Led Zeppelin DVD Details Written by Jeff Strawman Published: 23 May 2013

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With the help of Dick Caruthers, band member Jimmy Page produced this DVD package. A feast for the eyes and ears, this excellent package captures the evolution of the band and brings together footage of Zeppelin playing live and on television, all of it previously unreleased. The set consists primarily of excerpts from four well-known Zeppelin concerts. It also includes eight live performances from other sources and a few interview clips.



The first (and best) segment of the two-disc set is an entire Zeppelin concert from 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall, which comprises most of the first disc. The band, barely a year old at that time, had just released its second album, Led Zeppelin II



Seeing and hearing the early Zeppelin perform on stage, I finally understand why the band so deserved its name. Playing together, guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham, and bassist John Paul Jones were heavy like metal but nimble enough to fly like a blimp. The live versions of "We're Gonna Groove," "Communication Breakdown," "Bring It On Home," "Dazed and Confused," and "What Is and What Should Never Be" simply blow the studio versions away. Metal truly was born on the backs of this band, and this collection, especially the RAH concert, makes that clear. The power and complexity of these performances are so overwhelming that it becomes difficult to believe there are only four performers.



The second disc includes a four-song sequence culled from the same 1973 Madison Square Garden performances that served as the source for The Song Remains The Same. However, none of the footage here appeared in that film. Shot in 35-millimeter, these performances look and sound much more polished than those from the Royal Albert Hall show, and by '73, the frumpy, hippie clothes worn by the band in '69 had given way to flashy embroidered shirts and flared pants. The band had moved away from its roots as pure interpreters of the blues and moved into its prime as the leading progenitors of the bigger-than-huge sound of heavy metal.



Thankfully, the Madison Square Garden clips on Led Zeppelin DVD are not disrupted by the fictional vignettes that marred The Song Remains The Same , and the focus remains on the band's performances. Here, a masterfully edited clip of "Misty Mountain Hop," powered by John Paul Jones' melodic organ work, artfully exposes the high level of communication between the band members. During "The Ocean," Page displays total control of his instrument and complete command of the stage as he trades funky licks with Bonham, who, surprisingly, grabs a microphone to harmonize with Plant.



Nearly an hour of footage of Zeppelin's headlining performance at Knebworth in 1979 rounds out the two DVD set. Here, the band sounds and looks even more polished than in the mid-'70s. Adjusting to the ascendancy of New Wave, Zeppelin makes use of synthesizers and wears clean-cut clothing, looking almost like a bunch of preppies. In certain respects, by this time the group has lost its bite, sounding almost tired as it plays hits from years before. On the other hand, the energy of the massive crowd at Knebworth and the Zeppelin's forcefulness on certain excellent tracks cuts through the band's new, slick facade. Second only to "Stairway to Heaven" in its distinctiveness, significance, and influence, the Eastern-tinged epic "Kashmir" here becomes even more mystical than on record. During "Whole Lotta Love," Plant engages in a deafening call-and-response with the hundreds of thousands in attendance; slick maybe, past their prime, no.



Visually, the Knebworth footage is most striking in that the band is captured by a number of cameras, from every conceivable angle. Page and Caruthers create a neat effect by toggling between grainy footage of the concert shot by fans in the crowd and the crisp footage that was projected on a giant screen behind the band as it played. At the end of the Knebworth concert, after singing "Whole Lotta Love," Plant thanks the crowd for its eleven years of support, as if he was about to announce the demise of the band, the end of its evolution. He was unaware, of course, that the band would indeed dissolve little more than a year later, as a result of Bonham's untimely death.



