Led Zeppelin DVD

Led Zeppelin DVD
Video by Led Zeppelin
Released	26 May 2003
Recorded	1969–1979
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock, folk rock
Length	320:00
Label	Atlantic
Director	Dick Carruthers
Producer	Jimmy Page Dick Carruthers
Compiler	Jimmy Page
Led Zeppelin chronology
The Best of Led Zeppelin (1999–2000) Led Zeppelin DVD (2003) How the West Was Won (2003)

Led Zeppelin DVD is a double DVD set by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in the United Kingdom on 26 May 2003, and the United States on 27 May 2003. It contains live concert footage of the band spanning the years 1969 to 1979. The DVD includes performances from the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, Madison Square Garden in 1973, Earls Court in 1975, and Knebworth in 1979, plus other footage. Bootleg footage from some of the concerts is interspersed with the professionally shot material.

The DVD cover features West and East Mitten Buttes, photographed from the visitor centre at the Navajo Tribal Park located at Monument Valley, Arizona.

Background and production

Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer of the DVD, Jimmy Page, commenced work on the project in the early 2000s. While fans had been trading poor quality versions of Led Zeppelin video material for years, this was the first official archival video release to contain any footage of the band playing live.^[1] In an interview he gave after the release of the DVD, Page explained the impetus behind the project:

The reason for [the DVD] was that there was no visual material [of the band] that was out there really. The studio albums had been put out in many different shapes and forms, but this was something that was sorely missing because [Led] Zeppelin built its material on live performances. So that had to be done.^[2]

The idea for a live chronology had, however, dated back some time before this, according to singer Robert Plant in 2003:

The idea of creating a Led Zeppelin collage has been in the works for ... fifteen years. We just didn't really have the time to put it together as a project because there was so much concentrated work that was required. So, as we all finished our individual projects, Jimmy Page took the helm along with some technical guys and this is what we've got.^[2]

For the DVD, Page collaborated with music producer Kevin Shirley, with whom Page worked when he was performing with The Black Crowes. Shirley recalled:

I produced the Black Crowes, and Jimmy joined them for a run of live dates in 1999. I saw the show in New York, and then I went to California and recorded the shows, took the tapes away, and fixed them up a little and mixed them. I did Live at the Greek without any input from anyone, as it wasn't originally going to be an official release. But I think everyone was impressed with it; certainly Jimmy said he was. Then, when Jimmy decided to do a new [Led Zeppelin] DVD, he started looking for someone familiar with the modern applications necessary for surround sound mixing. If you listen to the Royal Albert Hall [concert] opening in 5.1, you can see Jimmy had this audio concept really early on of giving people a sense of the band going onstage and the audience swells around you. We had a meeting to discuss the requirements needed for the DVD project audio, and afterward, he asked if I would be interested in ‘helping’ him.^[3]

Page, with Shirley and the producer and creative director Dick Carruthers, worked for the best part of a year to research, compile, load, mix and present the material.^[2] Much of the footage which was included on the DVD was painstakingly restored for several months, before being mixed at Sarm West Studios in London. In all, 132 cans of film and two sets of two-inch video tape were examined for the project.^[4]

Some of the video tapes suffered from a common fault called sticky-shed syndrome where the bonding agent holding the magnetic particles to the tape backing decomposes to the point where the oxide is scraped off during playback. The tapes consequently had to be restored by baking them in ovens at 55 °C (131 °F) for three weeks in order for them to be played back.^[4] The audio portions were digitally remixed for stereo and 5.1 surround mixes.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]
Uncut	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]

Upon its release the DVD received positive reviews. Michael Azerrad of Rolling Stone magazine gave the DVD four (out of four) stars, describing it as the "Holy Grail of heavy metal" and "one of the best rock documentaries ever made."^[7]

Track listing

Disc one

Royal Albert Hall, 9 January 1970
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Opening"	0:27
2.	"We're Gonna Groove" (James Bethea and Ben E. King)	3:13
3.	"I Can't Quit You Baby" (Willie Dixon)	6:56
4.	"Dazed and Confused" (Jimmy Page; inspired by Jake Holmes)	15:33
5.	"White Summer" (Page)	12:23
6.	"What Is and What Should Never Be" (Page and Robert Plant)	4:39
7.	"How Many More Times" (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Page)	20:17
8.	"Moby Dick" (Bonham, Jones, and Page)	15:21
9.	"Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, and Plant)	6:24
10.	"Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, and Page)	4:16
11.	"C'mon Everybody" (Jerry Capehart and Eddie Cochran)	2:31
12.	"Somethin' Else" (Bobby Cochran and Sharon Sheeley)	2:10
13.	"Bring It On Home/Bring It On Back" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, and Plant)	7:44
14.	"Credits"	0:21

Atlantic Records, February 1969
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Communication Breakdown (music video)"	2:24

