Heartbreaker

March 24, 1975
Los Angeles, CA US
The Forum


Rock and Roll,
Sick Again,
Over the Hills and Far Away,
In My Time of Dying,
The Song Remains the Same,
Rain Song,
Kashmir,
No Quarter,
Trampled Underfoot,
Moby Dick,
Dazed and Confused
Stairway to Heaven,
Whole Lotta Love
Black Dog,
Heartbreaker.

Led Zeppelin is by far the number one hard rock band in the world. Their recent American tour ended at the Forum last week. They broke their own record for selling out halls in record time. The Rolling Stones have never matched Zeppelin for speed in selling out concerts or for audiences or for gross income.
We went to the Monday gig at the Forum and Zeppelin was incredible. We have caught their act many times down through the years but nothing we've seen them do compared to last week's gig. The four were led by the excellent vocals of Robert Plant on a strong combination of material from the band's six LPs. They did many tunes from their new smash double album "Physical Graffiti." It was number one on the charts after only being out two weeks and was shipped to the record stores as a platinum record which means it had already sold over a million copies.
The band played almost three hours and 25 minutes and not one song sounded like another. The sound was superb as the foursome wailed toward the end of the show on "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway To Heaven."
Going into last Thursday's concert, Led's drummer, 26-year-old John Bonham, said "Our best gig where everything clicked was last Tuesday night at the Forum. The people were so great that attended the show they made us play harder."
The band filled the stage with smoke at times and had gimmicks like light beams that began on stage and went to the back of Forum.
The rest of Zeppelin is made up of guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones on keyboard and bass. John Paul is one of the main reasons this hand is so versatile. Page played different guitars and sounded different on each one. Plant's vocals gave the band a versatile sound. "I work hard on my vocals so they don't always sound alike," Plant said. "I think myself and the other three guys have improved with each album and each tour."
"After our first two albums we broke loose and have been on top of things ever since. One of our pet peeves is although we are selling a lot of albums and tickets to our concerts sell out soon as they go on sale, a lot of people are not listening to our new material to hear how much we have strengthened ourselves. "We have a lot of fans but I think we would have a lot more if people who heard us a long time ago would listen to us again.""Our past tour went very well but we love playing the San Francisco Day Area a lot. We really miss not playing there this year. We know we have a lot of fans there and can't wait to play there again." (Daily Review, April 4, 1975)

The first of three nights at the Forum and the closing segment of the tour. A very good show overall, although a feeling of sloppiness is especially evident in Jimmy's playing. The great late J. J. Jackson had opened that evening: "Good evening! My name is J. J. Jackson of KWLOS. We're all here to welcome back to the LA area ... Led Zeppelin!" After a rather brilliant opening section, Dazed And Confused suffers from Jimmy playing badly out of time with the rhythm section during the improvisations, and he doesn't correct it either! This makes for a jerky and uneasy listening experience. The closer is excellent and although The Crunge jam in Whole Lotta Love is good and the most complete version ever performed, Jimmy is lost and it shows! Licking Stick follows and is driven by the rhythm section into the Theremin solo which, as always, starts Jones amazing bass and Bonham's splendid drumming. A very good version of Heartbreaker closes the show ("Children Of The Sun! Good night!"). Beside that, this is a glorious return to the LA and the band was on! Plant: "This is the place, this is the one. There are the last three gigs on our American tour and so we intend them to be something of a high point for us. Obviously, we don't achieve that without a little bit of a vibe, that I can already feel, and a few smiles."

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