| Best audience
source for both nights. August 4th concert: The music at the Knebworth shows wasn’t exactly outstanding—the group didn’t respond well to the overall changes in rock at this point and their live act suffered as a result. Despite the fact that their playing is still very good, there's definitely a feeling that their current set has lost a lot of its relevance. But this show does have a few interesting moments, aside from the last performance of ‘Ten Years Gone.’ ‘Whole Lotta Love’ has a completely new arrangement replacing the theremin section—it's played complete at these 1979 shows for the first time since the 1973 American tours, but now includes some new themes and has an invigorating feel to it. This is one of the few songs that has a kind of freshness missing from the rest of the set at this time, although their next (and last) tour would be different. A decent ‘Heartbreaker’ (Plant’s vocals in this one are a far cry from the glory years) closes the show. August 11th Concert: This show is even less impressive than the one the week before, with the dull tone on Page's guitars intensifying the lethargic feeling. A number of major pieces are played for the last time, and judging from this show it was probably a good idea to drop most of them; it’s also a real pity the last-ever ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ gets ruined by both amplifier crackling and a broken string at the very end. Jones plays a nice piano solo as an introduction to the last version of ‘No Quarter’ and another right before the three-way instrumental, which is again shorter than in previous years. 'Trampled Under Foot' also starts with a different clavinet intro and later the strange ending to 'Achilles Last Stand' makes it sound like Page has broken another string. 'Whole Lotta Love' again has the new arrangement (promptly dropped after this show and then curiously brought back for the post-Bonham reunions and Page/Plant shows in the 90s), which then moves into the ‘Boogie Woogie’ section for the first time since 1973. The show ends with a short ‘Communication Breakdown,’ which is far from a good choice for an encore—Plant really forces his voice without much luck. This sub-par performance sadly turned out to be their last show in the U. K. |