LED ZEPPELIN - JULY 23RD. BALTIMORE, THE OAKLAND BRAWL AND NEW HOPE IN COPENHAGEN

JULY 23RD 1973

CIVIC CENTER, BALTIMORE, MD

And the show rolls on. This may be a 'standard' set, but there's nothing standard about the playing. With Robert in fine voice and the band impressively tight but loose, confidence pours from every moment. With 4 more shows to go, including the 3 night stand at Madison Square Garden, the end is obviously in sight and the band play with a new freedom and abandon.

Sadly we've yet to hear a soundboard from this show and we've just the one ok audience recording as reference. Even so, the quality and power shines through. The set list, which raised a few eyebrows among fans with it's lack of acoustic set and long improvisations, now seems more than perfect. 

All the boxes are ticked. The 3 song lift off to get the sound right, the band tight and the hysteria stoked. Over The Hills And Far Away may seem like a restbite at first glance, but it's main objective is to cement the groove and give Jimmy a chance to grease his fingers duelling with the muscular depth charges and fills from Bonzo. After that the medley of Misty Mountain Hop and Since I've Been Loving You is scary and delightful here. After the boogie of the Hop, Robert really excels in his blues motifs and figures, jousting not only with Jimmy's spitfire licks but the rhythm sections ebb and flow. Magical.

No Quarter is now a show stopper. More and more extended, the band follow Jonesy's lead and threaten to overpower him before he steers them back to shore before a spooky and assured coda. The ovation and near hysteria here shows Baltimore KNOWS. 

After that, we get the most unhinged and bizarre Dazed And Confused I've ever heard. Pagey either gets lost or is too spaced out to notice he leads the band into the call and response/fast chase post-bow jam before the San Francisco section. The band follow right up the point where they power through the Holst Mars riff leading into the final verses, and they stop and go back to Frisco and the bow sketch. Improvisation? Lost? Narcotics? Take your pick, but fun and no harm done. 

The finale is wonderful, a band in the groove with an uplifting Stairway To Heaven and almost out of control Heartbreaker. Before the encore Robert leads everyone into a few lines from I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside and then a crunching The Ocean. Great fun and a brilliant 3 hour maelstrom of Led Zeppelin crunch. 

This is the show where the legendary Peter Grant The Song Remains The Same backstage stand off with the promoter took place. Captured brilliantly in the film, looking at it now it's such a timepiece to the time and the might and power of Led Zeppelin.  So horrified by the awful portrayal in Vinyl a while back..... With that footage it would have been a perfect counter balance to have some footage of Peter at home with his cats and relaxing away from the mania and stress of managing the Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the World.

We do have a couple of CD's of this show, all from the same audience recording. Sadly not better, but importantly it exists and we can enjoy it. Greatly.

JULY 23RD 1977

DAY ON THE GREEN, OAKLAND-ALEMEDA COUNTY COLISEUM, CALIFORNIA

The 11th US 'Magick' Tour is getting going again now, after a stodgy start to the 3rd leg in Seattle and a spaced out adventure in Tempe. Two shows back home in California before the final run through a handful of enormodomes and a stop off in Chicago to apologize for the truncated 'food poisoning' show in April. That was the plan. Tragically, everything stopped and things would never be the same again. 

So, California sunshine. With Derringer and Judas Priest opening, Led Zeppelin play to 55,000 and in the glaring light of day show the best and worst of the 1977 model. At times inspired, and others complacent and weary. The only near complete recording we have is distant and without much fidelity, but is good enough to enjoy. 

As usual the extended songs are the most interesting. The openers are strong and muscular, but it takes until No Quarter for things to really open up. Here's where the band seem to lift and get interested, the possibility of something different musically, the edge of the unknown. The acoustic set is relaxed and joyous, Robert talking endlessly and basking in the sun. He's getting back to top form, with his (now legendary) Nurses Do It Better blue t-shirt and self defacing humour proudly on show.

There's no Bonzo showcase, with a huge stadia in the middle of the day and no screens it would have been risky. Jimmy, however, tests everyone's patience with his aural sorcery, killing the momentum a powerful Kashmir stirred up. the finale is as usual, a reverential Stairway To Heaven and a shock second encore of Black Dog as Led Zeppelin start to really enjoy themselves and let loose. even without Moby Dick there's almost 3 hours of power, mystery and the Hammer of the Gods. 

Of course, this is the show where the backstage incident took all the headlines. Suffice to say, what's been reported and revealed over the years is awful and regrettable, but it goes to show what happens at the heart of a military operation when power, paranoia and drugs take hold and accountability is dismissed. The bootlegs from the second show 'The Last Brawl' leave a bitter taste in what was to be Led Zeppelin's Californian and American farewell. 

There are a few CD's of the OK tape, and some footage as well. There's about 8 or 9 minutes of clear but shaky colour cine  film with sound of assorted clips, and recently a 17 minute pro shot distant documentary style clip with ok but distorted sound. Both show the immense crowd, the wonderful weather and the soon to be lampooned Stonehenge stage set up. 

JULY 23RD 1979

FALKONER THEATER, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

One day short of two years after they last picked up their instruments with intent, Led Zeppelin return to the stage. For a long time many of us thought it wouldn't, even shouldn't, happen. \the awful tragedy that struck Robert made the band's future not only uncertain but ultimately completely unimportant. After a long time of grieving and reflection, Bonzo finally persuaded his buddy to pick up the microphone again and revive Led Zeppelin.

As it was in 1968, the faithful hound that is Copenhagen was taken out for a walk and a play in the park. With two mammoth Knebworth shows around the corner, the behemoth that is Led Zeppelin needs to limber up and show their worth to an adoring and startled audience. The set has changed again. Celebration day replaces Sick Again and Black Dog is drafted in to add some bludgeon to the initial assault. The acoustic set is dropped, replaced by The Rain Song and Trampled Underfoot underlines the latter set power and boogie. 

Two and a half hours on paper, it's a much better show than the press suggest. The fantastically clear bootleg tapes highlight a band ready and pushing forward. Sometimes mechanical, there is sloppiness as Misty Mountain Hop almost falls apart and in Since I've Been Loving You the old intensity is gone replaced by a more reflective but no less dramatic instrumental landscape. 

No Quarter is shorter than 1977 but therefore much more dynamic and impressive, and by Kashmir Led Zeppelin are hitting some home runs. Despite Robert's constant hesitant apologies it's a much better night than reported or expected. The comeback is on.

Not long after the shows the great 3LP 'Melacholy Danish Pageboys Get It On' bootleg appeared, copied from vinyl for the first CD's and then taken from the excellent circulating tapes.