Led Zeppelin
Fillmore West
San Francisco
27 April 1969

The last night at the Fillmore has long been a favorite of just about every LZ fan past and present. There are several different versions of this show in circulation but this release basically relegates all the versions to the back of the file drawers. Some splicing has been done on this version and you'll notice the sound varies from time to time - sometimes even during the middle of a song. And there's some gain problems on d2t2 -- but these splices and gain problems are immaterial and frankly just small annoyances.   This is LZ in the early stages of their career - they had been playing live together only about 6 months and this gig was just 3 months after the release of of their first album - Led Zeppelin. But here they are - playing confident, long, bluesy extended and improvised jams with many nods to blues greats.  Page's guitar has that heavy, trodden, plodding chord and solo arrangment that builds anticipation into every note. Even the LZ-penned songs are done with  diferrent arranagements from what we normally hear. This all leads to an exciting show where you're never quite sure what will come next. Just when you think you know a song and where it's going . . . . . .This is one of my favorite boots of all time.

1. The Train Kept a Rolling   2. I Can't Quit You   3. Fixing the snare drum & talk   4. As Long As I Have You   5. You Shook Me   6.  How Many More Times   7. Communication Breakdown

1. Killing Floor - early working version of The Lemon Song   2. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You   3. White Summer > Black Mountain Side   4. Sitting and Thinking   5. Pat's Delight   6. Dazed & Confused

 

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