For Badgeholders Only - Led Zeppelin, Los Angeles, June 23, 1977

I saw them on June 19, 1977 just before the run of Forum shows. No a very good show. I think Zep got fired up for the LA shows but at my show seemed like they were going through the motions. Only chance I ever got to see the mighty Zeppelin and other than a drugged out Aerosmith in 1975 they were one of the worst headline acts I ever saw.

 

I believe Bonzo was 'ill' and played very erratically; one of his few 'off nights'. Also, no drum solo.

 

John Paul Jones, Grand Piano Loonie... What an audience recording and what a crazy show. First had part of it on a cassette from a friends LP set.
I hope the night before, 6-22 shows up in better quality someday. Jimmy is extremely fiery that night as well.

 

A very overrated concert. I love the LA 1977 series of shows (more than any other LA forum years), but this is the worst.

The only reason for its popularity is the decent sounding (for audience tape) bootleg and the Keith Moon appearance.

Well ok I'll admit the NQ from this show is interesting, but not much different than others from this part of the tour.

I used to have the boot on vinyl (2 record sets with pasted artwork) decades ago, but don't have them now.

Best shows from that set are June 22 / June 26 / June 27. June 21 and June 25 have their moments. But this one just stinks. Trampled Under Foot is a disaster.

 

Troll much? None of your opinions have any basis in fact, but feel free to keep sharing. It's a free country.

Love,
Billy

 

Great show but not June 21 or June 27 great. Hearing plant say the word "badgeholders" gets realy tired really fast.

I have 7 or 8 different version of the June 23 Millard gem but the old budgeholder [sic] issued by GI Joe's arch nemesis enemy organization {that's a hint folks} is still my favorite.

Past few years I've really got into the June 27th show. The recording itself is a tad weaker than Eddie or Badge but they totally smoked that night as well. Too bad it was the legendary end {another hint folks} as they certainly drove it out of the park that night with a deep striker {yet another hint. oh and only the 4 disc original the 3 disc version is squashed to a thin paste}

I'd currently rank LA 1977:

1) June 21
2) June 27
3) June 23
4) June 25
5) June 26

I could easily flip 4 and 5 and 2 and 3 on any given day.

 

Yes, John Paul Jones gets completely lost during Kashmir during the 06/23 show and it takes the band a couple of minutes to recover from the trainwreck and get back on the same page. During Trampled Under Foot, the very next song, Page's amp cuts out for while as well. It's interesting to hear how Led Zep handles adversity on stage.

Stuff like this happens all the time during live performances and you will never hear it on official releases. One of the reasons I like bootlegs.

 

There was also a show on June 22.

 

Moon and Bohnam together? I don't think there was enough booze in all of Los Angeles to accommodate the two of them! Oh, to have been a fly on the wall backstage THAT evening! Back to the original thread title - boots aren't everyone's cup of meat, but Millard sourced boots are some of the best you are likely to hear from ANY era. Listen to This, Eddie was my first (and favorite) Zep bootleg.

 

A childhood aquaintance (his mom was in my mom's wedding) was the laser guy for Zeppelin and the last time I saw him he told me about this gig. He said during the concert he heard a voice behind him say that Bonham was playing really well tonight and Steve said without turning around and said yeah but he's had better nights on this tour. Turns out it was Keith and next thing Steve knew Moon was on stage with Bonham.

Oh, and I had tickets for the N.O.L.A. show but as we all know the tour was aborted and I never got a chance to see the band.

 

I only ranked the ones I've heard

 

And what is "fact" exactly? And yes it is a free country. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

I saw Led Zeppelin every tour on their Los Angeles stops (once at Long Beach too). Full disclosure, I did not see the '69 Whiskey shows.
'77 was my least favorite (notice I didn't say "worst" as it's all subjective).

For me Page was playing in and out of time, his guitar playing had that thin jittery sound I associate with over indulging in cocaine, clams left and right.
The muscle and magic of those early shows was gone.
The only thing worse I have heard are some of those horrible 1980 shows.

Everybody views these things through their own filters.
I inevitably compared them all to my favorite experience which was that 1970 "Blueberry Hill" show.
Your mileage may vary ...

 

Forum rules need to be changed about 70s and 80s boots, these are collector items now and important, if not essential music for collections of certain bands.

