The perfect post–Pleasantville Music Festival movie. Led Zeppelin had been wanting to make a live concert film for years, and the opportunity finally arose during the tumultuous summer of 1973, when they played at Madison Square Garden. Additional footage—including the notorious fantasy sequences (Robert Plant as a knight rescuing a fair maiden, Jimmy Page climbing a snow-capped mountain on a quest for self-enlightenment) were added later. Giants in the world of rock ‘n’ roll with overall record sales that are second only to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin—which lasted from 1968 to 1980—is captured here “at a time when their brute force, young-stud stamina and unchecked excesses were peaking; it’s as exhilarating and exhausting as the decade it came out of” (Rolling Stone). Don’t miss Page’s riffing on “Celebration Day,” the psychedelic noodling on “No Quarter,” “Black Dog,” “Stairway to Heaven,” and much more.
Treat yourself to some good times/bad times with Vol. 8 of the JBFC Mixtapes—a Led-Zeppelin-heavy “Dazed & Confused” playlist—now streaming on our blog!