Mexico City. . . Oh Shit !! No warning, no notice, just pack the bags,
catch a plane, and we're off. My wife & I checked into the Presidente
Intercontinental Hotel (where Jimmy & Robert were staying), and then it
was off to catch the dress rehearsal.
We arrived at the Palacio de los Deportes (Palace of the Sports) and
found a back entrance where local security was stationed. We pulled out
our ‘Zoso’ laminates which I had made and walked right past the
security, straight into Jimmy! "Ahhh. . . hi Jimmy. . .how’s it going?"
as I am trying to shove my laminate back under my shirt!
We had some small talk and then he politely excused himself to go do the
dress rehearsal. We politely (and quickly) excused ourselves as well.
Back outside, I then found another entrance into the building and heard
the thunder of Michael Lee’s drums followed by the tuning of Jimmy’s
guitar.
I walked a circle around the arena until the sound got louder, finally
finding a small locked room that was backstage, in which they were
shaking the boards off the walls. I quickly ran upstairs where I found
an open window and a view down to the band about 15 feet below. I heard
about 10 minutes of a killer instrumental jam which I didn’t recognize,
before the local security grabbed me and booted me out.
Then the show: Out of a packed house of about 18,000, I think we were
the only non-locals in the building! Page and Plant came on at 8pm with
no opening act. They played a strong opening set from their last leg,
and then introduced Najma for "Battle of Evermore," a pleasant surprise!
Other highlights included "Going to Califonia" with the Mexican Symphony
Orchestra, and a rockin’ "Whole Lotta Love" medley.
The response from the Mexican audience was the strongest I had seen
anywhere. When the band broke into "Whole Lotta Love," I thought there
was going to be a riot! It was out of control. These vibes definitely
reflected back on stage to two boys having a wonderful time.
They closed with their standard encores and said their goodbyes. It was
then that this show left the realm of being a standard show. While we
were outside the venue comparing notes, the crowd was still in an
uproar. Fifteen minutes after the house lights came up nobody had left.
Then we heard one giant roar—they had done it! Mexico brought Page and
Plant out for a second encore. So as we heard Jimmy break into
"Heartbreaker" we fought our way back into the building to see the most
amazing lead of any song to date. Clean, crisp, fast & furious. Sounded
like 1969!
Robert had come out wearing one of the many bootleg shirts that were
available outside the venue. This one said "The Song Remains The Same:
Led Zeppelin World Tour Mexico 1995." Everything down there referred to
the ‘Led Zep world tour.’ The selection & quality of bootleg merchandise
was out-standing, and cheap. Even the official Mexico tour shirts sold
inside the venue were only $10.
- Terry Stephenson
I attended the show with my brother, who had seen Led Zeppelin twice in
Albuquerque, in 1970 and 1973
Jimmy’s playing was passionate and he was very animated throughout the
show. Robert said that northern New Mexico has always been dear to his
heart and he introduced the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra as "the civic
orchestra of Espanola, New Mexico." This is a small town north of
Albuquerque that is made fun of, much the same way that New Yorkers make
fun of New Jersey. Everyone got the joke. Plant obviously knows his way
around the region.
All in all, a surprising and fantastic show. My brother said it was like
seeing Led Zep, only with better sound and visuals. A great time!
- Rob Martinez
The night began with an instrumental section of "Al Thlathya—Al
Mokadasa." [Used as a recorded introduction to all the shows on this
leg. - ed.] My tutor in such matters informs me that this is a highly
spiritual piece of music made quite famous by the extraordinary Egyptian
vocalist, Ms. Om Kolthom.
When Robert sang that the "autumn moon lights my way," it was
incredibly perfect. The silver moon was high and bright, two days away
from being completely ripe. It was, in our estimation, one of the best
sounding shows ever. Jimmy was perfect and Robert was in excellent voice.
Jimmy did a new intro to "No Quarter," very different texture, tone and
modality. One of my favorite parts of the night was when Nigel did his
hurdy gurdy solo, and got that thing buzzing at a frequency that got the
air vibrating and you could feel the sensation inside your body.
The obligatory Wardrobe and Hair Reviews: The wardrobe theme was black.
Robert chose black pants and a black vest with a large silver
concho-type clasp, and he accessorized the outfit with a bright red
necklace. Jimmy, the master of the black wardrobe, appeared in a
wonderful stylish knee-length black jacket. The Egyptians were all in
black, 
as was Ed (whose hair, I would like to add, is still
magnificent!). Charlie added a bit of wardrobe color, as did Michael,
but you hardly notice what he’s wearing with all the reflection off his
drum kit. I believe he kept his clothes on throughout the show, but
can’t be certain about that.
