Led Zeppelin
1971-08-21
The Great Western Forum
Inglewood, CA


(Firecracker Explosions - EVSD 4cd set)



101. Band Introduction
102. Immigrant Song
103. Heartbreaker
104. Since I've Been Loving You
105. Black Dog
106. Dazed And Confused
107. Stairway To Heaven
108. Celebration Day
109. That's The Way
110. Going To California

201. What Is And What Should Never Be
202. Whole Lotta Love
includes:
Boogie Chillun�
Moving On
That�s Alright
Mess O� Blues
Lotta Living To Do
Honeybee
You Shook Me
Weekend
203. Rock And Roll
204. Communication Breakdown
205. Organ Solo
206. Thank You

Internet Review

1971 was a definite peak year for Led Zeppelin. They recorded their masterpiece untitled LP, did two tours of the UK, their first trip to Japan, a mysterious tour of Europe, and a month long trek in the summer of the United States. The tape used for this release is the second show of the tour and the first in Los Angeles. Whenever Jimmy Page speaks about how the immediate reception to �Stairway To Heaven� was he mentions this specific concert as proof. The song makes its LA debut here and Page is correct in pointing out how loud ovation that follows the song was. This is a hot and energetic show with Page especially pulling out perfect solos in every available space. �Black Dog� sounds very close to the studio version. �Dazed & Confused� is a long, heavy trip. And the �Whole Lotta Love� medley has a devastating version of �You Shook Me�. The audience is rewarded with four encores including the Eddie Cochran tune �Weekend� and �Rock And Roll�, which Plant announces as not even having a title yet.

This tape has been released previously as Walk, Don�t Run on Tarantura and Wild Weekend on TDOLZ (to name the two most well known titles). Firecrackers Explosion is more complete than the others with the inclusion of �Celebration Day�. It sounds like it�s either from another tape source, a higher generation of the same tape, or perhaps from another show altogether (something which this label has done in the past). This new release on Empress Valley is a noticeable improvement on past releases, being more complete, louder and a bit clearer. However it is taped far from the stage, so it is best labeled as �good� and �listenable�. But it does pick up the atmosphere in the Forum that night very well and it sounds like a big, fun, loud party! I would recommend every show from this year, but this concert is a standout even among all the others. The historical value along makes this worth having.