Led Zeppelin | Page 18 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Awesome news! If i were you, I’d just continue chronologically, since you’ve started with the first one.

For me, II is kind of the inverse of I: the ideas behind the songs aren’t quite as interesting to me, but they’re presented in a much more coherent way. Both amazing albums, that lead the way to the mastery of IV, Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti. 

I had the chance to see Led Zeppelin in Sept. 1971 at the theater on the Cal Berkeley campus (home of the free speech movement). The Bay Area was a solemn place to live in those days. (In fact the last time I had stepped foot on the Cal campus I experienced my first tear gas). The truth was bands that diid’t have some sort of counter culture/political cred were not taken seriously. This included bands like Credence Clearwater Revival, Grand Funk Railroad, and even McCartney. Due to Jimmy Page’s status as a legitimate blues innovator and guitar legend, Led Zeppelin kind of walked that fine line. The Beatle fans I knew did not like or trust them. I’m sure when Plant remarks on stage in The Song Remains the Same “Does anyone remember laughter” this is what he was referring to. Also Led Zeppelin was rumored to be into what I’ll call dark magic, which I knew from going to a Black Sabbath concert earlier in the year brought out some spooky goblins. So between the angry protesters, left wing activists, pagan witches and satanic warlocks, I wasn’t sure what to expect that night. As it turned out the crowd was a fairly normal bay area mix of hippies and students.

This was the first concert I ever attended in a theatre that had cushioned seats, marble staircases leading to a dress circle and balcony, ushers, and even a proscenium arch with a sparkly purple curtain. It was also the most expensive concert I had been to up to that time, $6.50 (twice as much as a normal club venue). So, the house lights blinked twice and a few minutes later the lights went down, the curtain parted and there was Led Zeppelin. Page was to the right, a little bit behind Plant who was to his left but not quite center stage. Bonham was in the back stage center completely surrounded by his kit with a big brass gong behind him. Jones was on the left kind of surrounded with equipment including an organ. The main thing about the stage that you couldn’t miss were the large number of Marshall amps stacked two high all the way from one end of the stage to the other. It was the most amps I’d ever seen and when they started Immigrant Song you could feel the music against your chest as it ripped into your ears. It was the loudest music I’d ever heard. Fortunately Jones who seemed to be handling the sound from the stage adjusted something and by “How soft your fields so green” all was good.

This was the setlist for the night (with a little help on the song order from the Berkeley Barb News reporter who took notes):

Immigrant Song
Heartbreaker
Since I’ve Been Loving You
Black Dog
Dazed and Confused
Stairway to Heaven
Celebration Day
That’s the Way
Going to California
What Is and What Should Never Be
Moby Dick
Whole Lotta Love
Encore
Communication Breakdown
Thank You
Rock and Roll

This concert was almost 50 years ago, so what I am left with are these impressions.

*Jones and Bonham were running the show, particularly Jones. The band would look to him for queues and the tight rhythm section left little room for improvisation. Since there was no rhythm guitar, Jones was sometimes called on to play organ, bass and recorder all at the same time. He looked a bit like a mad scientist, twisting knobs and concocting sounds in his darkened corner of the stage.

*Despite the rather tight format, Page was still changing things up. What I remember is the first part of the older songs would be played note for note and the second part he would riff but within the confines of the song structure. It’s hard to describe, but it wasn’t like Jimi or Neil taking off and the band following along. Page wasn’t changing the song exactly, just the way he played within it.

*Plant was much looser than I expected him to be. He didn’t interact with the band much but he had a friendly demeanor and danced about to the music.

*Bonham was everything you’ve ever read about and did a 20 minute drum solo (Moby Dick) that absolutely blew everyone’s minds. No one sat down after that. Without question he was the Hammer of the Gods.

*This was one of the most unusual concerts and tour ever for a major band. Although nearly a quarter of the songs were from Led Zeppelin 4 and Stairway was being introduced for the first time, the album release had been delayed until November so no one had heard any of it. I remember thinking a few times that they were playing cover song. For Stairway Page strapped on the double neck Gibson, but gave the stage to Plant for the first half. They played really slow and Plant kind of swung back and forth holding the mic stand and telling his intriguing story (ooh it makes me wonder). There was no anticipation of what was to come, so Plant held the room like casting a spell. When Page’s lead came it was so unexpected (the light man hit the guitar body with a focused spot and the reflections would occasionally fill your eyes) and the band was tight and really brought it home. They knew what they had and after the last lyric there were smiles all around.

*For That’s the Way and Going to California the band pulled out their acoustic guitars. Stools were brought out and they sat in a semi-circle and played like a folk group. It felt very generous of them to play so intimately at a rock concert and in light of Plant’s future musical interests, was a sign of things to come.

*When the band came back on stage after the drum solo they hit Whole Lotta Love at full throttle. (Plant remained bare chested for the rest of the night) It was the most electric moment of the night. They added a section that included some snippets of 50s songs (like Hello Mary Lou, some Elvis). Their demeanor and energy had changed and I think they may have enjoyed some extracurriculars while back stage.

*All this being said the absolute highlight was Since I’ve Been Loving You, a song I hadn’t paid that much attention to (I loved the Hobbits stuff0. This was the only song that Page and Plant stood together and interacted with each other’s performance. The tension BUILT AND BUILT and it was one of those concert moments where you think to yourself “this is the hottest thing I’ve ever heard”.

I moved to Hawaii a few weeks later and it wasn’t until probably January that I heard Black Dog on the radio (Hey, hey mama). Wow, that wasn’t a cover song after all-TURN IT UP!!!

Glad you enjoyed it .  It’s kind of funny, I thought it was a unique experience to hear those songs for the first time live. My brother on the other hand ended up hating it. You know the old adage about existence; if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise? His feelings are “If I heard Stairway live for the first time and I didn’t know it, does it count as actually hearing it”?

A bit or research reveals that the 4/1/71 show featured the premier of Stairway on the BBC. I think that is what you and VB were going for. Even so, I will enjoy being Ron Nasty until the end of the day.