History Stairway to Internets
posted by on December 12 at 10:16 AM
The Zeppelin update you’ve been waiting for.
Yesterday in Greenwich, London at the O2 Arena, Led Zeppelin headlined for the first time in 27 years. Robert Plant – 59, John Paul Jones – 61, Jimmy Page – 63, and Jason Bohham – 41, drumming for his late father, John.
The internets have been scoured to bring you video and song by song commentary on the show from OpenFanSite. (The commenter gives no name.)
I know FITS is especially dying to know what the set list was. He didn’t sleep last night worrying about what the set list was. I regret there are no details on how Zeppelin smelled. And I’m not sure if they played any Van Halen songs.
The set. Crack an Icehouse and turn the heat up:
** Update: All Zeppelin videos from this show have been removed from YouTube due to a “copyright claim by Warner Music Group.” What a crock. There are rumors a DVD will be released.
(Pictures: cloudfree.org)
1) 9:02 p.m. – “Good Times Bad Times” - The first song from their first album. Page is playing a Classic Sunburst Les Paul.2) 9:05 – “Ramble On” - Plant seems to be singing a little lower on this one.
3) 9:10 – “Black Dog” - They’re already bringing out the big guns. Bonham is doing a fine job filling in. Page is tearing it up. The crowd is singing along with the “ah, ah, ah, ah, ahhhhhhhhh” refrain.
4) 9:17 – “In My Time of Dying” - Page has switched to a hollow-body electric and pulled out the slide for this epic workout from Physical Graffiti.
5) 9:30 – “For Your Life” - Before the concert, Page said the band rehearsed this buried treasure from Presence, which they never performed live before last night.
Here is Report from Radio 1:
And a BBC Breakfast TV interview with Jimmy Page about the concert and his broken hand.
6) 9:37 – “Trampled Under Foot” - Jones has put down his bass and moved to the keyboard for this funky number.7) 9:43 – “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” - Another slow-burning epic, this time from Presence. Plant says this one came from the staples singers and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Plant plays a pretty wicked harmonica solo.
8) 9:51 – “No Quarter” - Jones’ trademark keyboard spotlight lasts 10 minutes, which is about half the length of the epic versions the band used to play back in the day.
9) 10:01 – “Since I’ve Been Loving You” - Apparently, they’re sticking with the slower groove for a while:
10) 10:09 – “Dazed and Confused” - “I don’t know how many songs we recorded together,” says Plant, explaining that when they put together their set list, there were some songs that “had to be” included. “This is one of them.”:
11) 10:13 - The bow is out! Page launches into his solo in the middle of a laser pyramid. Exactly as he did on the band’s ’77 tour.
12) 10:21 – “Stairway to FITS, I mean Heaven” - What more is there to say? Stairway to fucking Heaven. (Live on your very own internets):
13) 10:30 – “The Song Remains the Same” - Page has pulled out the double-neck SG. This one seems a little slower than the studio version. But hey, they have been on for 90 minutes. And they are senior citizens:
14) 10:37 – “Misty Mountain Hop” - Again, the energy on this one seems to be flagging just a bit. Plant even sounds a little winded. Maybe they should have kept it to 90 minutes.
15) 10:42 – “Kashmir” - That thing we said about keeping it to 90 minutes? Nevermind. They redeem themselves with this slowly thundering version. “There are people here from 50 countries,” Plant says. “This is the 51st country.” Jones is on keyboards, but Page does a pretty fair job of bringing the guitar army to life:
16) 10:55 - “Whole Lotta Love” (encore) - This one is also a little slower than the studio version too — but in this case, it only makes it sound heavier and more aggressive. Plant tops it off with one last scream that’s probably still echoing over the Thames.
17) 11:05 – “Rock and Roll” (2nd encore) - They couldn’t have closed with anything else. And they couldn’t have played it any better than this. Like racers heading for the finish line, they saved one last burst of speed for the end of the race.
18) 11:11 – “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” (3rd encore) – Just kidding. I kid. LedCD Soundsystem.
News Report from ‘BBC Breakfast TV’ the morning after - here.
Thank you to:
backpackdave, Neurus1, Dooseydo, and LordHagan.
This brings two songs to mind: 1. 'I Hate Led Zepplin' by Screeching Weasel and 2. The line in Jawbreakers 'Bad Scene Everyone's Fault' that says "...Someone was blasting Zepplin, it sounded good, I felt ashamed, I knew every drum fill..."
God I hate Led Zepplin.
I know you do. And that's ok.
Attention K-Mart shoppers: There is a sale on poor spelling and terrible taste in music (Screaching Weasel/Jawbreaker) in post #1.
Thanks for stepping up to the plate and posting this Trent! Your posts on lineout are always worthwhile.
zeppelin haters get the gas face.
i think it's hilarious that john bonham's son is over 40. take that wolfgang van halen.
27 years seems like a long time for them not to have headlined. I'm trying to figure out if that's true.
