Comments: Do not let any of the above comments put you off; despite the muddy sound and the cool audience response this is one of the very best shows from 1969. The whole band is really working as a unit here, and the balanced sound helps to underline this. Plant especially is in really fine form throughout the show.

As Long As I Have You has some really scary screams from Plant, especially at the beginning, and some really spaced out and enjoyable instrumental jams. For some reason this does not segue straight into I Can't Quit You, and the latter is performed separately, and rather hurriedly. The volume fluctuations settle down during this song and one can really start to enjoy the show: Page is really blistering here, playing amazingly fast cascades and constantly changing the standard fills. Dazed and Confused is a really epic performance for the period, it is given a very heavy treatment with an inspired Page constantly trying out new variations on the usual riffs right upto the coda. Plant turns in an excellent performance, being especially responsive to Page's changes, and managing to follow him all over the place in some amazing duets: he even adds some lyrics ("All Down The Line", I think) to the violin bow interlude. Page has some equipment problems during You Shook Me, but again he is really pushing the band along by trying new patterns everywhere. There is some superb harmonica from Robert.

In many 1969 shows an excellent first half is followed by a mediocre second, but the tremendous solo in Pat's Delight is a signal that the band are not giving up on this night, and the show just keeps getting better and better. Even without audible cymbals this drum solo is very good -- Bonzo is really trashing everything he can find. The audience seem to start appreciating the show here too and Babe I'm Gonna Leave You emerges from the applause. This is a very dramatic version, and Plant for once seems to really get into it. This song depends so heavily on Robert that I am surprised they did not drop it sooner than they did, but nevertheless Robert has no problems in this show and his powerful vocals really lift the performance. How Many More Times is really driven by some superb vocals from Plant -- the band get carried away even before any solos are played and are clearly enjoying themselves. Page revels in the loose structure and starts to experiment again, and a great For Your Love condenses from the jams. This is followed by an insane bowing section (with lyrics again from Plant -- possibly parts of the same song again) and then some unidentifiable song references and a superb The Hunter. A possible broken string calms Page down for the coda. While Jimmy repairs his guitar Robert leads a great harmonica-driven improvisation until Jimmy returns and steers the band to a really hot Communication Breakdown. This is just the ultimate encore, they really blast the audience and then leave them begging for more.

The packaging is good -- the front of the inlay depicts Plant in full flight in a colour photograph from (possibly) the 4th U.S. tour, and the rear has a black and white publicity shot from 1969. The rear has only one typo ("inprovisation") and a shot of Page from early 1969 (possibly the 2nd U.S. tour).

Adrian Campbell (8/29/97)

The review for "Masters Of Excess" is ©1997 Adrian Campbell, and may not be reproduced in any media, electronic or otherwise, without the express permission of the author.