Led Zeppelin Live At Tear Gassed Place (Baltimore, April 1970)

From collectorsmusicreviews.com

Civic Center, Baltimore, MD – April 5th, 1970

Disc 1: We’re Gonna Groove, Dazed & Confused, Heartbreaker, Bring It On Home, White Summer/Black Mountain Side

Disc 2: What Is And What Should Never Be, organ solo, Thank You, Moby Dick, introduction, How Many More Times (Bolero, Boogie Chillun’, Move On, That’s Alright, My Baby Left Me, Honey Bee, Lemon Song), Whole Lotta Love

There are three tape sources for Zeppelin’s show in Baltimore on their spring, 1970 tour. The first is a poor sounding source mentioned by Louis Rey in his book. A second complete source surfaced several years ago and was released on cdr as Some Things Never Pass (Apple AML 2000). Finally a third source surfaced on FBO and was released on the fan produced Sorry ’Bout The Delay.

This third source contains cuts in “Bring It On Home” and in the organ solo. Live At Tear-Gassed Placed, this new release by Tarantura, utilizes the second source exclusively. It sounds like the label boosted the volume making this sound very good. The tape hiss is also louder but it doesn’t distract from the enjoyment of the music.

Their performance in this show is rather mediocre compared to others during this era. After a rather flaccid ”We’re Gonna Groove” Plant apologizes and explains “we’ve only had this PA for three nights”. The PA cuts out again several times in the opening of “Dazed & Confused” but works thereafter. “Since I’ve Been Loving You” was dropped from the set list and the organ solo is very short.

“How Many More Times” contains a sharp version of Ravel’s Bolero and “That’s Alright” and “My Baby Left Me” are played together (makes sense since they are the same song). Plant tries all night to get the crowd “loose” and they do when they play their hit “Whole Lotta Love” (probably what most of the audience came to hear).

Tarantura placed a quote by Page in the insert taken from The Concert File to explain the title. The line is spoken by some unnamed girl who wanted to stay backstage with the band because she was afraid of the police, since they tear-gassed the place before. I wonder what concert she is talking about, whether it is an earlier Zeppelin concert or someone else.

Be that as it may, there are not too many good sounding documents from this era and this is very good and enjoyable. It’s also one of the more complete recordings too and is definitely worth having. It is good to see the label give this show the classy treatment it deserves.