I got a live Led Zeppelin 3-cd set from the library on a whim. I've heard Led Zep almost entirely on the radio, so there's a large number of familiar tunes for which I have no title in mind. oh yeah, that one. I recall making an effort to see them on their 1st tour, at the OLD Boston Tea Party (later the joint moved to the former location of the Psychedelic Supermarket!!!). turns out, lots of other people had the same idea, so I missed that landmark memory. I'm equivocal about Zep. Jimmy Page is extremely inventive musically, but he's downright lame as a soloist. "Heartbreaker" live, he perfectly kills the energy of the song with a noodling solo that you can imagine has more to do with the spotlight and his slouchy physical rock star presence than things musical. I am convinced that Ron Woods does not play guitar whatsoever, he just looks the part, even now at the age of 88. Bonzo hits the skins hard--Buddy Miles anyone? sometimes he attempts to squeeze too much into fills but he's largely pretty solid for the circs. his drum solo actually kept time for a while, then it went blunka blunka duddudduddud... well hi, I'm a survivour of 2 Ginger Baker solos. Cream came to town sometime, and I was excited. alas, the excitement drained off pretty well. they hit the stage some 2 hours after the opening act had skipped off. let's just say the group wasn't exactly in sync with each other. or 'n sync, either. the 3 of them soloed away without regard to the other 2. twice during the show, Clapton and Bruce left the stage so that Baker could have more room to lay out his paradiddles. 20 minutes each. during one solo, a guy felt the spirit and jumped up (back then, sitting was the rule at concents), brought his hands over his head and started clapping. that neither inspired the rest of the audience to whooping nor convince Baker to stop, so finally the guy sat down, abashed at his presumption. I was actually amazed that post-Zep Plant began singing in lower registers. screeling vocals are not my taste, but at least he did it as an original of sorts. all those shitty singers he inspired. I hated him less han Rod Stewart, however, who sang with Jeff Beck. not much in this set of cds sounds as good as studio stuff. one listen and back it does.