to go and the 'sharks' in place to capture some of the magic on celluloid, Led Zeppelin are reaching new heights both commercially and (onstage at least) musically.
We have almost 2 1/2 hours of this show on a very clear, close audience recording. Post vinyl, there are few CD sets, the LZ Rider on Tarantura and There's So Much More Sound To Hear on Empress Valley do the job, occasional inappropriate noise reduction not withstanding. And there's still more of the Eastern Seaboard to lay waste too as New York holds its' breath....
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