Guest
Disk 2 Dazed & Confused, Stairway To Heaven Review: Friday and Saturday, Led Zeppelin landed at the Chicago Stadium, with nearly 20,000 turning out for each night’s show. Apparently anticipating possible problems, someone had seen to it that the place was crawling with security as well. Friday night, at least, things were peaceful enough – in fact, by current concert standards, the whole evening proceeded according to script. For a band that attracts such an eager-for-action audience, Led Zeppelin is curiously controlled. They are not the type to urge the audience to surge forward; in fact, they play with barricades in front of the stage and Plant expressed distaste more than once for the pushing confrontations going on practically at his feet. For a band that once relied so much on sheer musicianship, augmented by the stage sexuality of lead singer and vocal gymnast Plant, Led Zep’s picked up a lot of theatrical trappings since their last tour. A stage setting with complete lighting system, mirrored panels and silver balls, plus puffs of smoke and enveloping fogs, represents some borrowings from Pink Floyd, though it works well with Zeppelin’s style too. So does the weird electronic music of the theremin which guitarist Jimmy Page doubled on during Whole Lotta Love. Page took a couple of solos with some flashy guitar work, and drummer John Bonham managed to make a 15 minute or so drum solo in Moby Dick, not only powerful but incredibly engrossing. (ChicagoTribune, July 1973)
