Search - Led Zeppelin on DVD

William J. (billystan3) from AUBURN, NY
Reviewed on 12/18/2015...

The picture was rather grainy but the concert and the music performed was undeniably spot-on.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

The mother lode of live Led Zeppelin

Rezaul Hasan Laskar | New Delhi, India | 03/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, this 2-DVD set is yet to be released but I'm still rating it at five stars. The press release put out by Atlantic Records describes the set and the accompanying 3-CD live set as the "mother lode of Led Zeppelin live recordings"! Slated for a simultaneous May 27 release, this marks the first-ever official release of rare and legendary performances spanning Led Zeppelin's entire career. But the DVD and CD sets contain entirely different material so there is no overlap between the two releases. Clocking in at nearly five-and-a-half hours, The "Led Zeppelin DVD" has been culled from just a handful of performances ever filmed during the band's lifetime. Guitarist Jimmy Page explained: "We were never really part of the pop scene. It was never what Led Zeppelin was supposed to be about. Our thing was playing live. In that sense, Zeppelin was very much an underground band. The fact that it became as successful as it did was something that was almost out of our control. We actually shunned commercialism, which is why so little official footage of the band has ever been seen before." Featured on the DVD are performances from London's Royal Albert Hall in January 1970, just a year after the release of their debut album, their five-night run at London's Earl's Court in May 1975 and their record-breaking shows at England's Knebworth Festival in August 1979, just a year before drummer John Bonham's death led to the band's dissolution. Also included are songs from New York's Madison Square Garden in July 1973 that were not included in "The Song Remains The Same" concert film, the only previously released live Zeppelin footage. Other highlights on the DVD are extremely rare television appearances, among them a performance for Danish television in March 1969; promotional clips; TV interviews; behind-the scenes material and even a bit of bootleg footage shot by fans. The DVD has been painstakingly restored, remixed and remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS, and PCM two-channel stereo under the personal supervision of Jimmy Page and director Dick Carruthers.Carruthers recently told reporters that the DVD set is intended as a definitive statement of all that is fit for release, though that quality threshold was set very high by surviving Led Zeppelin members.While Carruthers collected film and video material, Jimmy Page and Kevin Shirley assembled surround mixes from Page's huge archive of live recordings. The DVDs present the material in chronological order and the supplementary material consists of early European TV appearances on the first disc, and interviews and 1990-vintage promos on the second, including the only decent interview footage of the late John Bonham.The Albert Hall footage is from a two camera 16mm shoot and the second disc reportedly has a stunning version of "The Immigrant Song" for which footage could not be found. So some Super 8 footage from Australia has been edited promo-style to accompany it.Track listing:Disc 1Live at the Royal Albert Hall (1970) 1hr 42 mins
We're gonna groove
I can't quit you baby
Dazed and confused
White summer
What is and what should never be
How many more times
Moby Dick
Whole lotta love
Communication breakdown
C'mon everybody
Something else
Bring it on homeDisc 2The immigrant song
Madison Square Garden (1973) 23:24 mins
Black dog
Misty mountain hop
Since I've been loving you
The oceanEarls Court (1975) 49 mins
Going to California
That's the way
Bron Y Aur stomp
In my time of dying
Trampled underfoot
Stairway to heavenLive at Knebworth (1979) 51:41 mins
Rock'n'roll
Nobody's fault but mine
Sick again
Achilles last stand
In the evening
Kashmir
Whole lotta love"

In the Zeppelinverse -- Warp 10 IS Possible.

Graham Henderson | 06/02/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I watched the Zeppelin DVD on the weekend. Absolutely amazing. You MUST get it. Of all the mind bending things on these discs, one of the most amazing has to be the Danish TV gig. It opens as a group of maybe 40 teenagers are ushered into a bare hall with no chairs in sight. The band is set up in a tight configuration in the middle of this empty room. The kids sit cross legged on the floor -- like in a high school gym. Imagine what must have gone through their minds. Having no idea whatsoever about what to expect. No frame of reference. Nothing. Here's this new band, been together for a few months...they are going to play you some songs from their new album. Then it comes, in a cascade, no, an AVALANCHE --- Communication Breakdown, then Dazed and Confused, then Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, then How Many More Times. At one point the guy on guitar whips out a violin bow and you start hearing sounds you've never heard in your life -- that you never thought were possible. And the guy on drums, he's hitting his toms harder than you thought it possible to hit a drum...to hit ANYTHING. And the bass player, lord god above, he's playing a melodic line in tandem with the guitarist which means that the guitarist can peal off at warp 9.99, no, let's just admit it, at Warp 10, into these solos where his left hand seems to do more playing than his right ("Captain, she can't TAKE warp 10. Yes, Scotty, she can -- it IS possible -- for we are in a universe where the normal rules of physics don't apply -- the "Zepellinverse"). Any sane person would have sat there and cast a thankful eye heavenward thinking -- "There IS a god after all...a benevolent god...a god who LOVES humanity...a god who has a little present for us..the greatest band EVER." The rest of the DVD is as brilliant, but I thought this little vignette might be helpful. BUY THIS DVD."

The Hammer of The Gods Indeed.....

Robert A. Jameson | Sugar Land, Texas | 06/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a disc jockey at my school I still remeber listening to a pre-release issue of the first Led Zeppelin album and just sitting in shock at the sound coming into my headphones! From that day on I was hooked and and a few years later I would actually spend time on the road with Led Zeppelin.
After all these years I can honestly say that my initial viewing response to this incredible five hour collection brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.Led Zeppelin live was something special. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham gave it their best every time they hit the stage. The Rolling Stones have always proclaimed themselves at the "Greatest Live Rock and Roll Band," but Led Zep can also make their claim for that title in this special 3 DVD set.In 1970, where this muscial journey begins, video and sound recording was light years from today's digital revolution. This was a time when long playing vinyl albums sometimes were released in both a mono and stereo versions! Jimmy Page and crew worked many months in restoring the video quality and remastering the sound to glorious Dolby Digital and DTS formats.To just comment on a few songs in this incredible sonic document would be missing the point. Having witnessed their live performances at back stage, side stage and front stage I know that for any hard core Led Zep fan this is as good as it gets! For the casual fan of that time in history or the younger generation you can now see and hear what the fuss was all about.The Led Zeppelin DVD collection validates the reason for having a home theater system!These guys might have had the rock star swagger, but they knew they were great and we knew they were something very special.As Baseball Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean once said "It ain't bragging if you can do it!" and I think this sums it up nicely for the Hammer of The Gods."