Day 174: 7/24/1973 Pittsburgh, PA

7/24/1973 Pittsburgh, PA  (3rd gen)

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, Moby Dick*, Heartbreaker*, Whole Lotta Love*, The Ocean*

*- Pittsburgh Steelers

The tape begins with a series of stage announcements asking the crowd to be cool and sit down. Plant's voice starts off a bit rough, taking a few songs to warm up. Page's fingers get a bit sticky during the guitar solo in Black Dog. As the song ends, Plant asks the crowd "do you remember the last time we came here?... it was obviously in the days when women wore brassieres, because we scored a few." Page hints as the opening of Midnight Rambler before Misty Mountain Hop. Plant moans "don't send me to Heartbreak Hotel" near the end of Since I've Been Loving You.

There is a brief cut in the tape at the beginning of Jones's piano solo during No Quarter. A series of firecracker blasts interrupt the beginning of The Rain Song. As the song ends, Plant announces "John Paul Jones was responsible for the orchestra... and Mellotron was responsible for the fact that it didn't sound so good." Before Dazed and Confused, he tells the crowd "last time we did this next song in Pittsburgh, I remember I scored about five pairs of ladies underwear... fortunately now they've worn out, so I gotta get some new ones." Following an excellent San Francisco interlude, there is a brief cut at the beginning of the bow solo. Before Stairway to Heaven, Plant tells the crowd "sometimes this next piece invokes a sort of a mass feeling that is really, it's better than the best woman in the world... and sometimes there's too many firecrackers." Page blazes through an excellent guitar solo.

Before introducing Moby Dick, Plant makes an announcement asking an audience member named Tammy Davis to meet her boyfriend at the side of the stage. There is a significant decline in sound quality before the tape cuts off about ten minutes into the drum solo. Plant tells the crowd "once again I must apologize for the fact that there's no video screens, but somebody's head will roll... I promise" before introducing Heartbreaker as "the final blast-off." The band is absolutely on fire during the fast guitar solo section. The raucous Boogie Chillen' section during Whole Lotta Love features an excellent guitar solo from Page. Plant trades lyrics with the crowd during the "way down inside..." section. The band closes the show with an explosive The Ocean. Plant sings "Carmen's only four years old" during the first verse.

The tape is fairly clear, if a bit distant and hissy.