THE DRAG QUEEN ON NEW ORLEANS

Disc 1: (61:57)
01. Rock And Roll, 02. Celebratrion Day, 03. Bring It On Home Intro -> Black Dog, 04.

Over The Hills And Far Away, 05. Nisty Mountain Hop, 06. Since I've Been Loving You,

07. No Quarter, 08. The Song Remains The Same, 09. The Rain Song.

Disc 2: (40:37)
01. Dazed And Confused, 02. Stairway To Heaven.

Disc 3: (48:58)
01. Moby Dick, 02. Heartbreaker, 03. Whole Lotta Love, 04. Communication Breakdown.

 During the early 70's concerts in America were marred with violence, especially in the South.  The heavy presence of Police at concerts did nothing but elevate the tension already in the air.  Led Zeppelin concerts were especially prone to tension due to the bands popularity.  This concert was no exception.  Robert Plant can be heard numerous times during this show refer to the fact that the house lights in the auditorium were still on.  He also tries to calm the crowd down as well.

The show starts out a bit rough but quickly turns into a fantastic performance.  The band pull all the stops and give New Orleans one of the best performances of their 9th US Tour.  Listening to this release you can hear how much the band were enjoying themselves in New Orleans.  There's no laziness anywhere and individually and collectively the band is on fire.  For an example of this listen to how fierce "The Song Remains The Same" is played.  The band does an incredible job on "The Rain Song" bringing back the Light And Shade to turn in one of the best versions ever.  The word "Beautiful" comes to mind.  Overall this show is one of the "MAGICAL" nights for Led Zeppelin and one of the best of their career.

This release is a combination of the well known soundboard source mixed with the infamous audience source used to fill in some of the gaps.  The audience source didn't circulate until a few years ago and oh boy what a mess it was.  Rather than get into the dirt of it I suggest anyone who is interested in the drama seek a out a torrent thread intitled "Freezer's Revenge".  Many ugly faces were reared on that thread for sure.  It's always amazing that a taper gives something to everyone and is completely slammed for it.  What a crazy world we live in.  The sound of this release is absolutely delightful.  The audience source sounds full and atmospheric while the soundboard source just comes straight out and kicks your ass.  The band sounds as if they are right in your living room.  Nirvana for sure!!!  Everything is well balanced and the slight hiss does not detour you from the music.  Releases do not get much better than this.  Godfather strikes again!!!!

This 3CD set is packaged in Godfather's signature "Tri-Fold" packaging with many color live shots of the band in action.  There is a short essay by "Paul De Luxe" on the center panal of the packaging which basically gives a brief rundown of the 9th tour and Zeppelin's stage show.  I am very happy to have this release in my collection as it is one of the shows I listen to quite often.  Now I don't have to seek out my CDr's of previous releases, I can just pop this one in and get my rocks off.  Thank you Godfather.