The best there has ever been.

[iansr]

I think it was the 3rd November 1971 (I'll check later) when a friend of mine from up the road knocked on my door and explained that he had a ticket to see Led Zeppelin in Manchester the following night but that he couldn't now go and would I like to buy the ticket. This turn of events was so overwhelming that for a few seconds I couldn't actually process the information and deal with it. I did recover enough to go and plead with my father to give me a lift to the gig and back (I was 17 at the time). He knew this was kinda important to me and agreed to do so, for which I am eternally grateful.

As you will have guessed, I was huge fan of their music and had all 3 of their albums at the time. My expectations of them live were ridiculously high. To give you some idea of how good they were that night all I can do is tell you that they exceeded those expectations.

I was fortunate to see them live a further 7 times, which is quite something considering how infrequently they played the UK. They were never short of extraordinary and on a couple of occasions they were simply so good that I was, God's truth, in an altered state of consciousness for the full 3 hours of the gig (that's how long they used to play).

To give these statements some context, I've been to hundreds of gigs over the years and seen some really special ones: The Who (with Moon) at the Hammersmith Palace, Wishbone Ash (original line-up) a the Rainbow, Little Feat (with Lowell George) at the Rainbow, Dr Feelgood at Clarences in Halifax, Talking Heads (touring Fear of Music) at Manchester Apollo (I think), REM (touring Green) at the Apollo and The White Stripes (pre mega stardom) at the Leadmill. These were all magical gigs of the kind where time stops for you and you just experience raw joy and energy. But none of these came close to what Zeppelin could do to you when they were at their best.

Why am I telling you this? Because I'm here at home in the West Riding and not at the f**king O2 arena!

[simon]

REM (touring Green) at the Apollo

You've brought back some great memories there Ian. I saw the Green tour at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall and Wembley Arena and they were magnificent. Even the awful acoustics of Wembley Arena couldn't spoil it. The sound at the Royal Concert Hall on the other hand was truly great.

[Mo]

double post.

[Mo]

Stairway to Heaven from the 02 concert:

[Lee S]

As an interesting aside, when Rob Plant and Jim Page were hanging out one evening with the Who and they told Roger Daltrey and Keith Moon of their plans to form a band and the kind of stuff they would be playing, Keith Moon laughed and said, "Oh God!! With you two wasters in this band you won't go down like a lead balloon, you'll go down like a lead zeppelin!!", and that's where the name came from. They then dropped the 'a' out of Lead, so that the Yanks (in their infinite wisdom - allegedly) wouldn't mis-pronounce it as "leed", and so was born one of the best rock groups the world has ever seen.

Cheers

[Mo]

More Video's from last nights concert.

Kashmir:



Good times, Bad Times:



Whole Lotta Love:



Rock and Roll:



Since I have been loving you:



The Song Remains The Same:

[Ray P]

I find all these youtube videos rather sad; people seem to be more interested in saying look at me, I was there, than actually listening to the music and enjoying the perfomance - not that these really big venues allow you to connect with the perfomers.

Perhaps I'm just a grumpy old bugger.

Ray

[iansr]

Good news, bad news (geddit?): the reviews are unanimous, they were just fantastic. So, the bad news - I'm now even more sick I wasn't there. Good news - combination of the amazing reaction from everyone (including all the critics) and the fact that they had such a great time means they might tour. Its all down to Percy now.

Thanks for the links Mo.

PS. Re the special gigs I mentioned in my first post, how could I forget the great Jackie Leven. If you don't know of him he was the lead singer in post-punk band, Doll By Doll. Now a solo artist making fabulous music. His first solo album, The Mystery of Love is Greater than the Mystery of Death is a desert island disc. The man is a star, its just that the world doesn't know it.

[floppybootstomp]

I adore Led Zeppelin

First time I saw them was summer '69, Bromley College, Kent.

It cost me seven shillings and sixpence to get in and you could go to the bar, get a pint, then walk back down the front and see Jimmy Page close up using that violin bow.

I wasn't really aware of them at the time but do remember they were boody good. And shortly afterwards bought the first album. 'Gobsmacked' would be an understatement.

After the gig, my mate offered the opinion that the support band were better, a band who have evaporated along the way into the ether, can't even remember their name.

The next year, it cost me a whole quid to see them at the Lyceum - rip-off!

[iansr]

I would love to have seen some of those early gigs, but I guess I shouldn't complain as I did get to see them quite few times.

Sadly my earlier optimism that they might play some more gigs following O2 seems to have been misplaced. Perhaps I should keep my fingers crossed that the next Plant / Krauss album is a complete turkey.