Anyone see them at any of these gigs? And if you did, what's your thoughts?
I ask this because I was talking to a friend of mine who saw them in LA in 1977
and said there was a bed onstage that Plant used to lay down on during
the long solo sections. I talked to another friend of mine later and said he remembers seeing no such bed. And Knebworth seems like such an event
and the 1980 tour has much mystery about it. Anyone?

I saw them in 77, either NY or NJ - bad vibes all around, nasty audience. The playing was hard, ruthless, sometimes sloppy from recollection, & sometimes brilliant - had seen them in '73, the later date had fewer long unaccompanied solos than '73 (long Dazed, Heartbreaker solos, & v. long Moby Dick). Page was very thin & sick looking in '77, seemed in his own world, by then his drug habit was well known. Plant, as I recall, was good - more serious, as one might expect, but also imo better. I also liked "Presence", which had come out a year earlier - their darkest (& most guitar-based) album.

I have heard bootlegs of the 1980 tour; there were some erratic performances but overall I thought they played quite well. Two of my favorites from that tour are covers of Train Kept A'Rollin' and Money.

I saw Led Zeppelin in Cincinnati in March (?) 1977. I saw the first show of two consecutive nights. No ticket, I "crashed the gate". And I mean literally.

It was so @#$%& great...incredible energy, almost hard to describe. The venue, Riverfront Colosium, was completely out of control, the place was rocking. I certainly wasn't the only guy in there without a ticket. People were hanging from the rafters....the place was jam packed.

Me and my college room mate (who's now a Cleveland cop) left during the encore, staged my orange Chevy Vega out back behind the venue, and then followed the line of limo's down I-75 to the Americana Hotel, Cincinnati Airport, KY. I got Jones and Bonham's autograph's in the lobby. Jimmy Page came walking by, through the lobby, in his white suit, shades, and carrying his Les Paul, while Plant had on a large red Swan Song embroidered cape, his nose running like he had a real bad cold, and two gorgeous chicks, one on each arm. They were all looking for the elevator. I gladly escorted them. I asked them each for an autograph...Page and Plant both said they would sign in the hotel bar after they went to their room first.

Minutes later, I'm sitting next to Page at the bar, and he looked great...he ordered a double of something, signed my piece of paper, and asked me what was going on in Cincinnati that night. I told him that Earl Scruggs was playing Bogart's and he got very excited...until I told him that by the time he got there, the show would be over. I then asked where Plant was, and Page said that he wouldn't be coming down to the bar. After a minute or two, some British guy came up and told me and my room mate to beat it. Being only 19 years old, I obeyed. We both left with autograph's of 3 of the 4 members of Led Zeppelin. And a great memory. I saw my cop buddy a few years ago, and he said he'd lost his autograph's. I've still got mine.

Saw them in Rotterdam 1980. I think they started the show with Train kept a rollin'. I thought they were good, but not on top of their game. But you have to keep in mind there wasn't much to compare to. It was the first and last time I ever saw them and at the time I only posessed the 'Song remains the same' live album. I mean, their recent DVD shows how good they could be, but how would one know that in 1980?. In 1980 they looked a bit like spoiled superstars, warming up in front of 8000 people to get in shape for more important gigs (probably an Amercan tour that never came through because of John Bonham's death). I think Plant commented that the audience was so quiet, while I felt that Zep could've worked a little harder to won the audience over. But looking back I'm very happy to have seen them at all, since it was only a few months (?) before Bonham sadly past away.
RnT

Well, I saw the Knebworth gigs in '79...the first one remains my favourite gig ever to this day!
...even though they certainly were not at their best.

Lee

I saw them at Madiosn Square gardens in '88 (i think). They had alot of technical trouble and it really showed, missed timings, mucked up lyrics half forgtten solos......

I have seen worse though!

i got tics 4 the 1st show & last show @ the garden , i sent in 30 postcards , but i only went 2 the 1st show , i figured that b the better 1 , had 2 give the other tics 2 family & friends ,now right b4 me & my friend entered the garden some dude offered us $500.00 for our 2 tics , we just looked @ 1 another & said were goin in , i had some great pics from this gig but there in picture heaven ,i learned my lesson there & now i have everything like that on photodisc even my tic stubs ,imo that was the 4th greatest show i hav ever seen ,they were incredible ,much better than when i saw them in 75, im sure u no they opened with remains the same & being opening nite @ the garden this version smoked , page put on a show & a half ,other mind blowers were no quarter , evermore ,rock & roll, everything sounded great ,I cant rember which tour it was but they did over the hills & far away so friggin great it still boggles my mind ,or whats left of it, heres my stub , performance # 1 MSG

just a random pic im puttin on here

I saw them in Vienna 1980 and all I can remember is that it was extremly loud (only The Who were louder) and the moment when Jimmy Page was hit by a fire-cracker and felt off his stool during the start of White Summer.

After that it took me exactly 24 years to realise how much I enjoy their music and nowadays I'm glad to have two bands that I really dig...

silkcut1978

I saw them at the first Knebworth gig. The main reason for me to be there was to see The New Barbarians but they did cancel their gig that weekend. But the Zeppelin concert was very good so I was satisfied anyway.
I have some photos from the concert in my section on www.stonesvikings.com
[www.stonesvikings.com]

Ove Stridh

[www.stonesvikings.com]