2/6/75 at the Montreal Forum...
Press Review #1: The Rock show in Montreal: Led Zeppelin drives audience wild
MONTREAL -- The last of the loud British supergroups — Led Zeppelin — dropped its heavy metal rock on a packed house of 20,000 fans at the Forum here last night. The four-man group stomped and hammered its way through three hours of deafening rock, before a wildly enthusiastic audience.
Outside the arena, a police riot squad stood by ready to avoid a repeat performance of a riot which marked the visit of the Rolling Stones in the summer of 1972. However, there were no incidents.
Extra police were also assigned to curtail scalpers, some of whom claimed to be getting up to $50 for a single $7.50 ticket. Those who were lucky enough to have tickets heard a cross- section of the group's music over the past seven years, as well as new songs from an upcoming album, Physical Graffiti.
Guitarist Jimmy Page, dressed in black suit trimmed with silver sequins, played well despite the fact that he was suffering from a broken bone in the third finger of his left hand.
Vocalist Robert Plant bare chested and flopping his long, blond hair, was often overpowered by the sledgehammer drumming of John Bonham. John Paul Jones played well on the bass and keyboard.
Even, better than the music at times was the elaborate light show which turned the stage into a fantasy of revolving chrome spheres, and ever - changing color patterns on a veil backdrop.
The group flew in earlier yesterday from New York aboard a chartered $2 million Starship Jet, the same one used Elton John on his tour.
They returned to New York immediately afterwards, and they play there tonight. (A. Ferrante, Feb. 1975, Star)
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Press Review #2: Led Zeppelin at the Forum
Nearly 20,000 fans packed the Montreal Forum last February 6, to see and hear Led Zeppelin's performance.
It was a thrilling moment for me when I caught my first glimpse of them. There was a majestic air about the sight of them on stage, and throughout the concert everyone seemed to be held in awe.
I was amazed to hear the multitude of sounds emanated by lead vocalist Robert Plant. He explained that this concert would be a spectrum of their work beginning with their latest album, "Physical Graffiti", soon to be released.
After the first hour they moved on to some of their earlier recorded songs. "No Quarter" featured John Paul Jones playing synthesizer and synthesized bass. John Bonham pleased the audience playing a thirty minute drum solo during "Moby Dick". He utilized a phase shifter, a device which makes the sound seem like it's traveling around the room, and had his tympani fed into a synthesizer that made him produce some unearthly sounds. At times I wasn't sure what instrument he was playing.
Jimmy Page demonstrated his musical creativity when he played his guitar with a violin bow, giving a whining sound to "Dazed and Confused".
They closed the concert with "Stairway to Heaven" during which hundreds of fans held lit matches in appreciation of their performing the song. Page's solo during the song was somewhat disappointing to me. He played some mushy chords instead of the vivid, clean fretwork I expected. The whole song seemed a little under par
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Five minutes of continuous applause and yelling "We want more" brought them back for an encore with the crowd pleasers, "Whole Lotta Love" and "Black Dog", but that wasn't enough. Their second encore "Heartbreaker" brought the evening to a close after three and a half hours on stage.
Led Zeppelin is a professional group is every sense of the word. Their stage etiquette was the best I’ve ever seen. There are a lot of phony glitter groups on the market today that put on stage shows with smoke, fog and psychedelic lighting. Most of them need the diversions to cover up poor musicianship and writing ability. Zeppelin uses these devices to accent their music, not as a substitute for it. If they did they wouldn't be on top of their field as they are today. [A. MARCUCCIO/Feb.75]
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