Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Day 79: 9/6/1971 Boston, MA

9/6/1971 Boston, MA  Listen! Listen! Listen to Me!
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I've Been Loving You, Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, That's the Way, Going to California, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love, Communication Breakdown, Thank You, Rock and Roll

The tape begins with an announcement about an upcoming Lawrence Welk show before the band takes the stage. Page's fingers get a bit sticky during the rather erratic guitar solo in Heartbreaker. Since I've Been Loving You seems to teeter on the edge, constantly threatening to fall apart. Page introduces a riff that will become commonplace in the years to come during the lead-in to the bow solo in Dazed and Confused. He experiments with many licks and styles during the frantic guitar solo/workout. There are a couple cuts in the tape near the return to the main riff and during the final verse. As the song ends, Plant struggles to keep the crowd under control. Shouting "listen!" repeatedly, he reminds them that if they don't stay cool, the police will stop the show.

After a cut during the guitar solo in Stairway to Heaven, the tape becomes very fragmentary. After about forty-five seconds of Celebration Day, another cut puts us at the beginning of That's the Way. After a couple short fragments, we jump to the beginning of Going to California, which is missing a bit in the middle. After about four and a half minutes of Moby Dick fragments, we're left in the middle of Killing Floor during the Whole Lotta Love medley (its first appearance since 4/27/1969). Page pulls off another epic guitar solo during Thank You.

The tape is a bit muffled and distant with a good amount of hiss.

1 comment:

Paul M said...

I think this show was on the 7th. Great show (my hometown) and, I want to applaud you for such a great resource!