Led Zeppelin DVD Review

Written by Paul Roy
Published December 23, 2004

Warning: this review may Ramble On a little bit.

The seventies had just ended, and being that I was a newly crowned teenager, I was just beginning to formulate my musical tastes. The old standbys on my turntable, such as Kiss, Aerosmith, and Ted Nugent, found themselves being replaced by more "deeper" bands such as Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Kansas. I remember hearing the entire Led Zeppelin II album, for the first time, during a hockey team party at the captain's house. He had the ultimate stereo system, with the giant floor standing speakers, and when that powerful opening guitar riff from "Heartbreaker" shook the room, this was all it took for me. Zeppelin was now my religion.

When my hometown movie theater showed the just-released The Song Remains The Same concert movie, my best friend and I were the first ones in line. By then, we were already wanna-be guitarists and Jimmy Page disciples, so we were dizzy with anticipation to see our heroes on the big screen. The Song Remains The Same was shown in the "art" movie theater in town, which only had one giant screen and an awesome sound system. When the mighty Zeppelin stormed the Madison Square Garden stage that night, we were completely blown away. We were simply entranced by Jimmy Page's coolness. The black magic wizard suite, the Gibson Les Paul slung down to his knees, the violin bow playing, the ZOSO symbol-- the man was a God. We left that movie so spellbound that we both ran out and bought our first cheap electric guitars, the very next day. Mine was a used Les Paul knock-off, so I could play like Jimmy of course. I still have that guitar.

That was almost a quarter century ago and Led Zeppelin has remained one of my favorite bands. Their demise in 1979, because of John Bonham's untimely death, was a tragedy. Oh, the things that could have been. As the only official document of the Led Zeppelin concert experience, at the time, The Song Remains The Same was a "must-have" for every fan, but was always somewhat unsatisfying. The Song Remains The Same concerts were not some of Zeppelin's best performances, the song selections were not the best (and too few), and the concert footage was interrupted with annoying behind the scenes footage and fantasy sequences. I was resigned to the probability that this video was all we would ever get from Led Zeppelin, until a few years ago when the rumors of the new DVD project started to spread throughout the world. Lo-and-behold, the Led Zeppelin DVD was finally born, and thankfully it has exceeded most of our expectations.

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Led Zeppelin DVD Review
Published: December 23, 2004
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Section: Video
Filed Under: Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: Hard Rock, Music: Rock, Video: Music
Writer: Paul Roy
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Comments

#1 — December 24, 2004 @ 00:41AM — Triniman [URL]

I bought this the first day it went on sale and I was not disappointed! This is a Zep lover's dream come true, for those of us who never saw the band live.

Highly, highly recommended.

#2 — January 2, 2005 @ 18:52PM — Steve Shaw

If you look very carefully at the Knebworth footage, that's me just right of centre, 5 yards off the front of the stage.

#3 — January 2, 2005 @ 18:55PM — Paul Roy [URL]

Steve, you just had to rub it in huh?! Zep
is possibly my favorite all time band and I never got to see them live in person--and I've seen just about everyone else, damnit!

#4 — January 2, 2005 @ 22:11PM — Bill Lamb [URL]

Great review and not rambling at all, Paul - I love the personal response and commentary.

This DVD set is amazing. I had never seen Led Zep live either and my jaw just dropped and hung there through much of this the first time I saw it - NOW I understand why they were considered one of the world's greatest live bands.

#5 — January 3, 2005 @ 17:47PM — Rick Taylor

This is one of the best music video sets ever compiled, historically since they were so camera shy and for pleasure from great performance footage and primo production. LOL, I saw them live but I think I might actually appreciate these dvd's more. My brain was probably more affected than Page's during that show.

#6 — November 25, 2006 @ 00:47AM — Facter Head

"The 1979 Knebworth footage is from the last live concert performance Zeppelin ever did"

Not true! It was far from their last performance. It was their last well known "famous" perfomance that has been caught on footage, but not their last concert.

1980 is the year Zeppelin officially ended. July 7, 1980 in Berlin, Germany was the last concert ever by Led Zeppelin.

#7 — November 25, 2006 @ 15:15PM — Paul Roy

You are right and I worded it wrong. I believe it was their last "recorded" concert, but I'm sure somebody will tell me about some obscure recording from the German tour.

#8 — December 2, 2006 @ 20:27PM — Arnold

Well, i've got the soundboard records of that show in germany... at least, the filename says it's that show... pretty cool bootleg :D

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