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How can you tell from a boot if a show was quad? I’m not being a wise-ass, I just don’t know how one could differentiate - even if a boot is stereo - between panning between FR & FL and panning in quad.

Short of anything definitive literally mentioning a quad sound system - and some reviewer using the term generically and probably incorrectly - color me doubtful Led Zeppelin used a quad system live.

If the boot is recorded with a good stereo mic you can get a sense of it..as I mentioned previously...strong signal in right channel, moving to weak signal in right channel, then weak in left, then strong in Left....rinse and repeat, with the odd criss-cross. Go back to the 75 boots and have a listen

Cheers
 
It is difficult to determine listening to a bootleg whether or not a quad system was being used. Best way to determine if it was quad or not is if you were there or know somebody who can verify it otherwise listening to tapes won't cut it. You can listen to a stereo recording of a definite quad concert and it's not that easy to tell either due to the quality of the microphones, the equipment being used and whoever is holding the mics not being fidgety while the crowd of people in front of the mics and all around the taper behaving.
 
Saw them open for Todd Rundgren's Utopia (supporting their release of RA...a great candidate for multi-channel) in 77. Not my cup of tea...I was there to see Utopia
Led Zeppelin opening for Utopia? I can't imagine that happening in 1977 - LZ were probably the biggest band in the world at that time (alongside Pink Floyd and the Stones).
 
Led Zeppelin opening for Utopia? I can't imagine that happening in 1977 - LZ were probably the biggest band in the world at that time (alongside Pink Floyd and the Stones).
HAHAHAHA...sorry, I meant Zeppelin opening for the Carpenters in 81...LOL
The topic shifted gears a bit, read up. Folk were talking about BOC...Blue Oyster Cult (now there's a name for you)...I saw BOC open for Todd
 
It is difficult to determine listening to a bootleg whether or not a quad system was being used. Best way to determine if it was quad or not is if you were there or know somebody who can verify it otherwise listening to tapes won't cut it. You can listen to a stereo recording of a definite quad concert and it's not that easy to tell either due to the quality of the microphones, the equipment being used and whoever is holding the mics not being fidgety while the crowd of people in front of the mics and all around the taper behaving.
I am searching online to see what I can find about Showco's systems. I came across this lengthy read, lots to through still...there is a section on the Who using Quad for Tommy...read on!

https://www.vintageaudioportal.com/concert-systems-of-the-past.html
 
HAHAHAHA...sorry, I meant Zeppelin opening for the Carpenters in 81...LOL
The topic shifted gears a bit, read up. Folk were talking about BOC...Blue Oyster Cult (now there's a name for you)...I saw BOC open for Todd
Ah, that makes more sense! Thanks for the clarification.
 
If the boot is recorded with a good stereo mic you can get a sense of it..as I mentioned previously...strong signal in right channel, moving to weak signal in right channel, then weak in left, then strong in Left....rinse and repeat, with the odd criss-cross. Go back to the 75 boots and have a listen

Cheers
But isn’t based on the assumption what you’re hearing is quad? Couldn’t that also just be the sound of panning from right to left? I mean the studio version of Whole Lotta Love had all kinds of non-linear panning to it.
 
HAHAHAHA...sorry, I meant Zeppelin opening for the Carpenters in 81...LOL
The topic shifted gears a bit, read up. Folk were talking about BOC...Blue Oyster Cult (now there's a name for you)...I saw BOC open for Todd

Oh wow so that makes sense why Kasim Sulton plays/has played with BOC in recent years. I'm a huge Todd fan.

To bring this back on topic, Utopia did play the Knebworth festival in 1979 before Zep's set.

There's even a box set some crazed fan put together for that.
 
There's an essay in next week's New Yorker about LZ and the biography by Bob Spitz that came out a couple of months ago.
Led Zeppelin Gets Into Your Soul

688 pages in hardcover:
Led Zeppelin: The Biography: Spitz, Bob: 9780399562426: Amazon.com: Books

41ukOox24RL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


“Bob Spitz shows Led Zeppelin as the iconoclasts they were, grinding the self-consciousness of rock ’n roll in the 70s into submission without a backward glance. Infamous stories from the road, tales of excess, dominance, and ego are balanced by the band’s insatiable desire for heat and beauty. This is the story of poetry and power, rape and pillage, of rock ’n roll incarnate. A valuable recording of rock art history. So well done!” —Ann Wilson, Heart

“As he did with his book on the Beatles, Bob Spitz uses deep research and a wide lens to create the single most comprehensive book about a legendary band. So much of Zeppelin’s history is cemented in lore that hardcore fans may feel they know ‘all’ the history already, but Spitz’s great accomplishment is to make every corner of LZ’s history—from their 1968 debut to their Berlin swan song—feel fresh again. You simply don’t want this story to end, or this book.” —Charles R. Cross, author of Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain and Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
 
There's an essay in next week's New Yorker about LZ and the biography by Bob Spitz that came out a couple of months ago.
Led Zeppelin Gets Into Your Soul

688 pages in hardcover:
Led Zeppelin: The Biography: Spitz, Bob: 9780399562426: Amazon.com: Books
I will pick up the New Yorker Mag thanks for the heads up on that, but really how AMAZING a read is that book? From what I’ve read about it nothing REVOLUTIONARY about it, might go to B&N this weekend and sit and read it for free😂

41ukOox24RL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


“Bob Spitz shows Led Zeppelin as the iconoclasts they were, grinding the self-consciousness of rock ’n roll in the 70s into submission without a backward glance. Infamous stories from the road, tales of excess, dominance, and ego are balanced by the band’s insatiable desire for heat and beauty. This is the story of poetry and power, rape and pillage, of rock ’n roll incarnate. A valuable recording of rock art history. So well done!” —Ann Wilson, Heart

“As he did with his book on the Beatles, Bob Spitz uses deep research and a wide lens to create the single most comprehensive book about a legendary band. So much of Zeppelin’s history is cemented in lore that hardcore fans may feel they know ‘all’ the history already, but Spitz’s great accomplishment is to make every corner of LZ’s history—from their 1968 debut to their Berlin swan song—feel fresh again. You simply don’t want this story to end, or this book.” —Charles R. Cross, author of Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain and Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
 
So many people as me why ZEP were so DAMN GOOD, well I think I found the best answer from probably the best person as to say why and it wasn’t JIMMY PAGE……
Robert Plant once explained why “nobody could compete with” Led Zeppelin
I was excited just to see an article where Plant says something positive about his days in Zep. For the last 20 or so years he has often dismissed the era (I remember him calling it "a boy band" in one interview). Then I clicked on the actual article the quote was taken from, an RS interview from 1990.
 
An explanation isn't really needed. It's all about a certain sound humans hear that strikes them.

I still remember the first time I heard them/their first record. My friend Duane and I were at his house listening to records and the phone rang. It was our mutual friend, Arnie. He was all excited and told us we HAD to come over and listen to this new record he had just bought. We were all 16.

So, we went over there and he was playing the record on his stereo with self-made speakers (my "system' was also like that). As soon as "Good Times Bad Times" started, that was it!

Doug
 
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