Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Day 156: 5/19/1973 Fort Worth, TX

5/19/1973 Fort Worth, TX  (1st gen reel>dat>cdr)
Rock and Roll, Celebration Day, Black Dog, Over the Hills and Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I've Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains the Same, The Rain Song, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven

The tape begins with a brief soundcheck before the high-energy one-two punch of Rock and Roll and Celebration Day. Page blazes through an extended guitar solo during the latter. Plant scolds the crowd for not responding to his calls during Black Dog. Bonzo and Jones lay down a heavy groove as Page shreds through an erratically excellent guitar solo during Over the Hills and Far Away

Plant sings "gimme some more monitors, if you will, yeah" during the initial verses of Since I've Been Loving You. He unleashes a spine-chilling squeal at the end of Page's uneven guitar solo. No Quarter is hauntingly epic. An excellent performance. Plant mentions "a funny feelin' in me pipe" while introducing The Song Remains the Same. Page's fingers fly across the fretboard during the guitar solos. The Rain Song is fantastic. Bonzo pounds on his drums with incredible intensity during the heavy section. Unfortunately, there is a slight cut in the tape near the end of the song.

Plant dedicates Dazed and Confused to "an old friend of mine... the butter queen!" Bonzo hammers wildly at his tympani during the intro. The frantic lead-in to the bow solo features one of the best renditions of San Francisco thus far. Hauntingly mournful one moment, devastatingly heavy the next. Page is absolutely on fire during the epic guitar solo/workout section. The return to the main riff is explosive. Page solos wildly over Bonzo and Jones's hypnotic, pulsating rhythm during the outro. A truly amazing performance, one of the best thus far. Unfortunately, the recording ends following a great Stairway to Heaven as Plant tells the crowd "I'm beginnin' to feel the presence of fourteen thousand people." An excellent performance. Must hear.

The tape is another wonderful soundboard recording. Very clear with a thunderous bottom end.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I am listening to this right now. Things don't really start to take off until NO Quarter. Its not as if the band were in horrible form, far from it. There is a funny moment during "Since I've Been Loving You" where Page almost loses his grip, you can hear a really wacky note during the opening solo the song. Plant is full of smarmy comments, and Jones is solid as always. Bonzo of course dominates these recordings. There is a reason why a bootleg of this show was titled "Tympani FOr The Butterqueen". Dazed and Confused is another marathon clocking in at 32 min. No noodling, or pointless jamming here, listen to the jams AFTER the violin bow solo. Unfortunately like all of these 1973 recordings, the fun stops after "Stairway To Heaven."

Anonymous said...

The band sounds amazing in this recording. .Cant really tell what the crowd is up too. .Soo bummed about the last couple lines in what is my personal favorite. .Over all a wonderful listening experience:)