Yes, This Is Epic

Behold, a full-length performance of Led Zeppelin doing "Black Dog" taken from the movie Celebration Day. If you're not familiar, Celebration Day chronicles Led Zeppelin's big reunion show at England's O2 arena back in 2007.

Comments

[Brian L]

That is a great clip. Man I wish I'd have seen them back in the day. I'll bet it was crazy.

[Bryon]

Incredible. A friend of mine won a chance to buy 2 tickets for that show and he decided not to go. What a fool.

[Allyson]

Bryon,

Fool indeed! I hope he kicks himself everyday for missing that opportunity. So many of us around the world wanted to go but didn't even have the chance.

-Allyson

[Bob]

Zeppelin had a US tour booked in 1980. Quite literally, my Father was going to buy tickets for us to go to the Philadelphia show on the day Bonham died. Ah, what could have been.

[Gary]

I hear ya Bob. We (my buds and I) were all set to see them in Philly also. Probably my biggest regret musically is never getting to see Zep in their prime.(ie,before heroin ruined Jimmy) That last album (In Through The out Door)was mostly the work of John Paul Jones, as Jimmy was too wired out to write,and also to play for the most part (which is why there are a lot of keyboards on it)

[fletch]

let me get back, let me get back, let me get back; where we belong

been a long time

[Metalboy!]

First off, I'm sure it's no secret that Led Zeppelin is the top o' the heap for me, kidz.

I hear ya Gary about John Paul Jones' involvement in "In Through The Outdoor", but what about "Presence" era Zeppelin?! '77 Seattle. YouTube that! Page can still be seen doing quite a lot of heavy lifting during that tour. I should know. I saw 'em at Capital Centre, Largo, MD., May 27th, 1977.

Knebworth is okay but just didn't seem to sound as cranked up as "The Song Remains The Same" or stuff from '75 on "DVD". While it's true Page is a little more "all over the place" during that Knebworth show, we may have felt differently about it had the recording not sounded so "soundboardy". I have the sneaking suspicion he needed a lot more Marshall firepower there, or something.

"In Through The Out Door" has ONE masterpiece on the album that stacks up against anything they ever did -- "In The Evening". Pure Page right there. The rest of the stuff on that album is nothing more than window dressing by comparison.

I experienced two potentially missed opportunities to see 'em... Same thing you guys went through in Philly -- We were all set to see 'em at CapCentre in 1980, as well. And, though this is way more hypothetical -- my buddy saw 'em in London and had an in to score seats at Madison Square Garden should Zeppelin had continued on shortly after the 02 Reunion.

As I said, however, I did see 'em at CapCentre in '77 but I also saw 'em, well -- Plant/Page, at Madison Square Garden in 1998 off "Walking Into Clarksdale".

The whole place was pogoing to "Whole Lotta Love".

Who says you can't dance to this stuff?!

[Him]

Yet again, Metalboy! comes to the fore with a perfectly balanced mix of achingly wonderful nostalgia, spot-on recollection, and humorous asides. I admire the path you have tread. And, for all the bluster, I stand by my repeated claim: it would be great to sit down and talk with you about this sort of stuff.

One of the posts that reminds me why I love this site so much and why I respect Allyson for giving it to us to use.

[Metalboy!]

Indeed. HIM, let's plan a Metal Summit where we will dedicate a portion of the agenda to a special symposium called "The Counsel of the Cauldron" to discuss a Metal Strategy moving forward.

M3 anyone?

[Bob]

Okay, let the debate begin I suppose. :) I actually really like most of In Through The Outdoor. With Jones's song writing influence, the album had a much more original sound to me, rather than rehashing, and sometimes flat out stealing, old blues riffs and lyrics as they had done previously. Fool In The Rain, south bound Suarez, and Carouselambra are all great. Metalboy, my favorite part of In The Evening is when Page launches into his guitar solo by first sweeping up the strings with about 700 pounds of distortion. A great guitar moment indeed.

[Gary]

I was in no way, shape, or form downgrading In Through The Out Door folks! I also thought it was an awesome disc.For my money,In The Evening is in my top 5 Zep tunes all time.(And yeah Bob, Jimmy's intro to the solo is awesome.Sounds like he hits the strings with his fist as he leads into the opening run!)Carouselambra would be in my top 15 also. Hell, I even dug Hot Dog!! LOL.
Any of you folks ever get a chance to see "Get The Led Out" do yourselves a favor and go! They do an impeccable Zep tribute that absolutely kicks major ass.I was absolutely blown away when I saw them a few years ago at Penns Peak here in my neck of the woods.Their drummer Adam Ferraioli even did the Moby Dick solo with his hands, ala Bonzo. 8-)

[fletch]

Gary: Get The Led Out are playing Penn's Peak tomorrow night, 11/17 @ 8:00pm. The bassist in the band is Billy Childs of Britny Fox fame.

[Shawn]

I would love to attend a Metal Summit sit around the round table with the Knights of the Glam Klan and pick the brains of the regular posters here!!! but M3 is not in the cards for me.

[Metalboy!]

