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Press Reports: ‘Brilliance, confusion’ mark Zeppelin show

 As Led Zeppelin neared the end of its three-hour set Wednesday night, lead vocalist Robert Plant dedicated a song to “the atmosphere we’ve reached here tonight.” He was referring to the fact that no plate glass windows had been smashed and only ,one firecracker had exploded up to that point at the Coliseum concert.

All too often, the same fans that come to hear Plant and Zeppelin sing about lovely ladies with flowers in their hair and the pleasures of a walk down a country lane, end up throwing rocks at windows and policemen and tossing bottles and fireworks among their “brothers” in the audience. But Wednesday’s capacity crowd was fairly well-behaved and appreciative of this English band that is approaching a decade in existence. It even allowed the Zep to sit down and perform a tasteful acoustic set, unmolested by the usual burnt-out screams of “rock n’ roll!!” and “play ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ man!!”

Jimmy Page, master of any instrument that has strings on it, donned a mandolin; John Paul Jones handled acoustic guitar, John Bonham banged on a tambourine; and Plant, whose voice is a formidable instrument in itself, sang with a piercing clarity and confidence reminiscent of years gone by.

The acoustic set included admirable versions of “Going to California,” “Black Country Woman,” “The Battle of Evermore” and “Bron-y-aur Stomp.” In the midst of it all, Plant remarked, “This is beginning to feel good, man.”
This veteran of four Led Zeppelin tours was glad to see the group abandon the greatest hits concert format of 1973 and 1975, in favor of a well-rounded display of both commercially successful and fairly obscure selections.
Plant told the-audience, “We’ve been looking at some of the stuff that we didn’t feel we could do on stage in the past and have decided to have a go at it this time.”

Unfortunately, a muddy, blaring sound system ruined many of the electric rockers of the evening. The band opened the concert with a perfectly dreadful version of “The Song Remains the Same,” which was sabotaged by a distorted mechanical delivery.

Zeppelin later beat “Achilles Last Stand,” a driving piece from “Presence,” into the ground. However a powerful rendition of “Kashmire,” perhaps the best executed song of the night, and Page’s masterful slide on “In My Time of Dying” balanced the band’s performance.
 
Other rockers that stood out where “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and “Sick Again,” which featured some classic Plant sexual gyrations and lusting vocals about “L.A. queens” and 16-year-olds with “lips like cherries...locked up in the hotel room every night.”  

Later, as an eerie cloudlike fog encompassed the stage, “No Quarter” showcased the keyboard and synthesizer expertise of Jones. The laser show which featured during “No Quarter” proved to be one of the more advanced displays on the rock stage today.

“Bonzo” Bonham also delivered a driving freight train type of drum solo, running his skins and tympanies through a synthesizer. It climaxed with an attack on a gong standing behind Bonham’s drooglike body. Overall, Zeppelin’s performance alternated between periods of brillance and confusion. The group’s unique concert format did illustrate that the Zep epitomizes a dying breed in the world of rock n’ roll for large audiences— a band that can sit down and play sweet acoustic music and then stand up to hit you in the face with blistering rock n’ roll.  [By L.RODGERS / Stater]

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Zeppelin fans cause 2nd Cincy riot
For the second time in three days police had to battle fans of the British rock group "Led Zeppelin," but police doubled their manpower and kept trouble at a minimum here yesterday.

An 18-year-old Dayton fan plunged 20 feet to a concrete ramp while trying to scale a wall, police said. Stanley Blair was reported in fair condition at Cincinnati hospital. Asst City Manager Henry Sandman told the Cincinnati City Council that 80 police officers, paid for by the Cincinnati Coliseum, will be used hereafter to prevent outbreaks of trouble. (The Telegram, April 21, 1977)