3/20/1975 Vancouver, British Columbia (master>dat combo)Rock and Roll, Sick Again, Over the Hills and Far Away, In My Time of Dying, The Song Remains the Same, The Rain Song, Kashmir, No Quarter*, Trampled Underfoot*, Moby Dick*, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker
*- These three songs are actually from the audience recording of 3/19/1975. There is a 1st gen>dat version of the inferior source in circulation which includes the real versions of these songs, but it is not currently in our collection.
The tape begins with someone onstage announcing "ladies and gentlemen, the Canadian return of Led Zeppelin." Page blazes through the guitar solos during Sick Again. As the song ends, Plant tells the crowd "amidst the positive smells that are rising toward the stage, we're gonna try and maintain some coherence ourselves while you get stoned as stoned as stoned as stoned can be." Page solos wildly as Bonzo and Jones hold down a funky groove during Over the Hills and Far Away. Shouts of "how's Jimmy's finger?" and "how's your finger, Page?" can be heard coming from the crowd s the song ends.
Plant is in top form, belting out each line with power and intensity during In My Time of Dying. As the song ends, he comments "I don't know which is the biggest attraction, the stage or the amateur wrestling in the audience" before expressing the band's sympathy to PA operator Benji LeFevre who has "contracted a social disease." Page's fingers fly across the fretboard during a frantic The Song Remains the Same. Plant mentions the band's last visit to Vancouver, saying "something strange happened to me that evening, I found the light show to be amazing and I wondered what the name of the group was" before dedicating Kashmir to "that state of mind."
Dazed and Confused is dedicated to "chaos everywhere." There is a slight cut during the intro. The Woodstock interlude begins with a long, bluesy guitar workout from Page. A hauntingly beautiful rendition, one of the best thus far. Someone near the taper can be heard saying "dude, it's amazing" during the bow solo. The band is absolutely on fire during the blistering guitar solo/workout section. The hypnotic outro jam is punctuated by an explosive finale. A devastating marathon performance. The taper can be heard tapping the microphone and clearing his throat as Plant dedicates Stairway to Heaven to Jack Daniel's, "starring down 'n out Jimmy Page." The guitar solo is outstanding.
Plant tells the crowd "this is how we intend to be remembered in Vancouver" before Whole Lotta Love. The Crunge is replaced with a frantic rendition of Licking Stick-Licking Stick, which includes hints of Ozone Baby. Plant unleashes a series of spine-chilling screeches during the theramin freakout. Page jumps directly into Heartbreaker following Bonzo's machine gun finale, skipping Black Dog. He shreds wildly during the riotous guitar solo section, following an extended a cappella solo. An amazing performance. As Luis Rey points out, Page is taking control as the tour comes to a close.
The tape is a combination of two fairly clear audience recordings, one slightly better than the other.
Empress Valley has released a soundboard of this show. Just like most '75 soundboards it sounds great and is a must compared to the audience recording of this show.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for telling us about the soundboard.
I never heard the audience recording and don’t want to! This is a “must hear” for those who like the 1975 Zeppelin. This show compares well with the other night in Vancouver.
Cheers.
My mom and I were at the front of the stage at this show. I went to both nights, and I had an extra ticket for this show, and my cousin was coaching his high school basketball team in a playoff game at the Agrodome next door to the Coliseum that evening, so my mom and I went to both. Getting to the front of the stage (there was no seating on the floor) was easy; the crowd waiting for the show to start parted like the Red Sea. We kept walking by young couples, the guys looking stunned and the girls smiling sweetly at my mom, right to stage front and center. My mom enjoyed herself, and for the rest of her life (she died earlier this year, age 90) she would have fun telling people about it, especially about how loud it was, and how the drummer played the drums with his hands and cut himself.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for all of your reviews!!!!
ReplyDelete