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I can’t say enough great things about this DVD. I’ve never been an especially great Led Zeppelin fan – the only CDs of their I own are Presence and the Page/Plant No Quarter album. I have some vinyl, but really I’ve always accepted Zep as a given; something that was influential to the stuff I listen to, but not something that totally grabbed my attention. Maybe it’s because I’m a visual thinker (and maybe because “Song Remains the Same” was lame) but seeing and hearing these guys playing in their prime is a revelation. A message from the past that not only says, “this is what great rock is” but also implies that much of what passes for rock today is predominantly derivative, lame crap. And I’ve only watched the first few tunes of Disc 2.
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Speaking of revelatory experiences, I drove 3 hours to Fayetteville last night to see one of my personal gods, Eric Johnson. He Who Has the Tone. This is a guy who, for all his guitar prowess, can do something few guitar players can do – move the chicks. The crowd consisted mainly of guitar players (predominantly male) and their girlfriends, and I noticed that while the guys stood motionless with their arms crosed (as musicians so often inexplicably do), the gals were swaying back and forth and even dancing. Eric writes good pop tunes and keeps his shows a 50/50 split between instrumentals and vocal tunes, so there’s something for everyone. Hopefully my friend Kerri wasn’t too bored. She made me chicken and broccoli. Mmmm. And she loaned me her Pantera and Megadeth CDs so that I could stay amped while I drove the three hours back to LR.