Monday, January 21, 2008

Day 21: 7/6/1969 Newport, RI

7/6/1969 Newport, RI  Zeppelin Digital Vol. 5
Train Kept a Rollin', I Can't Quit You Baby, Dazed and Confused, You Shook Me, How Many More Times, Communication Breakdown, Long Tall Sally

Our introduction to the summer festival circuit begins with members of the audience telling others to sit down. Plant's long, wailing intro to I Can't Quit You Baby causes someone in the crowd to remark "he's good." Page plays a bit of Joe Cocker's With a Little Help From My Friends during the last verse. 

Bonzo is going wild during the guitar solo in Dazed and Confused. Plant fights with the volume of his mic throughout You Shook Me. Plant's introduction of Page at the beginning of How Many More Times is met with a big cheer from the crowd. Plant is almost completely absent from Communication Breakdown. The set ends with a nasty Long Tall Sally played at breakneck speed.

A mix of two sources. The first has Page in front and is quite bright. Plant sounds like he's singing through a transistor radio and is less audible as time goes by. This source is used until the end of Communication Breakdown. The second source which finishes the show is more muffled, but Plant is loud and clear.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

1969-07-06, Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, RI (From Source) 2 AUD sources
The show starts with an audience tape where you can really hear the people around the taper, but once the music starts it's not too bad. The sound is a bit distorted and rough, but fairly balanced, but then during the first song, Train Kept A Rollin', Plant's vocals get lost. Makes for a different sound, that's for sure - you could sing karaoke along for most of this recording. It does bring out Page's guitar work, that's for sure. I Can't Quit You Baby comes up next, and then Dazed and Confused. After Dazed and Confused you can hear a few people yelling 'fix the mic!' Things get a bit more balanced after the PA is fiddled with during You Shook Me, but Plant is still a bit distant. Near the end of Communication Breakdown the quality gets worse, muffled and flat, and remains that way thru the last song, Long Tall Sally. Often it seems like recordings get better throughout the show, but in this case it kept getting worse and worse.

dragonspirit said...

Overall, this is a very strong concert. Bonzo has some great moments, especially in You Shook Me. The encores are a slight let down for me, but the rest of the show is high energy, loose, and powerful. I recommend this as an almost must hear.