Led Zeppelin DVD seems to be another way that the band is thanking its fans. As Page commented recently, Zeppelin was never much of a pop band: it was despised by critics, rarely released singles, and nearly never appeared on TV. Plant, Page, Jones, and Bonham focused on cutting albums and playing live for their fans. More than five hours of great performance footage, this new set is a gift to those fans, one that lets them see and hear what Zeppelin was all about. - PopMatters Essay 1 | Essay 2 | Origins of cover | DVD Easter Eggs Statistics



Released:

May 27, 2003 (US)

May 26, 2003 (UK)



Chart Position:

#1 (US) #1 (UK)



Certified:

Gold 05-26-03

Multi-Platinum 13x 07-09-12



Length:

138 mins. (US) 132 mins. (UK)



[More Info] Tracks



Royal Albert Hall-1970

• We're Gonna Groove

• I Can't Quit You Baby

• Dazed And Confused

• White Summer

• What Is And What Should Never Be

• How Many More Times

• Moby Dick

• Whole Lotta Love

• Communication Breakdown

• C''mon Everybody

• Something Else

• Bring It On Home



Communication Breakdown-1969



Danmarks Radio-1969

• Communication Breakdown

• Dazed And Confused

• Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

• How Many More Times



Supershow-1969

• Dazed And Confused



Tous En Scene-1969

• Communication Breakdown

• Dazed And Confused



DVD TWO

Immigrant Song-1972



Madison Square Garden-1973

• Black Dog

• Misty Mountain Hop

• Since I've Been Loving You

• The Ocean



Earl's Court-1975

• Going To California

• That's The Way

• Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp

• In My Time Of Dying

• Trampled Underfoot

• Stairway To Heaven



Knebworth-1979

• Rock And Roll

• Nobody's Fault But Mine

• Sick Again

• Achilles Last Stand

• In The Evening

• Kashmir

• Whole Lotta Love



NYC Press Conference-1970



Down Under-1972

• Rock And Roll

• Interviews



The Old Grey Whistle Test-1975

• Robert Plant Interview



Promo 1-1990

• Over The Hills And Far Away



Promo 2-1990

• Travelling Riverside Blues



Quick Fact



Producer Kevin Shirley said that some of the source tapes needed a bit of work physically done to them so that they would be able to be read by tape machines.



"We had to bake all these tapes in an oven because some of them had moisture in them," Shirley continues, "which turns the glue that bonds the oxide to the tape into a sort of jelly. When you play a tape like that back, the oxide will scrape off and stick to the tape head. So you can destroy the tape just by playing it. Through baking at about 55°C you get the moisture out and the tapes are playable again, at least for a while. The first playback is usually the most stable. But it takes about 60 hours to bake each tape, so immediately we were weeks behind while we waited for the tapes to be baked." ADVERTISEMENTS



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This Month in

Led Zeppelin History September 07, 1968 - The band fulfills some old Yardbirds dates in Scandanavia

September xx, 1969 - Jimmy Page is reported saying the second album will be harder than the first

September 19, 1970 - Led Zeppelin gross over $100,000 for two performances at Madison Square Gardens on the same day

September xx, 1971 - Jimmy Page is furious over a live Yardbirds release. It was forced off the shelves

September xx, 1971 - The band vacations in Hawaii

September xx, 1972 - Discussions to play various countries ends with a decision to play Japan again

September xx, 1973 - Jimmy Page considers a live release of material before releasing a new album

September 14, 1974 - Led Zeppelin and CSN&Y jam at an after party

September xx, 1975 - Jimmy meets up with Robert in Malibu, where he is staying on a tax exile

September 12, 1976 - Page and Bonham return to Switzerland and record a drum piece title Bonzo’s Montreux

September 08, 1977 - Page takes to the stage with other well knowns at a WEA records sales conference

September 15, 1978 - Zep road manager Richard Cole and Bad Company’s Simon Kirke get married in a double ceremony

September 17, 1979 - Promoter Fred Bannister forced into liquidation over Knebworth Sales with Led Zeppelin

September 18, 1980 - Jimmy reviews a new stage set up and technical details for the Eighties Part One tour at Swan Song offices

September 25, 1980 - John Bonham is found dead in Jimmy Page’s Windsor mansion by sound technician Benji Le Fevre

September 12, 2007 - It was announced at a press conference by Harvey Goldsmith that the remaining members of Led Zeppelin would reunite with Jason Bonham on drums.

