As I've mentioned previously, the number of truly excellent sounding Led Zeppelin concert recordings is relatively small, in my opinion. It certainly is small in comparison to the huge interest and sheer number of bootlegs. There are a handful of recorded shows that tower above the rest, and this is one of them. Outside of the BBC stuff I posted, this has to be the best sounding concert of theirs from 1969, and their performance is pretty great as well.
The show is almost two hours long. It contains all the usual suspects you'd expect from a 1969 concert by them, such as "Communication Breakdown" and "Dazed and Confused." But it contains some interesting rare choices as well. It starts with probably the best sounding recording of the Yardbirds song "Train Kept A-Rollin'." It also has "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and "The Lemon Song" (actually the blues song "Killing Floor"), which were on Zeppelin albums, but few excellent sounding live versions survive. "Sittin' and Thinkin'" is a Buddy Guy song that they literally played only this one time. (I've included it on one of the Zeppelin stray tracks albums I made.) Plus, there's "Pat's Delight" which is a drum solo showcase for John Bonham, similar to "Moby Dick."
But probably the crown jewel of this show, and one of the best things they ever did live in my opinion, is their cover of "As Long as I Have You." This was a minor hit by Garnett Mimms in 1964, but Led Zeppelin totally transformed it, and supersized it into a long medley. I've included an edited version of this very performance on one of my stray tracks albums, which is 10 minutes long. But this concert contains the full 18-minute-long medley, and it's worth hearing it that way.
01 The Train Kept A-Rollin' (Led Zeppelin)
02 I Can't Quit You Baby (Led Zeppelin)
03 talk (Led Zeppelin)
04 As Long as I Have You - Fresh Garbage - Bag's Groove - I'm a Man - No Money Down - As Long as I Have You (Led Zeppelin)
05 You Shook Me (Led Zeppelin)
06 How Many More Times - The Hunter - Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush - How Many More Times (Led Zeppelin)
07 Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin)
08 The Lemon Song [Killing Floor] (Led Zeppelin)
09 Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (Led Zeppelin)
10 talk (Led Zeppelin)
11 Sittin' and Thinkin' (Led Zeppelin)
12 Pat's Delight [Instrumental] (Led Zeppelin)
13 talk (Led Zeppelin)
11 Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin)
https://www.imagenetz.de/fGG4e
The album cover art is pretty weird at first glance. Why the avocado with eyes?! That's because this is a cropped version of the concert poster for the series of Fillmore West shows that this concert comes from. I made a few changes to get the rectangular poster art to fit into a square space. Most bootlegs use the same artwork, which is why one of the most popular ones is known as the "Dancing Avocado." Let's just say that rock concert posters were weird and interesting back then. ;)
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