And I always thought Page was so much older than Plant and Jones. He's only 4 years older than Robert Plant. I read a couple books and it seemed like they were always saying Page was so much older.
What the hell did Plant do to his hair? Is that a wig? Extensions?
@3 I'm pretty sure neither Screeching Weasel or Jawbreaker will be doing a reuinion show in 17 years because they're smart enough to know that only ass hats want to pay $400 to see a bunch of washed up grand-dads butchering their old songs.
No band should ever do a reunion tour 20+ years later.
Looks like 27 years since their last headlining show is right. Live Aid?
Which is the worse reunion, then?
Van Halen or Led Zeppelin?
I just think Jimmy Page is a God. I can't help it. The words Jimmy Page and asshat are not words I'm used to seeing in the same sentence.
I see your point though, definitely.
If it were any other band, I might have a problem with it. Or if the songs were absolutely butchered beyond butchering. But it's Led Zeppelin. And the songs aren't butchered beyond butchering.
@10 I'd say the Zeppelin reunion, only because I don't like them.
@11 I'd say you're an awful jackass, only because you don't like them.
They sound great. And that's real hair folks. Zep-haters, why you have time to post here, is beyond me... 4 years older might have seemed like a lot when they were younger... he definitely had more pro experience when he plucked Robert & Bonham from the "Band of Joy"...
I love Zeppelin. But something is going on with that hair. It may be real, but something is going on with it. I'm not a hair person, so technically speaking, I don't know. All I know is that something is going on there, that doesn't seem real.
@12 and 13
I also don't like white bread, movies about cars or motor bikes, people who wear giant head phones in public, people who let their dogs jump up on strangers, straight scotch, mall cell phone kiosk workers, sandwiches with thousand island dressing instead of mayo or mustard, and people who smell like pee. Please feel free to make personal attacks at me based on these preferences.
@13 re: "Zep-haters, why you have time to post here, is beyond me... 4 years older might have seemed like a lot when they were younger..."
That doesn't even make sense, but the reason i have time to post here is because my job is very boring and I didn't know that this comment section was only for people who wanted to swallow Jimmy Page's load.
As if Screaching Weasels' load is a palatble load? Wow.
Somehow scotch, cell phone kiosk workers, and sandwiches with thousand island go together. I don't why, but that works.
Time for my cred to fall hard: I like Jawbreaker more than Led Zeppelin. But then, I've seen Jawbreaker three or four times as a teenager, whereas Zep haven't headlined a show in the entire time I've been alive.
I mean, up until last night, obvs.
"Oyster" rules!!1!
To be fair, I think ALL Zep haters are awful jackasses, regardless of their views on thousand island dressing and people who smell like pee.
To be fair, I wish the rest of the band would have died with John Bonham.
21 - Ouch.
Yeah, what the world needs more of is crappy pop punk from the bay area dressed as the Ramone's third cousins from a previous marriage.
you fanboys need to get over this, I'm sure there are lots of other people out there who don't like LZ either. And I probably don't find your girlfriend attractive.
Get over it.
Serious cred just got lost for the drummer wearing a madonna mic.
You're right. Cred loss. I'm not too sure Father John is smiling on the head mic.
LRRH - no matter what your nike-wearing hipster friends tell you whilst acting ironic & sipping pabst, Zeppelin simply crushes any music released since. Let us give thanks that Rock Gods still walk the Earth.
John Bonaham's drums are some of the most sampled in all of music.
Where would hip hop be without the drums from "When the Levee Breaks"?
I hear you.
BTW, it's Bonham. Say it, 'John Bonham.' Makes you want to solo doesn't it?
I hate the Zep! Gimme the Beck/Page line up of the Yardbirds!!! Page is a (well documented) hack (for instance - Stairway - Jake Holmes wrote it, the Yardbrids rearranged it, and PAGE took sole credit when Zep recorded it) and his mid '70s Zep LP productions SUCKS. His best work was done pre-The New Yardbirds as a session man and with the Yardbirds. If I wanna hear SOLID '70s AOR gimme FREE! I'll take Paul Rogers over Plant ANY DAY!
Nippler - please don't start the tired and false "Zeppelin didn't write anything new they just ripped people off" argument. They ripped as many people off as Dylan did.
All Hail Bonham!
Raven - please don't continue the tired and false "Everyone likes Zeppelin or something is wrong with you" argument. Some people just can't stand their music and aren't sorry for it.
@31 - The point is, in the Stairway instance, Page has RIPPED off, maybe millions, from Jake Holmes by NOT crediting the song to the writer. Pagey didn't cop just a riff...have you ever heard the Jake Holmes version? Seriously. I can't imagine why Holmes HASN'T taken Page to court!
And how do you find the "ripped off" arguement false when you agree they " They ripped as many people off as Dylan did."
