Re: Best of 1973

[TangerineMan <tangerineman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steve T writes:

> I forgot to mention in my last message that I also agree with you about the
'73 European shows. I've heard a few of these now either from Usenet or Presence
and both the energy level and musicianship of these performances always amaze
me! It seemed like the lads were having more fun and stretching out a bit more
during these European gigs. Some of Page's solo work is particularly different.

Always thought it was a shame the U.S. audiences never got a full-on WLL
medley with the "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" jamming and whatnot. Not
to mention "Dancing Days" in the main set. Of course, not including "Moby
Dick" in Europe allowed them to do all that. Seems to me that the North
American tour setlist was much more calculated--both commercially and in
terms of giving individual band members time off stage during the show to
indulge in whatever (something that became increasingly important in '75 and
'77). Remember, '73 is when they first hired a real publicity agency, after
the '72 tour blew the Stones' trek that same year out of the water
performance-wise (except almost nobody wrote about it). Lester Bangs may
well have been on to something when he wrote that true rock and roll started
to die and go commercial with Led Zeppelin, but I'd say it's more true in
the case of _touring_ (not studio) Zep, post '73. I'm sure ol' Les wouldn't
have been so pessimistic if he'd seen them in January '69.