3/6/71... National Boxing Stadium, Dublin, Ireland.
Review:
Zeppelin Get a Whole Lotta Love
The visit of a band of the stature of Led Zeppelin is rare in Dublin, so it was not surprising that last week the National Stadium, normally a venue for amateur boxing tournaments, was packed with 3,000 Irish progressive music fans.
Led Zeppelin were playing the second concert of their current British tour after a three month lay-off for recording work and having played a sensational concert the night before in Belfast, came south and proceeded to whip up the Dublin fans into a cheering, stamping, throbbing mass. The standing ovation started long before the show was over, and at the end Zeppelin had to come back for several encores before they could get away.
Zeppelin are the heaviest and loudest group yet heard in Dublin, and the huge banks of amplifiers and speakers pushed out a fantastic wrap-around volume.
Their performance comprised of material from their previous three albums. There was a bit of confusion at the start over what they were going to play. “We had a list on a piece of toilet paper”, explained Robert Plant, “But I think it’s been used.”
However, once under way Led Zeppelin cruised through the evening without much trouble. Jimmy Page played some excellent guitar throughout; including a clever piece of work with a violin bow during Dazed and Confused, and John Bonham own huge applause for his drum solo during Moby Dick.
The place really erupted when Zeppelin went into Whole Lotta Love, which had been shouted for from the start of the show and many of the fans were standing on their seats waving their arms and cheering for the duration of the number.
Stairway to Heaven was one of the new numbers which starts off in a relaxed way and builds up into heavy rock. Page switched to a twin-necked guitar with six and twelve strings and featured some nice finger style work in the introduction.
Another new number from the upcoming fourth album was Going to California, with John Paul Jones on mandolin and Page on acoustic guitar. With Plant on vocals, which provided an ear-resting contrast to the remainder of the programme.
“California” showed an influence that may come from Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, and on their next album this could well be known as Led Zeppelin’s “Incredible” string band.
The last part of the concert was given over to a mixture of old and new rock with items like Suzie Q, Sugar Mama, Lemon Song, That’s Alight Mama and C’mon Everybody – all following in quick succession.
It raised the excitement to fever pitch and the short-haired, grey-suited officials of the National Stadium gave up trying to make the people sit down and instead arranged themselves along the front of the stage in case of a possible riot. However, it all finished peaceably and 3,000 fans went off into the night more than satisfied with this tremendous concert. (T. Wilson, March 1971)
