The Song Remains The Same

 Yes, this is the 1976 concert film starring Led Zeppelin.

AKA I have to defend my fandom of both the concert footage and the legendary band itself.

In the past I've periodically mentioned my musical tastes; it's plenty of older tunes from all sorts of genres. That includes classic rock and I enjoy plenty of songs from Zeppelin... that is even though they ripped off plenty of blues artists, whether it be riffs or entire songs. If that isn't bad enough, it is confirmed that Jimmy Page had a highly inappropriate relationship w/ groupie Lori Mattix when she was definitely under the age of 18. At least most of their songs are quality... likewise the concert footage-filmed in 1973 at Madison Square Garden-has been said to be the band not at their best—they were probably tired as this was at the conclusion of a tour. At least there are plenty of bootlegs on YouTube of concerts from a number of years to enjoy; what was on screen was still satisfying to me.

It was footage shot well (even though two directors were credited as they did not like the work the first guy did) and they played their most popular tunes of the time: Stairway to Heaven, Black Dog, Dazed & Confused, Whole Lotta Love, and the title song, among others. Aside from the concert footage there are several dramatic segments featuring the band, most of which are just silly. This includes Page interacting w/ a wizard and Robert Plant in the Middle Ages with what looked like the sword of Excalibur. John Bonham's segment-where he either spent time w/ his family on their farm or goes fast in vehicles such as choppers and a drag racing car-was startlingly normal in comparison. To think that he was the one who died so young because he had a day where he consumed way too much alcohol.

Led Zeppelin has done some things that I could never rationalize and never will. The music by itself will probably always be enjoyed by myself. The silliest moments in this concert film I can at least laugh at due to how of the time they were. A great example of that was how this earned a PG rating despite multiple F-bombs and even “the C word” being said, usually by band manager Peter Grant. They presented an edited version to the MPAA then released the unedited cut! That has happened before but imagine trying a stunt like that now.