Day 217: 4/10/1977 Chicago, IL

4/10/1977 Chicago, IL  Great Chicago Fire

The Song Remains the Same, Sick Again, Nobody's Fault But Mine, In My Time of Dying, Since I've Been Loving You, No Quarter, Ten Years Gone, The Battle of Evermore, Going to California, Black Country Woman, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Trampled Underfoot, White Summer/Black Mountain Side, Kashmir, Over the Top, Achilles Last Stand, Stairway to Heaven, Rock and Roll

The band's fourth and final night at Chicago Stadium begins with a brief soundcheck before The Song Remains the Same comes thundering out of the gate. Bonzo has become the band's main driving force, hammering at his drums with incredible intensity. Nobody's Fault But Mine is devastatingly heavy. Page shreds furiously through a blistering guitar solo. In My Time of Dying is a cacophonous sonic assault. There is a slight cut in the tape at the very end of the song. Since I've Been Loving You is dedicated to Willie Dixon "and his friends on the south side who write good music." Plant introduces Jones as "a man who once stayed at the Royal Orleans hotel" amidst shouts of "sit down!" before No Quarter. Following the upbeat honky tonk interlude, he switches back to the electric piano for the instrumental section. Page wanders aimlessly through an out of tune guitar solo. 

Plant tells the crowd "in England, it's very important to take the one you love to the back seat of the school bus and promise that forever and ever, you will be together... it never works that way, but you can try it in every town" before introducing Ten Years Gone as "a song about the first one." The first few bars of Going to California are missing from the tape. Plant sings a couple lines of Surrender as the band prepares for Black Country Woman. Page shreds wildly through the guitar solo during Trampled Underfoot. Plant delivers a powerful performance during a thunderous Kashmir. He introduces Bonzo as "the man I call my brother" before Over the Top. Unfortunately, only the Moby Dick outro survives on the tape. Page's fingers become entangled in the strings during the guitar solo in Achilles Last Stand. The crowd erupts as the show-closing Rock and Roll crashes into motion. An explosive finale to the band's troubled stay in Chicago.

The tape is distant and quite noisy.

Click here for an audio sample courtesy of Black Beauty.