 

But the laws have not changed.

 

You saw the '69 Whiskey-a-Go-GO shows and the Blueberry Hill show?!? I have three reactions to that:

1. 
2. I completely understand why you'd find the '77 shows inferior by comparison.
3. 

 

Agree 100 percent here. I don't mind at all when bands make mistakes during live shows. Love hearing how great bands work around them. In this case, turns into "reggae Kashmir" while they all try to get back on the same Page (see what I did there?). During Trampled, Page's problem makes him cut out of the mix for what? A minute? Wow - poor babies who can't deal with it. For me it makes the performance unique. Why bother collecting multiple shows if you're going to hear the exact same thing over and over again? Isn't that for Rush collectors?

Love,
Billy

 

Ha!
I did NOT see the Whiskey shows.
I did see them every tour starting with that Blueberry Hill show which remains my favorite.

 

Facts - it's not overrated, it wasn't the worst show of the run, there are more than two reasons for its popularity, it doesn't stink and Trampled Under Foot isn't a disaster, there's a momentary drop out of Page's guitar - the rest of the performance is killer.

Completely agree with those who saw Zep in the early days and think the latter days pale in comparison. Can't argue that point - the tapes don't lie. Still, Zep in '77 was still a formidable beast when all four guys were on the game. A different beast, for sure, but still dangerous. Finding those great gigs is a little trickier than it was from say 1969 to 1972, but they are out there and a treat to listen to .

Love,
Billy

 

Still, the Blueberry Hill show. Man...

 

I agree and would love official releases of both the 75 and 77 tours. I don't care if Jimmy cuts them up.

 

I used to read that Peter Grant used to have people in the Zeppelin camp go out in the audience and if they caught someone taping they would smash their equipment. That being said, regardless of what you say about bootleggers, I thank them all the time for preserving history in music.

BTW I am one who also field records a lot of shows I go to. I'm not a bootlegger, I'm a taper. The difference being is that I share my recordings and would never sell them to profit off of an artist.

 

Agree - Zep reached its technical zenith as a live act in '72 and '73, with spring/summer '72 in the US and March '73 in Europe probably the high points. They were of course a phenomenon as well from '69-'71, but also a very different beast. The '69 shows are amazing for their intensity and unpredictability, but the setlists were shorter (most of the time anyway) and so much of their oeuvre simply hadn't been written yet, especially in '69 and early '70 before they started testing out the Zep III material in their shows. Conversely, while 1973 was a high point, one could argue that the setlists weren't the best, lacking the experimentation of the earlier years, but also lacking the Physical Graffiti (and Presence) tracks of the later years.

For me '77 is clearly inferior overall, but that's as much because of inconsistency as anything else - in other words, for my money the best moments from '77 are just as enjoyable and as impressive in their way as the best moments from the early years. Some of the '77 stuff arguably is more technically challenging and more daring as well. So yes, June 21, 22, and 23 have clear problems because of the inconsistency, but there also are 1-1/2 or more hours of excellent Zep mixed into each of those marathon shows. (I've never been as enamored of June 27 for some reason - IMHO it's more at the level of June 25 and 26.)

In addition, the April 28 Cleveland show is fantastic, as is most of the May 30 Cap Centre show. There also are bits and pieces from the June 11-13-14 NYC shows that are excellent; and people really love the Pontiac April 30 show too.

 

Amazing that discussing heroin use/abuse on this forum is fine but mentioning a live bootleg label usually results in the post being pulled.

What amazes me even more is the amount of holier than though narc's there are here. Does any one really like a tattle-tale? I mean we're are not talking about righteous whistle blowing regarding Nuclear Waste here, we're talking about the LZ 1977 LA stand

 

Our host works in the industry and generally speaking, the industry takes a dim view of bootlegs. So I can understand why discussing certain particulars about bootlegs, such as, where to find them, would be banned.

There have been plenty of discussions regarding bootlegs here anyway so any policy they do have here hasn't really hindered discussion unless the main point of the discussion was how to obtain them. In addition, anyone with the ability to use a search engine could likely find most of the run of the mill very well known boots already mentioned on this forum. No one really needs this forum for advice on where to find bootlegs.

Discussions regarding drug abuse aren't comparable IMO.