Led Zeppelin - One Month Before Zep IV - A Harsh Review from a Canadian Concert

[@sicotshit7068]

Thankfully fans loved Led Zeppelin more then the critics did, & it’s no wonder LZ hated the press. Hmmm I believe Elvis was swiveling his hips etc. before Plant, I think as an Elvis fan Plant got it from. Plant was the greatest frontman, every man wished they were him, & every woman wanted to be with him. I also think his vocals are more clear then many rock singers, some words or phrases were a British thing. Even after all these years, true fans still love them, & with reaction videos making many more new fans. Greatest band EVER!

[@markhostetler6319]

Thanks for your videos! I too was born in ‘69. These articles are fascinating. I have an article about Plant in ‘93 in Denver if you want a copy of it. Just let me know. I also enjoy Plant’s communication with the audience between songs. There is a YT channel called Plant’s Plantations that does a lot of those. They are a hidden gem of Plant’s descriptions of songs, clues of band personalities and experiences in the city and sometimes jabs at the UK government’s taxation of rock bands (circa 1975). And, of course, Plant being silly at times. My favorite? In The Song Remains the Same, he introduces Stairway as “I think this is a song of hope.” However, the reality of it was much different. The crowd at MSG was being disruptive and Plant said they were acting like pigs. The real introduction to Stairway was, “I think this is a song of hope. And it’s a quiet one, so shut up!”

[@TheJimGreenhamShow]

The tape from Toronto is excellent...Some of Robert Plants best singing at this concert...Its funny how the critics reacted..It also shows how new the Zeppelin sound was to uninitiated ears...A lot of people wanted the Beatles to go on forever, Zep signified a shift in musical taste in 71

[@bobowrathsovine.]

In the 70's I don't think any magazine or newspaper writers liked hard rock music. 20 years ago I went to a library where they had many old newspapers and Rolling Stone magazines. Every hard rock album and concert story I read was overall a negative criticism of the bands.

[@TheJimGreenhamShow]

​@@bobowrathsovine. Lester Bangs was my favorite writer from that time, but he was brutal on hard rock bands, some of his put-downs were quite funny

[@wrestledeep]

Awesome video! I am currently reading the Band Biography penned by Bob Spitz (excellent) and these concert reviews are an excellent companion piece. According to the book, the relationship between the band and the press was like oil and water. It was on stage LIVE that the band proved themselves. It is said that a big part of the live experience with Zeppelin was the sheer LOUDNESS. But a controlled loudness that was tempered with the soft/loud dynamic. I would really love for you to do more videos like this because they really exemplify how the media at the time really seemed to have an agenda against the band because the media elite at the time did not "anoint" the band as Rock Royalty themselves and they never forgave the band for that.

[@caseyeisenman]

I really like this gentleman's site. As a Zeppelin fan, it's quite fun hearing the reviews that were written years ago.

[@tor5457]

Saw them in Germany in '71 before IV. Yes, Jimmy was in his beard phase. It was a great experience. The reviewer is pretty spot on (with glaring omissions) although "that's all they could do" referring to the big, throbbing sound doesn't register. It was also about the fantastic playing, the biting leads, the songs. It was Zeppelin, exactly what we wanted, what we came for, throbbing sound included. PS. Deep Purple were louder live.

[@caramanico1]

Saw Zeppelin on 5/28/77 at the now-defunct Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland (20 minutes east of DC). It was a very long show of 3+ hours and a bit erratic - IMHO the highs were really high and the lows were definitely low. The highs included the acoustic set, the Presence tracks, and Ten Years Gone. The lows were the waaaaaay overextended solos, and the kinda short/rushed single encore that combined Whole Lotta Love and Rock and Roll. The rest was good to very good. Jimmy would probably say what he said about the music from the movie - 'it was neither a tragic nor a magic night." But - 47 years on - it's still in the top ten of the 300+ shows I've seen.

[@jimred5700]

The only person who nailed it in relation to reviews was Gene Simmons. Gene summed it up in 4 words when he said: "The press don`t matter".

[@anomalousdisturbances6126]

I was at that concert! I was 17 yrs old.

[@anael169]

"Unusual charisma" That's his major baby! Yeah!

[@milanuzelac9980]

In those days, in that very time... We were all so spoiled ; overwhelmingly drenched in the greatest music ever. I recall how easy it was to be blasé toward whatever you didn't really know about...

[@mickm7786]

Most critics talk a load of garbage I don't know why they go to concerts like Led Zep if they just want to bash the bands, I saw Led Zep in the 70's and it was one of the best concerts I have been to, I saw Queen around the same time and they were fantastic but they never got the bashing that Led Zep used to get.

[@targetshootr]

Da goats. I think 'right musical circle' should have been 'tight' ... We saw them twice. They were extremely loud but we didn't mind, we were 20 feet away at eye level for 3 1/2 hours the last time. The emotional high they gave us lasted many weeks.

[@stratjed]

IV was so much more than an album by a rock band. It is Magick.

[@girthbloodstool339]

Yeah, a fun show, and the Hamilton Spec guy gets it right about the bad sound in that hockey barn - I saw many shows there in the 70s and 80s. Too bad the reviewer doesn't seem to know the music very well - other than Going to California we know he refers to the 'Thank You' second encore. Happily the show and the set are all preserved.

[@perlofgren5089]

I listened to alot of these articles you read that are concert reviews. Like you I'm 55 and went to a ton of shows in the 80s. If you go to a hard rock or heavy metal concert the sound is often too loud and too distorted. If I didn't already know the songs, I would have no idea what's going on. These reviews are not by fans who know the music, and that's where a lot of the negativity comes from imo

[@scotv5099]

Just like some of the Rush reviews they're trying to slag the band while actually making it sound like a great show and a great time!