Shawn, I will send the G5 for you. Where do you live? Indeed, I jest. But don't think it wouldn't happen if I ever hit the lottery. Mark my words, we will find a way to have a Metal Summit we can all attend at some point in the near future.

Regarding, "In Through The Outdoor", I will soften my comments slightly -- Look, it's an okay album with "In The Evening" towering over the rest of the stuff. "Hot Dog"'s alright, for sure, and I quite like "I'm Gonna Crawl" but, in all honesty, you can have the rest of it, though I do have "All Of My Love", rightly or wrongly, on a Powerballads playlist.

Now, Bob, is "rehashing" really the right word for taking an old blues song, turning it inside out while simultaneously pretty much inventing Heavy Metal in the process? Granted, these guys rather conveniently forgot to give proper credit in the beginning but the degree of originality Page brought to his arrangements of those "covers" render them as nearly unrecognizable and, without question, jaw droppingly awe inspiring.

p.s. There's an article on the net somewhere where either Page or the recording engineer (the details slip my mind) discusses how he achieved that "crash landing" effect when he double clutches punching into the solo on "In The Evening". Gotta say, Page really went out on top with that lead in terms of his recording legacy.

[Him]

I wish I had the time and money to make a summit happen at M3. Trust me when I say that I will loudly broadcast my arrival at one of these great events when it becomes possible and hope for the best.

[bob]

Honestly Metalboy, my biggest beef with Zeppelin is the lack of credit they gave to the people who, in several cases, they outright stole from. Listen to the beginning of Bring It On Home from Zep II, then listen to Bring It On Home by Sonny boy Williamson. What was changed there? What about Dazed and confused by Jake Holmes? Other than Zep changing the lyrics, and playing the tune with electric instead of acoustic instruments, the songs are the same. How about Tangerine from Zep III? Go out on those interwebs and read the story of an unreleased Yardbirds tune called Knowing that I'm Losing You. Plant lifted an entire verse from that song for Tangerine, yet Keith Relf, who wrote those lyrics, wasn't given a single writing credit. I could go on and on, but really, what's the point?

Do I think Zep's arrangements are mind-blowing? Of course I do. Do I think zep invented heavy metal? No I don't. Blue Cheer's first album came out before Zep was even a band, so I give those guys the credit for laying the groundwork. Either way Metalboy, given our history of going back-and-forth on other topics, why don't we open a cold one, and toast to the fact that we at least both share an intense passion for music, and leave it at that? :)

[Gary]

Fletch, yeah, I know. They seem to play there every year around Thanksgiving. Last 2 times I saw them, was the Saturday before Thanksgiving.LOL. However, I had no idea that Billy Childs was holding down the bottom end for them! They usually doa date in the summer there also.Me thinks I will hit that,know that I know who is playing bass.

I love when they do the acoustic portion of their set,as they cover a lot of my favorite Zep songs during that. Last time i went they did "Hey Hey What Can I Do" and I about had a stroke they did it so well. LMAO That's my #1 favorite Zep song, with "Your Time Is Gonna Come" running a very close 2nd. (Which they also covered during the set)

[Metalboy!]

Bob, I'm with ya. That thievery is pure Page, for sure. But all I have to do is listen to the solo on "Heartbreaker" to kinda forgive him. But I understand your reluctance to do so. May I suggest watching "Whole Lotta Love" from Zep's wonderfully disastrous concert film "The Song Remains The Same" as therapy.

Perhaps there's some redemption in the relentless blatant outright aping of Pagey and the Boys that went on through the years, particularly from the likes of 80's Hair Metallerz such as Whitesnake, Kingdom Come and Great White as much as many others who came before and after them.

I've got the original press of Blue Cheer's "Vincebus Eruptum" in mint condition, which I bought in 1976 when I really started getting into the whole hitory of the genre thanks to WGTB, Georgetown University's college radio station. It was Sex Pistols one minute and Steve Hillage the next on that station.

Personally, as I've gone on record here before, I actually believe Link Wray invented Heavy Metal when he recorded "Rumble" in 1958. But I'm not the first person to make that claim, by any means.

p.s. Oh, and, Bob, I have the Sonny Boy Williamson and Willie Dixon stuff on both LP and CD, as well.

[bob]

MB, while I use my hands to type this comment, I am using my feet to kick myself for the temporary brain fart that caused me to forget about Rumble. I completely agree with you that, without Link Wray's dangerous power chords in 1958, none of everything else could have happened. To a lesser degree, I also think that Little Richard's tune, Lucille, was influencial, not because of any guitar chords, but because of changing the standard boogie woogie riff from cut time into 4/4 time. Take Link Wray's power chords and combine them with Little Richard's 4/4 time version of the boogie woogie riff, and you have the building blocks for a heavy metal tune ten years before Blue Cheer did their thing. This is an interesting discussion indeed.

[Metalboy!]

Bob, though I don't agree much with Eddie Chump, he thinks it's Iommi who invented Metal. I don't know about "inventing" it but he sure as hell has had a lot to do with shaping it.

And let's not forget the first time the words "Heavy Metal" were uttered in song...

I like smoke and lightnin'
Heavy Metal thunder
Racing with the wind
And the feeling that I'm under

-- Steppenwolf, "Born To Be Wild", 1967