Yep I have heard the version... and it is not even close to the completed Stairway. Not by a longshot. I think he would have trouble in court, which is probably why he hasn't pursued it. Much more blatant was the Flaming Lips ripoff of Cat Stevens "Father & Son" - check the 1st track off Yoshimi... my point in bringing this up is that the ripoff argument IS false when it comes to denigrating the artistic achievements of Zepp. Their contribution to music dwarfs that of most other artists. And all music builds on whatever came before it.
I don't give a rats ass that you don't like them - what I can't figure out is why people like you spend so much time and effort trying to badmouth them. I don't like/get radiohead, but I wouldn't chime in on a thread about them saying how weak they are. They have a ton of fans, they must have done something right, good for them. Doesnt't mean I have to listen to it. The world would suck if everyone liked the same thing.
right..."And all music builds on whatever came before it." so I can blame crappy disco, Celine Dion, and Xtian pop punk on Zep? Will do. Their dwarfing other artists...thats your opinion. and, um, I don't care about the Flaming Lips rips, Holmes' Dazed would stand up in court against Stairway, in short order...no longshot.
and I spend a lot of time chiming in on lots of stuff.
Even though they're definitely geezers playing geezer rock, it sounds like they can still bring the fire without embarrassing themselves; at least for this one show. It's true that most reunions so far of bands that have been broken up for more than, say, 10 years have been pretty disappointing, and only serve to remind us of our own mortality. Heroes are not supposed to age and lose their magical powers!
But even though I didn't bother to catch the Police, Van Halen, or half of the Smashing Pumpkins, I will definitely need to see Led Zeppelin if they ever play Seattle. How often do you get to see the band that basically invented Heavy Metal? Anyone who likes this kind of music at all will ultimately kick themselves for not going. And to all you Zep-haters: GOOD, keeping on hating! It'll improve my chances of getting decent tix to their show.
"I can't imagine why Holmes HASN'T taken Page to court!"
That's right, he didn't. He was too lazy or good-natured or whatever, and just let the whole thing drop. In my book, that makes him a total loser, and Page owes him NOTHING.
All right, yous guys are really a-confusing me!
Did Holmes write "Stairway 2 Heaven," or Dazed & Confused?"
Good point Fill - Nippler you are actually thinking of "Dazed & Confused"... I got off my lazy butt and did a little research - the "Stairway" accusation is actually about a tune called "Taurus", by one Randy California, who also played with Hendrix right before he got famous:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ogTFdlbup24
However while that one can claim some influence over the opening riff of Stairway, it is clearly not Stairway to Heaven.
Jake Holmes did write "Dazed & Confused" - and that clearly is his song, although the Zep arrangement was far different and he never took legal action. Interestingly, Holmes went on to write some of the most famous TV jingles ever (feel free to sing along):
“Aren't You Hungry For Burger King Now?” (1981)
“Raise your hand if you’re sure” for Sure deodorant (DATE)
“Be all that you can be” for U.S. Army
“Best a Man Can Get” for Gillette (199X)
If George Harrison can get sued for plagiarism, Holmes should of went for his...
Last night I downloaded an audience recording from the LZ show and had a chance to listen to it some this morning. I was actually very impressed with the performance. Disclaimer: in 1985 while I should have been listening to Husker Du & The Smiths it was all about Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin for me. That stuff came later. So to say I worship the Zep would be understatement. Yet, I got no LZ tattoos so...
Tempos were slower for the most part, there were a few key changes and the overall energy level of the show was certainly a mid-tempo thing. With the lower tempos and lower keys the songs had more of a colossal heavy sound. Page had the chops, Plant can still sing 'em but he knows he can't hit the notes he used to so he altered melodies quite a bit to get around it. Jonesy, well, it was kinda hard to hear him at times and sometimes (esp. during "Stairway To Heaven") his keys were distractingly loud. As for Jason...well, he's got the chops and the pedigree, but you get so used to his dad's "sound" that it was sometimes distracting to hear a more modern drum sound behind Led Zeppelin, although the licks were certainly there. That's more a taste issue than anything.
All in all, it was not an embarassment. I got all excited just listening to a shitty bootleg from the show, I'd hate to imagine what it felt like to be there. I think I might have died.
HOLY FUCKIN SHIT...sorry!!! sorry!!! sorry!!! about MY HUGE FUCK UP confusing the titles Stairway and Dazed. The opening bit of Stairway has also been thinly linked to a Crow track also. However, I can't remember the title of the top of my head...BUT the only song I MEANT to refer to was DAZED!!! The Zep arrangement of Dazed is the Yardbirds arrangement. Page has spent lots of time and effort since 1969 quelling any releases of the Yardbirds version..I've heard rumors of hired goons showing up on doorsteps.
No problem at all, I should have caught it earlier. And while I do believe in the musical genius & supremacy of the band, I would also posit that they are pirates and rolled liked thugs. Suge Knight, eat your heart out, he's got nothin on Peter Grant... Bill Graham's autobiography has a whole chapter on his run-ins with Zep, and he was no light-weight himself... good stuff.
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