Boston was always a big Led Zeppelin town, starting back at the very beginning with the marathon Tea Party gigs, through this show right here. July 20, 1973 is the last time Zeppelin played Boston. The crowd is wild at this gig, so much so that the band eliminate Misty Mountain Hop, Since I've Been Loving You, and Moby Dick from the setlist. All to keep the crowd from going Chernobyl. No encores either.

I play Celebration Day, a smokin' Stairway, and a brilliant No Quarter that presages the brilliance about to be recorded in NYC a week later.

This is nice stereo FM master recording of Aerosmith in Detroit on April 7, 1974, broadcast on WABX back in the day. The band is rapidly ascending to the top of Rock Mountain with Get Your Wings, the album they're supporting here.

I play Mama Kin, Dream On, and Same Old Song & Dance. It's good ol' dirty rock and roll a la The Faces or The New Barbarians. Good stuff.

Eight days after the shambolic Live Aid reunion Jimmy Page joined Robert Plant onstage at the Brendan Byrne Arena, in East Rutherford, NJ. The contrast between the two gigs couldn't be greater. Robert's voice is virtually perfect and Jimmy's guitar (and Jimmy himself) are in tune.

I play an aching beautiful Young Boy Blues from his then current Honeydrippers EP, and then I play the two encores Jimmy played with the band; the first being a standard blues number (I don't know if it has a name), and then a fiery run through of Treat Her Right, which calls back to when they jammed the same tune two years earlier.

This is a great performance and a shining testimony to the viability of a Page/Plant collaboration even back then, when they sniped at each other in the press.

This show, February 27, 1996, is the third to the last for Page/Plant's No Quarter tour, and it is smokin'! The band hasn't lost a step since their legendary Japanese shows of a few days prior. This is an excellent audience recording which maintains the high bar set in Japan, quality-wise.

I play a ridiculously hot In The Evening, and the two encores which took the roof off the place. Black Dog and Rock and Roll. The latter two are sung with Robert Plant going alllllll out; hitting notes one doesn't expect. The band are in a great mood and the audience is locked in all the way. A great show with top of their game performances.

This recording was liberated by the Dogs of Doom back in the day, and boy oh boy is it cool! Cream playing Dallas State Fair Music Hall just 7 months before they called it a day.

The recording is rough. The bass is super loud and overloaded. The vocals are buried behind the music, but that because that's how they sounded, basically. PA systems hadn't yet been developed to keep up with cranked Marshall stacks. That would be a year later.

I play a blistering Sunshine of Your Love, and and even more blistering I'm so Glad. Jack Bruce's sick bass chording during Sunshine foreshadows the evil Dio era Black Sabbath sound by more than a decade. All three of these musicians are absolute virtuosos and amazing with every measure played.

This is a very nice stereo recording (AUD patched w/ SBD) remastered by Winston, of Led Zeppelin playing New Orleans on May 15, 1973. This is a fun performance which is one of the best of their May shows.

I play the final trifecta of the night; Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love (with medleys aplenty), and Communication Breakdown. All performances are great and you will enjoy them. You will enjoy them.

Led Zeppelin always seemed to bump it up a notch when touring the West Coast/PNW, and this is no exception. March 19, 1975 in Vancouver, BC is one of the better shows from this tour. I have covered this show before, but it's been almost 5 years since then, so.... fair game.

I play Sick Again, Kashmir, & In My Time of Dying; all of which new songs for this tour.

On July 1, 1980 Santana played Frankfurt, Germany at the same venue in which Led Zeppelin played the night before. Jimmy Page hung around and attended the show, and even joined the band for a couple of tunes.

What is noteworthy is how good the jams are. 1980 Jimmy can be very hit or miss. This is a hit. A hit out of the park. First of all Santana is an incredible band as is the recording (Master Soundboard) which was remastered by Dario Romero. They did a great job.

I play a raucous and extremely tight Shake Your Moneymaker where Jimmy easily matches Carlos lick for lick. It's great. I then play Evil Ways which says it has Jimmy on it but I'm not too sure. Still a great performance from a great band.

June 17, 1980 is the first date in Led Zeppelin's Tour Over Europe, and on that date we find the band in Dortmund. They come out of the gate with something to prove, and they deliver. The show opens with an intense and dangerous Train Kept A Rollin' followed without a breath by Nobody's Fault But Mine, which now is truncated as the intro guitar is eliminated going right into the song. I like it. The Rain Song is perfection as it usually is with Bonzo bringing fury and bombast, which will diminish tragically as the tour progresses.

This show has been around forever in lower quality but this is transferred from the reel master. Heinz Esser is the taper of this awesome Free concert, and he also taped Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple (and more). He caught a great performance by Paul Rodgers and Co. for sure. Paul Kossof is a master of tone and technique at only 19 years old. Andy Fraser's thicc bass and Simon Kirke's tight drumming create a powerful engine, with Paul Rodgers at the controls.

I play The Hunter (Zep fans will recognize this song) and Fire and Water which are both incredible.