Danmarks Radio (Gladsaxe Teen Club, Gladsaxe), 17 March 1969
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Opening"	0:10
2.	"Communication Breakdown"	2:46
3.	"Dazed and Confused"	9:09
4.	"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (Anne Bredon, Page, and Plant)	6:46
5.	"How Many More Times"	12:20

Supershow (Staines Studio, London), 25 March 1969
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dazed and Confused"	7:33

Tous en Scène (Theatre Olympia, Paris), 19 June 1969
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Opening"	0:25
2.	"Communication Breakdown"	2:51
3.	"Dazed and Confused (edited)"	5:36

Disc two

Sydney Showground, 27 February 1972 (Splodge edit)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Immigrant Song" (Page and Plant)	4:03

Madison Square Garden, 27–29 July 1973
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Black Dog" (Jones, Page, and Plant)	5:30
2.	"Misty Mountain Hop" (Jones, Page, and Plant)	4:50
3.	"Since I've Been Loving You" (Jones, Page, and Plant)	8:03
4.	"The Ocean" (Bonham, Jones, Page, and Plant)	4:16

Earls Court, 24–25 May 1975 (see Earls Court 1975)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Going to California" (Page and Plant)	4:41
2.	"That's the Way" (Page and Plant)	6:04
3.	"Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" (Jones, Page, and Plant)	5:31
4.	"In My Time of Dying" (Bonham, Jones, Page, and Plant)	11:14
5.	"Trampled Under Foot" (Jones, Page, and Plant)	8:14
6.	"Stairway to Heaven" (Page and Plant)	10:32

Knebworth, 4 August 1979 (see Knebworth Festival 1979)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rock and Roll" (Bonham, Jones, Page, and Plant)	3:47
2.	"Nobody's Fault but Mine" (Page and Plant)	5:45
3.	"Sick Again" (Page and Plant)	5:08
4.	"Achilles Last Stand" (Page and Plant)	9:03
5.	"In the Evening" (Jones, Page, and Plant)	7:56
6.	"Kashmir" (Bonham, Page, and Plant)	8:50
7.	"Whole Lotta Love"	7:06
8.	"You'll Never Walk Alone"	1:21

Credits
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Heartbreaker (Beginning part)"	2:05

New York NBC Studio, 19 September 1970
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Press Conference"	3:26

Sydney Showground, 27 February 1972
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rock and Roll"	3:06
2.	"Black Dog (Studio version excerpt)"	1:48
3.	"John Bonham and John Paul Jones after concert interviews with Jeune Pritchard"

BBC2 The Old Grey Whistle Test, 12 January 1975
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Robert Plant interview at the Vorst Nationaal in Brussels with Bob Harris"	3:47

Remasters promo, October 1990
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page and Plant)	4:49
2.	"Travelling Riverside Blues" (Robert Johnson, Page, and Plant)	4:09

Menu clips

Royal Albert Hall, 9 January 1970

• Dressing room (pre-concert) – 0:27
• "Thank You" (Page/Plant) (organ outro excerpt) – 0:34
• "Heartbreaker" (guitar solo) – 0:36 (collage)

Reykjavik Airport, 22 June 1970

• "Moby Dick" (Bonham/Jones/Page) (drum solo excerpt) – 0:56 (collage)

Laugardalshöll, 22 June 1970

• "Dazed and Confused" (Page; inspired by Jake Holmes) (guitar bowing solo)

Sydney Showground, 27 February 1972

• "Black Dog" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 0:36

Madison Square Garden, 27 July 1973

• "Since I've Been Loving You" (Jones/Page/Plant) – 0:49

Madison Square Garden, 28 July 1973 (Knebworth campsite on 4 August 1979, video clip)

• "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page/Plant) – 2:23

Seattle Center Coliseum, 21 March 1975

• "Whole Lotta Love (medley)" (Page/Bonham/Plant/Jones) (theremin solo and "The Crunge" excerpt from Earls Court, 25 May 1975) – 0:48

Earls Court, 24 May 1975 (streets of Belfast on 5 March 1971, clip)

• "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 0:49

Earls Court, 25 May 1975

• "Stairway to Heaven" (Page/Plant) (guitar intro) – 0:54 (collage edit)

LA Forum, 21 June 1977 (8 mm video clips from various 1977 performances)

• "The Song Remains the Same" (Page/Plant) – 5:37

Sales

The RIAA certified Led Zeppelin DVD at 13 times multi-platinum (1,300,000 copies sold in the United States).^[8] According to the BBC, the DVD broke all sales records for a music video, nearly three times as many in the first week of sales as the previous record holder.^[9] It was, for three years, the highest selling music DVD in America.

