******** TREE ANNOUNCEMENT *********

Led Zeppelin -- 03/22/1973 Gruga-Halle, Essen

First time ever complete version (uncut STH, WLL and complete
Heartbreaker)

--- Signup will close april 17th ---

Send questions and inquiries to: roland@no-quarter.de



This is Led Zeppelin's complete performance at the Gruga-Halle in
Essen-Gruga, Germany, march 22nd 1973 combined from low gen audience
sources by Winston Remasters. The version previously treed here in 1999
was a combination of bootlegs "Essen 73" (Savege Beast) and "Essential
Led" (Flying Disc), had several cuts and was missing Heartbreaker.

The new version was built using a recent transfer off a TDK SA C90 first
generation cassette, dubbed from the actual master in the late 70s,
supplemented by a new alternate recording which has been given to the
'German Friends Of Zep' club by the taper himself, who had stored it on
his own first generation Uher 1/4-track reel for 30+ years. I
transferred this reel to digital using the taper's original Uher Royal
Deluxe reel machine.

FYI below i included a pair of stories and anecdotes i received (and
translated from german) from fellow countrymen who attended the concert.
I think these 'reports' nicely reflect the atmosphere of that night -
enjoy!

A great 'thank you' to the fellows in the german Led Zeppelin Club,
"German Friends Of Zep", for making the new audience source available,
after more than 30 years!

Special thanks to club admin Wolfgang "LedWolf" Muller and of course to
Enno Janssen, the actual taper of the newly surfaced recording. And not
to forget, thank you Winston Remasters for putting this set properly
together!



Setlist

Disc 1
1) Rock And Roll
2) Over The Hills And Far Away
3) Black Dog
4) Misty Mountain Hop
5) Since I've Been Loving You
6) Dancing Days
7) Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
8) The Song Remains The Same
9) The Rain Song

Disc 2
1) Dazed And Confused
   - San Francisco
2) Stairway To Heaven

Disc 3
1) Whole Lotta Love (medley)
   - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
   - Turn On Your Lovelight
   - Boogie Chillun'
   - Baby I Don't Care
   - Let's Have A Party
   - I can't Quit You
   - The Lemon Song
2) Heartbreaker



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Bob Bubble
Canada
Y
AUDIO
5
EAC/CDRWIN



Signup ends saturday, april 17th, the structure will be posted sunday,
april 18th

Artwork will be made available for download



Tech. details

-- old audience source --
1st generation audio cassette TDK SA C90 > DAT1 > 2CDR2 > WAV PCM

-- new audience source --
1st generation Uher reel (1/4 track @ 3 3/4ips) > WAV PCM

merged and normalized using Samplitude Professional



------------- MEMORIES -------------


Enno Janssen, who taped the concert onto two BASF C120 cassettes on his
SABA tape recorder, looks back:

The year is 1973, springtime in Germany, it's thursday march 22nd, only
a couple of minutes past 8 pm, at the Gruga-Halle, Essen:
Almost suddenly the house lights go down, the audience cheers, full of
anticipation. Flashlights all over, and in the twinkling of an eye,
barely visible on the stage border, a tall shape with long blonde curled
long hair, standing in the shadow.

Seconds later Bonzo's opening Rock & Roll drumsolo and when Jimmy Page
kicks in, the lights go up and there's no more doubt, here they are in
person right in front of us: Led Zeppelin!

I was 16 and had just left school. For me and my schoolmate, Zeppelin
was the second-ever Top-band we saw. Previously, in 1972, we already
attended Deep Purple's concert on december 2nd. Well i was young and
careless so i brought to the venue my portable SABA tape recorder and an
external mono mic, although i was well aware of Peter Grant and his
'love' for tapers ;-)

Honestly, i was quite envious of the fellows who had an UHER Report
Stereo recorder (top-notch back then), but of course i couldn't afford
such equipment at the time.

Unfortunately, when i was about to flip the tape after 60 minutes, i
found out the recorder had eaten the BASF C120 cassette! Can you imagine
how I felt? I continued recording onto a new tape but of course i had
lost approx. 30 mins. of the middle part of the concert. Shortly after,
still in spring 1973, i got myself an UHER Royal Deluxe reel recorder
and made that 1st generation backup reel that still exists today.



"German Friends Of Zep" club admin Wolfgang Muller attended the concert
when he was 15, read what he experienced:

More than 30 years gone it's quite hard to remember every single detail
but i'll do my best to recall what it was like at the Gruga-Halle in
1973. I was 15 and attended quite a lot of concerts at the time so it's
difficult to distinguish from one event to another, notably there was
involved quite a lot of beer back then.

The Led Zeppelin concert took place at the Essen Gruga-Halle. I saw a
couple of gigs there before and lucky me, after all and thanks to a good
connection, i managed to get a job as a security guard for the T.Rex gig
(Feb 16, 1973). I even had the opportunity to speak to Marc Bolan,
helping him in his quest to locate the bathroom LOL. Anyway, as a guard
i was able to listen to the entire T.Rex concert directly from onstage
and i was of course looking forward to the Zeppelin gig on march 22, in
good faith thinking i would be watching from onstage again! But
unfortunately, Zeppelin brought their own security so i not only had to
buy a ticket but also had to watch the concert from the floor.

If i remember correctly the Gruga-Halle was allowed for a 8.000 capacity
but at least 10.000 came to see Led Zeppelin that night. Other than at
previous concerts i saw in Essen, the Zeppelin audience had sort of a
rowdyish, menacing spirit. There was really an aggressive prevailing
mood inside the venue and before zeppelin hit the stage i watched
several brawls here and there. Also, this was the first ever concert at
the Gruga-Halle where the audience was zoned away from the stage by a
metal fence, leaving a path between the actual audience and the stage,
guarded by Zeppelin's security men.

My position in the crowd was right in front of the fence but exactly
below one of their giant PA towers. Different to other concerts.. it was
indescribably loud. Just so extremely loud. I remember an Essen
newspaper reporting the next day, Zep was the loudest band ever to play
the Gruga-Halle. 128 DB measured. As a consequence i felt dumb for an
entire week but to be honest, i didn't worry. It was just so great, so
unbelieveable!

I remember the audience continously moved towards the stage and i was
squeezed against the metal fence, i was really afraid of them breaking
my ribs! Plus some had a funny habit of throwing beercans, bottles and
*still glowing* cigarettes and in the end i was quite happy i was able
to leave without being seriously injured.

Unfortunately i can't recall any details about particular songs they
played that night, there's just the overall impression left you know. It
was damn good and they played damn long! There was -of course- no
support band. Actually, there wasn't anything spectacular going on on
the stage as they played, just the sheer power of their music.

With the help of a friend who belonged to the Gruha-Halle staff i was
able to get Bonzo's drumsticks! And what did i do? I passed them on to
some girl.. oh dumb me i shouldn't think about it!

That's it from what i recall.. of course, as you can imagine, everything
is kinda stamped by my early age of course. But this is how i felt back
then.

ZEP FOREVER. Wolfgang Muller (LedWolf).