serpentinesheldonserpentine:
What was The Zep like in concert?
What were you like at 15? What do you remember? You took a short walk to the commuter rail with your buddy; together you rode the train into town. Then a transfer to the Broad Street Line to the stadiums. Excited. A bit anxious, is this really happening? The train cars are jammed. What is that smell? Oh, yeah. Do you want some…ah no. Thanks. Always polite. Walk a few blocks around barricades and pissed off cops. Philadelphia cops always seemed pissed off at concerts. Hell, they just always seemed pissed off back then.
Into the Spectrum, hazy with smoke. A few hippies tossing frisbees but mostly we all stood around waiting. If there was a support act you can’t recall who they were. Besides, who could open for Zeppelin? Nobody.
And when they hit the stage it was…it was like this recording . How The West Was Won is an extraordinarily faithful representation of the Zep you saw and heard. They were so darn tight and, well, they were magnificent .
And yes, you’re right, Percy does appear to be channeling the song “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific at the intro to “Immigrant Song”. Yeah, I always thought so, too. So, tell your friend to lighten up, listening to show tunes doesn’t make you uncool.
I do a dozen other things that make me uncool, my show tune knowledge is not among them.