Sales chart positions

Chart (2003)	Peak position
Australian DVDs Chart[10]	1
Austrian Music DVDs Chart[11]	1
Danish Music DVDs Chart[12]	5
Dutch Music DVDs Chart[13]	2
German Albums Chart[14]	18
Irish Music DVDs Chart[15]	1
Japanese DVDs Chart[16]	1
Norwegian Music DVDs Chart[17]	1
Swedish Music DVDs Chart[18]	1
UK Official Video Chart[19]	3
US Music Videos Chart[20]	1

Chart (2005)	Peak position
Greek DVDs Chart[21]	8
Hungarian DVDs Chart[22]	8

Chart (2007)	Peak position
New Zealand Music DVDs Chart[23]	3

Chart (2012)	Peak position
Finnish Music DVDs Chart[24]	1

Sales certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
Argentina (CAPIF)[25]	Platinum	8,000^*
Australia (ARIA)[26]	7× Platinum	105,000^^
Brazil (ABPD)[27]	Diamond	100,000^*
Canada (Music Canada)[28]	2× Diamond	2,000,000^^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[29]	Platinum	10,006[29]
France (SNEP)[30]	3× Platinum	60,000^*
Japan (RIAJ)[31]	Gold	100,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[23]	2× Platinum	10,000^^
United States (RIAA)[8]	13× Platinum	650,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Personnel

Led Zeppelin

• John Bonham – drums, percussion
• John Paul Jones – bass guitar, keyboards, Mellotron, mandolin
• Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica
• Jimmy Page – electric and acoustic guitars, production, creative director

Technical staff

• Dick Carruthers – production, creative director
• Kevin Shirley – sound engineering

Technical notes

LPCM stereo (1536 kbit/s), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, DTS 5.1 surround sound. Menu: Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, Extras: Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

References

1. Lindsay Planer, "Review of Led Zeppelin [DVD Box set]", Allmusic.
2. Led Zeppelin and the Giants of Rock, DVD released by Classic Rock magazine, 2008.
3. Candace Horgan, "Led Zeppelin", Mix, 1 October 2003.
4. Harry Guerin, "Led Zeppelin DVD", RTE Entertainment.
5. Allmusic Review
6. James McNair, "Living in the past", Uncut, June 2003, p. 26.
7. Michael Azerrad, "Led Zeppelin - DVD", Rolling Stone 20 May 2003.
8. "American certifications – Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
9. Led Zeppelin - the Albums, BBC.
10. "ARIA Top 40 DVD" (PDF). The ARIA Report (693): 20. 2 June 2003. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
11. "Austria Top 40 – Musik-DVDs Top 10 03.08.2003". austriancharts.at (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
12. "Musik DVD Top 10". hitlisterne.dk (in Danish). IFPI Denmark. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
13. "Dutch Charts Portal". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
14. [http://www.officialcharts.de/album.asp?artist=Led+Zeppelin&title=Led+Zeppelin+[DVD]&country=de "Album – Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin [DVD]"]. charts.de (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
15. "Irish Charts – Singles, Albums & Compilations". irma.ie. Archived from the original on 23 June 2003. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
16. "レッド・ツェッペリンのDVDランキング、レッド・ツェッペリンのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 November 2012.
17. "SØK I VG-LISTA OG HIT40". ifpi.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 27 November 2012. Type Led Zeppelin under Søk på artist i alle listene and click SØK.
18. "Sveriges Officiella Topplista". sverigetopplistan.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 27 November 2012. Search for Led Zeppelin and click Sök.
19. "Official Video Chart Top 100 (1 June 2003 - 7 June 2003)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
20. "Top Music Charts – Hot 100 – Billboard 200 – Music Genre Sales". billboard.com. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009.
21. "Ελληνικό Chart". ifpi.gr (in Greek). Archived from the original on 14 October 2005. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
22. "Kereső – előadó/cím szerint – Archívum". slagerlistak.hu (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 27 November 2012. Search for Led Zeppelin under Előadó/cím: and press Keresés.
23. "Top 10 Music DVDs". rianz.org.nz. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
24. "Musiikkituottajat – Tilastot – Suomen virallinen lista – Musiikki DVD:t". ifpi.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 27 November 2012.
25. "Representando a la Industria Argentina de la Música". capif.org.ar (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 May 2011.
26. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2008 DVDs". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
27. "Brazilian video certifications – Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin" (in Portuguese). Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
28. "Canadian video certifications – Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin DVD". Music Canada. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
29. "Led Zeppelin" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
30. "French video certifications – Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin DVD" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
31. "Recording Industry Association of Japan | Related Data". riaj.or.jp. Retrieved 27 November 2012.

External links

• Led Zeppelin DVD at the Internet Movie Database
• The Garden Tapes – in-depth analysis of the track edits on the DVD
• In-depth discussion of the making of the soundtrack with mixer Kevin Shirley, by Paul Tingen published in Sound on Sound magazine, November 2003.