7/5/1980 Munich, Germany (two source mix)Train Kept a Rollin', Nobody's Fault But Mine, Black Dog, In the Evening, The Rain Song, Hot Dog, All My Love, Trampled Underfoot, Since I've Been Loving You, Achilles Last Stand, White Summer/Black Mountain Side, Kashmir, Stairway to Heaven, Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love
The crowd's excitement builds to a frenzied peak as the band takes the stage. Train Kept a Rollin' is followed by a thunderous Nobody's Fault But Mine. Black Dog is introduced as "a number from the annals of rock history." Someone near the taper can be heard very enthusiastically singing along during the initial verses. Page blazes through an excellent guitar solo. As the song ends, Plant asks the crowd "can you move back one meter, please?" They begin to clap rhythmically during the droning intro to In the Evening. The band seems a bit hurried during an otherwise beautiful performance of The Rain Song. Hot Dog is introduced as "a song that deals with a preoccupation for, uh... the southern states of United States of America."
Plant dedicates Trampled Underfoot to "all the wondrous times that we've all had in Munich... and especially to Vera, wherever you are Vera." Page shreds wildly through a blistering guitar solo in the middle of the song. Bonzo thrashes at his drums with incredible intensity during the band's final performance of Achilles Last Stand. Page begins to lose momentum during Kashmir, his playing becomes dull and uninspired toward the end of the song. The rhythmic clapping returns at the beginning of Stairway to Heaven. The crowd can be heard singing along during the initial verses. Page delivers an outstanding guitar solo, one of the best in recent memory.
Plant pushes his voice to the limit during an explosive Rock and Roll. As the song ends, he announces "we'd like to say that what you read in the papers today is not true, the doctor isn't in fact behind the stage, he's playin' the drums!" The biggest surprise of the night is the introduction of Simon Kirke of Bad Company, who joins the band on a second drum kit to close the show with a riotous Whole Lotta Love. Page jokingly plays a few bars of Moby Dick before launching into the familiar riff. The theremin freakout features a frantic funky jam. Page blazes through a fantastic guitar solo during the extended Boogie Chillen' section. Plant exclaims "take it to the bridge!" during the song's thunderous finale.
The tape is a combination of two sources. The first, used for the majority of the show, is very clear and well-balanced. The second, used to fill gaps in the first, is fairly clear, if a bit muffled and noisy.
7 comments:
By your review, it sounds like the second best show and you gotta love these audience recordings!!! the 8mm film is excellent.
Thanks a lot!!!
Saw this show when I was 14 and just had gotten into Zep in a big way - it was part of something they called "Munich Rock Summer", because they had four major rock shows in four days back then (Santana, Zappa, can't remember the fourth). I had a pretty good seat approximately 50 yrds from the stage above the arena with a very clean view of the stage. In the beginning I was slightly underwhelmed. The sound at least where I was sitting during "The Train Kept A Rolling" was so bad that it was almost impossible to make out which song was being played. I remember distinctly that I was taken slightly aback by the view of Page's very thin arms - he looked quite frail. But the show got better as it wore on. "Achilles Last Stand" - back then and still my favorite Zeppelin song - was amazing with its white lightshow, "Trampled Under Foot" was good as well with the rotating spots from the side. But "Kashmir" pretty much stole the show, ending Page's solo with a bang. I did get the tour poster after the show which I still have and should have bought the sweat shirt, too. I just didn't have enough money, being 14 and all. The ticket price was 22 marks - a little under 10 bucks at the time. Never got to hear a boot from the show. Then again I never bothered finding one. I'm just amazed that the show is still stuck in my memory a good thrity yrs later.
Plant and Bonzo give powerful and poignant deliveries in Kashmir. Once again, the song has become a venue for Robert to channel and express his great emotional pain of that era.
Jimmy's solo drags on a bit in STH. It's not as heartfelt as other STH solos, even on this tour. Overall, though, it's a nice performance of STH. The crowd's singing along is beautiful. Even Robert's typical cynical and mocking delivery is subdued, given the strong positive energy coming from the crowd. I felt moved and inspired just listening to the crowd's singing. It's too bad that they couldn't inspire Robert more. Here was a positive, beautiful song that he had written, which had given hope and inspiration to so many people. Here, it was like these people were giving it back to those who had first given it to them. Unfortunately, Led Zeppelin was emotionally half-crippled in 1980, and at least Robert seems to have been blind to this notion at the time. He couldn't really feed from the crowd's gift to them.
My favorite Since I've been Loving You.
Love the subdued feel and has the feel of Tea for One.
Surprised nobody mentioned Robert hitting the high notes again especially in Stairway and Rock and Roll.
Saw that concert to. With army friends we left from NEU -ULM Germany train station to munich I still have the full ticket a dream of a lifetime event, to see in
I was 18yrs.old and was with the 2/33 field artillery 1idf 109 howitzer unit. I remember the led Zeppelin concert like it was yesterday!
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