I've been listening to several older Led Zeppelin & Grateful Dead shows lately & one thing that really comes through is how sloppy & (likely stoned) they were. This came up at the moment while starting an LZ show on Wolfgang's vault. I'll be polite & speculate that the reason Plant sounded like an off key dog in heat is because his monitors weren't real good in 1970.............

I remember many years ago living with 2 other guys who were also pro musicians. We came to the conclusion at the time that groups like Journey & the Michael McDonald led Doobie Brothers really stopped a lot of drugs in live shows by using such intricate backup vocals (this was before the days of taped vocals). that the parts just couldn't be sung while being stoned.

Now keeping in mind that I despise Michael McDonald & have always believed he ruined the Doobie Brothers, there really is something to be said for performers sober enough to put on a professional show.

Of course now the pendulum has swung 180, to corporate pre-fab hip hop & teenpop.

Fact is while I would never compare Led Zeppelin or the Dead to Jessica Simpson (See I avoided a chance to roast Britney!!), I'm not much more fond of hearing Donna Jean warble like a dead duck or any of the Zep folks totally forget where they are in the song for 5 minutes then I am of hearing the hip hop prefab flavor of the minute..

Happy medium anyone?

It is my understanding that back in the 1960's and 1970's, especially when the whole Sgt. Pepper/psychedelic thing was happening, being stoned was considered avant-guard, artistically, as well as an essential part of both the performing and the listening experience. Sending an artist off to detox or any sort of drug treatment was unheard of--not that there was any such place as the Betty Ford Clinic for wealthy rock stars back then...

I would also speculate that as concert ticket prices have skyrocketed, the audience's tolerance for inebriated performances has proportionally plummeted as well--public intoxication no longer carries with it the anti-establishment, counterculture aura that was so marketable back in the Vietnam era.

You're correct, but what set off this rant has been listening to some god awful Led Zeppelin shows. It's an insult to an audience to be that f'd up on stage.

Geff,
Which specific Led Zeppelin show are you referring to. I do know that there were a few shows here and there in '69 and '70 when Robert Plant was battling the flu. I want to look them up in a book I have and see if they correspond with what you are describing or not. I'd still want them to release more shows from their early period officially.

The Wolfgang's vault show is listed as 4/27/69. I only made it through about 2 minutes of that one.

The show where I was mentioning the other day that JPJ got lost for about 5 minutes in Thank You is 1/22/73, although a large portion of that show was pretty good.

Geff,
Luis Rey's book, Led Zeppelin: The Illustrated Exploration Of Underground Tapes, gives the 4/27/69 show a favorable write-up. Plant had some PA problems and the band went off on some tangents which produced some moments of hilarity between the band and the audience.
The 1/22/73 show you mention is only listed as having 7 minutes available. Perhaps the show from '73 is from another date.

I only made it through about 2 minutes of 4/27/69 because Plant was SO flat. It certainly could have improved from there.