led zeppelin
1970 08 28
olympia, detroit, mi.
aud recording
unk-master tape-cd-dime.
my friend luis rey asked me to post this, until now only recording of this show.
these are his own words :
"From the start: "Turn ALL the lights down please"... the excitement
is palpable. This little gem has taken a lot of perseverance and a
long while to release (comes directly from the original source,
friends from Mexico that taped it and has had it in their vaults for
forty years!). It is not very often that we hear a completely new
document from Led Zeppelin these days and what better place to post
it than to DIME, free for everybody to share? DIME has been one of
the greatest inspiration we music lovers have had in these last years.
This document is really priceless. By their own account: "We went to
see Led Zeppelin, but when four scruffy bearded guys including one
with a big mane (obviously Robert Plant) took to the stage and
started to play a piece that we wouldn't recognize... they did not
looked like the Zeppelin we knew and we thought they were "fake
Zeppelin". We almost stop the tape. It is lucky that we left the tape
running anyway and to our amazement suddenly they started to play
something that we actually recognized as from Led Zeppelin... they
WERE Led Zeppelin after all... !"
That is the start of the account of this genuine experience of what
Zeppelin was in 1970. Surprised everyone?
The recording is not what I can call great and it is only the first
45 minutes, but it is good enough to listen to the very powerful
voice of Robert Plant (the guitar is overwhelmed by the bass
regularly) and there is a lot distortion in one channel.
The track listing is what we can expect from the first 45 minutes of
an August 70 concert: Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Dazed And
Confused, Bring It On Home, That's The Way.
The original tape also included a rather hilarious (very dated)
Mexican dialogue between the tapers that reflect well the time it was
recorded... that actually wore a suit to go to the performance and
were amazed by the hippies all around them... specially the chicks
(in those ages called "tortas"), but the main thing is that they
couldn't help but mainly falling in love with Page's hat and guitar
playing, the bass player that "played in unison with Page's
guitar" (weren't very impressed by the drummer) and obviously Robert
Plant's powerful voice, his "degenerate" golden mane (that is a
Mexican compliment at the time!) and his very worn jeans!
Maybe I'll be able to write the full chronicle soon... it deserves a
new edition of Led Zeppelin Live. This is just a warm up!.
Without further ado, here's Led Zeppelin Live at the Olympia,
Detroit, August 28 1970.
Cheers!
Luis Rey"