After the third song or so, Jimmy's jacket came off, revealing a lovely
jade colored satin shirt atop the same textured fabric black slacks of
the previous leg of the tour. We were once again charmed that he
continues to wear his Hush Puppies, while Robert again was sporting
those buckskin boots. At Shoreline I noticed that Jimmy is wearing a
silver figa around his neck—it’s a Brazilian good luck charm.
- Penny Hill
Boise is not precisely the venue one would expect to find the P-Boys. As
Robert commented at the front end of the show, "We’d like to say we’re
glad to be back, but Jimmy and I were talking backstage just now, and
neither of us can remember ever having been here!" However, in an arena
holding some 10,000, 9,032 were counted and a more enthusiastic crowd is
improbably to find.
Anyone, anyone at all, can talk to me about the deterioration of Page’s
playing, or that he is a "sloppy" player, and my modest rejoinder based
on the Boise show, is "BULLSHIT." Page was absolutely right on, his
fretting was nigh on to perfection, his whammy bar work was something
out of the ‘60s; he was even warping and doing palm harmonics out the
proverbial. . . He also did some stage antics that were worthy of Chuck
Berry, once even trying to get Porl to join him in "get-ting down" while
playing.
- Basil Hedrick
Every time Jimmy would either launch into or finish off a solo, the crowd exploded to the point of deafness, and the same thing happened when Robert would get into a reachy or high vocal, the crowd would positively lose it. Both Robert and Jimmy loved it.
When the Page/Plant show in Toronto last spring ended, I said that it
was the best concert I had ever seen, bar none. After a disappointing
show at the Meadowlands, and two amazing nights in Boston, I still felt
that way.
No longer. Not only was Monday night’s show in Boston the best I’ve ever
seen, it may be the best I will ever see.
The essential difference this time was freedom. The growing tightness of
the band, the building confidence in their ability to lay waste to an
arena, the probably overwhelming audience response. . . all this has
given them the freedom to expand, grow, and develop. One got the sense,
unlike on the previous leg, that everything they wanted to do was within
their reach.
The crowd, obviously, can take a small part of the credit. Before
Monday’s show, the people filing into the brand new Fleet Center were
screaming in unison even before they got to the turnstiles. I have never
heard this kind of pre-event excitement at a concert. Think pre-Stanley
Cup, pre-Superbowl, pre-World Series The acknowledgement of the crowd,
the truly grateful smiles, Page’s pre-show study of the masses (who
could clearly see him outlined against the backstage area), the
thunderous cheers for every solo, all seem to work their symbiotic magic
with Page and Plant—who do, after all, live and die on the stage.
"Babe I’m Gonna Leave You," was a full-band masterpiece—the kind of
treatment the song has deserved since its stunning debut on the first
album. The orchestral arrangement was flawless (Michael Kamen, retire
now), the orchestra itself was a sea of energy and joy, Page’s guitar was
crushing throughout, and Plant made it up as he went along. . . with
tear-inducing results. I actually cried the second time they crashed
into the chorus, because I couldn’t believe how powerful, how amazing,
how beautiful their music was.
The encores are a bit too rote in selection, but the performances are so
good that one forgives them. A bit of "Out On The Custard Pie Tiles,"
and then into the Riff That Robert Said He Wouldn’t Sing. [that would be
"Black Dog" - ed.] In a way, this has become the "Stairway" of the
current tour—the audience sings along to the whole song, and much of it
is with the encouragement of Robert.
Of course, no amount of crowd-pandering can explain Jimmy’s solo—after
an ultra-extended blaze through the most intricate picking yet, he
seemed to be ready to head back into the riff, then he glanced up at Lee
and leapt into another solo based on one of the hardest licks from the
original album version. He simply could not be playing any better—not
in this lifetime.
As they neared the end of "Kashmir," it seemed that no one wanted to
actually stop playing. They jammed. They teased "Black Dog" again. They
went into thrash mode under Robert’s "medication!" screams. Robert and
Jimmy danced. And when they finally ended it, Jimmy raised his guitar
behind his head, faced Lee, and shared a last communion as they brought
the final chord crashing down.
Amen.
- Thor Iverson
- Ned Gubbi
Go back to the Proximity Vol 7, No 20 Page
