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Led Zeppelin is my passion, Youdopia. You know it. This concert was the first bootleg cd ever, for Led Zep. I bought it, and I still have the discs, somewhere, but I no longer have the paper case. Thus my uber collectible is … like Action Comics #1 without a cover and with water stains. Swaha.

In 1980 Led Zeppelin were poised to tour America again.  They had redefined themselves and gone were many of the excesses of the past. No more drum solos, no more violin bow.  They opened the show with Train Kept A Rollin’; the song they opened with in 1968/69 as the New Yardbirds.  After that they zip into a chopped and channeled Nobody’s Fault But Mine, that is my favorite performance of this song.

Bonzo has less than 90 days to live, and Jimmy Page is rail thin, but there is a definite sense of ascension. They seemed to be getting their shit together, and had Bonzo lived to see the dawn of the celebrity rehab culture of the 80′s,  Zeppelin might have continued on.

I think that had they carried on, they would have been more like Genesis, because Robert Plant (I think) would have gone solo, a la Phil Collins.

So… Here is an video of one the best shows of the short 1980 European tour of Led Zeppelin. The sound is the raw soundboard, and thus akin to looking at your face under a fluorescent light. It’s stark and a bit thin, but it’s Led Zeppelin. Also, the footage is choppy, because 8mm film doesn’t last long, so it’s little bits of the show. The original is on LedZeppelin.com.  Blame it on the chronotons. Warts and all, it’s the Coolest Shit Ever.