BOTM#10 part 3

[tytlane@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

" The Johnny wieseman of the Plaza Hotel John Bonham!"  ?????

 " We said our intention was to cover sort of a crossection of color,
of sound, of what we've managed to get together for the last few years.
This probably was one of the very first. Of what one might call the
Immaculate Conception...refering to Jimmy of course....."

  And the all too familiar D&C bass line starts...a slow lumbering
giant you don't want to wake up. Robert's voice sounds quite strained
but he grinds it out with twenty Fiiiive twenty fiiiiiiive twenty
fiiiiiiiiive... ouch. And wave of heavily echoed Plant Aii'ss Aiii's
Aiiii's push sh shs leads us into the first faster section...still
keeping it restrained...but Bonzo's slowly building building...same
little patterns just little by little getting louder louder and then
that ends with a little Flamenco strumming before going into the
"Achilles riff" with Plant doing a spacey echoed Ooooooh before singing
San Francisco ...he is sounding pretty nasally and like he is developing
a frog in the throat. I like how it's ska-ish at around the 9 minute
mark before Jimmy picks up the bow. I love the fact that this is in
stereo and we get to hear the bow slapping panning back and forth.
7 minutes later after vocal accentuated Mars, Bringer of War they slam
into the next fast section. And then Jimmy dissappears!!!!! He busted a
string!!!
JPJ, Bonzo and Plant carry on without him with Plant filling the shoes
of the missing guitar solo...tough act to follow. Sounds like Jimmy's
tuning a bit still before they enter the vocal guitar duel. Spooky.
Sounds they're playing in a giant cavern.  Have no idea what jPJ is
doing at the 22-ish mark. They seem to be a little lost on this one IMO.
Or am I ? After a second listen though, I figure it out, that's Walter's
Walk!!!  How a song recorded and shelved 3 years ago appears here is
beyond me. I dunno though, the rest of the improv until we return to the
main theme just kinda loses me. Some interesting moments, but not the
greatest D&C. I think it's become too big for its own good at this
point. I'm sure if I was there though, I'd think otherwise, as the
audience disagree with me. " Jimmy Page guitar " is followed by a
exasperated loud sigh from Plant.

 " Well we seemed to have  covered every..almost every color in the
spectrum  I think there's maybe there's one color left....."

 And the audience show their heartfelt approval as Stairway starts...
damn firecrackers! Plant's singing is very low keyed as he must be 
saving himself for later. Jones is enjoying his keys playing out the 
"flutes" as long as he dare before switching to straight electric piano. 
Some heartfelt oohs from Plant add to the mix of extras from both Jones 
and Jimmy. Plant also adds some little ad libs " and you know that's 
true people" " sometimes I can hear them " and of course " Does anyone 
remember LAUGHTER??!!" " Sometimes I look around me...." " Your Stairway 
lies on the whispering winds...It's about all we've got."  Jimmy's 
guitar sounds distorted as he does the d-sus segue into the solo...like 
a bad switch.. The solo itself has some sticky moments at first but also 
some fast and furious ones. The Jones/Bonzo syncopation segment in 
particular is nice. Although Plant sings the finale in a lower register 
he dosen't hold back. A heartfelt performance. Plant sounds very "husky" 
as he sings the very last line. The audience simply got bonkers....

 " Thank you very much...NEw YOrk...goodnight......"

 I'm not sure just how long the audience had to wait as there's a cut 
before Plant comes back to their roar with a series of " Good 
Evenings!!!" befor Jimmy breaks into the opening bars of WLL..
You barely hear 'Wanna whole Lotta Love' as I don't think Robert's 
singing it at all, just Jimmy being slightly picked up...and it 
immediately segues in the OOTT intro and Black Dog!!! Page is ripping 
this one up. Plant also is letting it all hang out. The first series of 
" Ah ahs" is culminated with RObert going sky high with the last 
AhhhhHHHHHHHAHAHHAAHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!!!!!! Same goes for the 
second round before the solo.. WOW!!!! Page blazes through the solo 
trying to shake off the stickum...I think it works.

 " NEW YORK!!! NEW YORK!!!! NEW YORK!!!!!!!! Goodnight."

Think it's over...nah " Good Evening...I said GOOD EVENING!!!!  I mean 
this is the last time we're going to be at the Garden for .....so I said 
GOOD EVENING!!!!!!!"
" Well you know that you shook meee..."
And Page and Jones launch into Heartbreaker. You gotta hear the rolls 
Bonzo's throwing in.  Page teases the audience before he does the run up 
& down the fretboard and he must be tired as it's stuck all over. More 
hesitation afterwards before he does fire up the afterburners. Gets into 
the hoedown with the audience clapping along and whistling and then 
leads the band into an R&B-ish version of That's Allright for a verse 
before springboarding into the "fast" section. ; )  Page gives it his 
all. Plant sounds outright angry angry as he returns for the last 
verse!! That's best way I can describe it!

 "Ladies and Gentlemen of New York, You're too much.......and we ain't 
so bad outselves. Thanks so much...Goodnight."

 No lads, you ain't bad at all. Wow that last one must've left them and 
the audience worn out.  Yet, you still hear people yelling for More as 
the tape ends.

Everyone should have this in their collection.

Nech