Press Review: Group’s Nothing To Get Excited About

The following notes on Thursday night’s Led Zeppelin concert in the Salt Palace Arena will spell what artists known as a “lukewarm” review – a review not particularly meant to either acclaim or to abominate. Led Zeppelin is not good, nor is it bad.

Without question, Jimmy Page, the lead guitarist, is a virtuoso. There is seemingly nothing he cannot do in the technical real. He plays one of the fastest guitar necks to be seen. His intonations, his vibratos and his sense of time and syncopation probably are matched by only a handful of contemporary guitarists.
However, one can only carry the wavering in the pitch of a tone so far, and a more conscious sandwiching of pure tones or “white” tones in his runs would have made the music more dimensional and fuller. At times, then, this incredibly gifted musician turned to gimmickry. Still, Page’s White Summer solo was superb, motivated as it was for harmony’s sake.

Ideally, rock concerts should be environmental experiences, and the closer one is to the source, the closer he is to the substance of the art. So those seats at a distance were invited down closer to the stage, and people were everywhere. But with the push of almost 14,000 in the hall, there was, on the other hand, an invitation to paranoia. [By G. Raine | Salt Lake Tribune  | March 27, 1970]