I’ve been a diehard Led Zeppelin fan since my youth… The first time I heard Led Zeppelin was in 1977… My older brother had attended his 2nd Led Zeppelin show and came home with another Zeppelin concert shirt… I was intrigued by the iconic swan song graphic and image of this enigmatic band that had managed to sell out every stadium they toured in America from 1973-1977…
It lasted three hours and included 18 songs according to my brother who had a friend tape the concert. I later learned it was the final night of Zeppelin’s tour stop in Chicago, which landed on Easter Sunday 4/10/77…
I remember because my mother was not too happy about my brother leaving early Easter morning and returning home the next day in the wee hours of the early morning… It was a typical Monday at Conant high school, and my brother was late for school. But the memory he shared with me of the stellar show he witnessed was worth his being grounded… Apparently, the Led Zeppelin show the night before was cancelled due to Jimmy Page being ill and my brother had scrambled last minute to even get tickets for the Easter Sunday show…
A local radio station had accused Jimmy Page of being too wasted to play Saturday night… Robert Plant came to Jimmy’s defense on stage and stated Jimmy wasn’t drinking on tour or partying at all… He likely had food poisoning on Saturday and was back to normal the next day. The result was a rested Jimmy Page who unleashed an electrifying performance with a veritable kaleidoscope of nuanced blues guitar riffs, melodic acoustic jams and well conceived, colorful guitar solos on “The Rover”, “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” & “In My Time of Dying”… and “Since I’ve Been Loving You” was absolutely mesmerizing according to my brother and the bootleg audience tapes I later acquired confirmed this…
“No Quarter featured a jaw-dropping guitar and Theremin Solo from Mr. Page… Then it was on to the Acoustic set… “Going to California”, “The Battle of Evermore” and “Ten Years Gone were played with precision by the entire band, especially by John Paul Jones handling the acoustic guitars, and mandolin while playing the bass pedals… The show then transitioned into one of the most epic versions of “Kashmir” played almost flawlessly by the entire band including Jimmy who mesmerized the audience with his magical guitar solo… John Bonham unleashed fury on his drum kit with powerful rhythms and fills that complimented the haunting vocals of Robert Plant and the Thunderous Bass runs of multi-instrumentalist, master composer John Paul Jones… A poignant, shining “Stairway To Heaven” uplifted the grateful crowd and rounded out what had become a stunning show… As usual on the ’77 tour “Rock N Roll” completed the sonic journey as the one and only encore… 5 Stars
Robert P.