Led Zeppelin - 1979-08-11 - Stevenage, UK (2xDVDfull pro-shot)

(2xDVDfull pro-shot)

Led Zeppelin 
Knebworth Festival 
Stevenage, U.K. 
August 11, 1979 

"Return Of The Dinosaurs" 
GM-LZ-11.08.1979-DVD-03 
2-DVD set, LPCM Stereo 

Lineage: 
Trade DVDRs > HD > HungerCity Tracker 

DVD NTSC 
Video Stream: 
Type: Interlaced MPEG2 
Bitrate: 8.000 Mbps 
Framerate: 29.970 Hz 
Resolution: 720x480 
Aspect ratio: 4x3 
Audio Stream: 
Type: Linear PCM 
Bitrate: 1536 Kbps 
Number of channels: 2 
Sampling Frequency: 48khz 
Sampling Bits: 16 

Disc 1 (83.08 mins): 
01 - Intro 
02 - The Song Remains The Same 
03 - Celebration Day 
04 - Black Dog 
05 - Nobody's Fault But Mine 
06 - Over The Hills And Far Away 
07 - Misty Mountain Hop 
08 - Since I've Been Loving You 
09 - No Quarter 
10 - Hot Dog 
11 - The Rain Song 
12 - White Summer Black Mountain Side 
13 - Kashmir 

Disc 2 (77.05 mins): 
01 - Trampled Underfoot 
02 - Sick Again 
03 - Achilles Last Stand 
04 - Guitar Solo 
05 - In The Evening 
06 - Stairway To Heaven 
07 - Audience Cheering 
08 - Rock And Roll 
09 - Whole Lotta Love Medley 
10 - Communication Breakdown 

Comments: 
I think I traded for this one in about 1991. At the time, it was a phenomenal find, a "holy grail" of sorts even though the copies in circulation were all relatively washed out and had suspect audio quality. Still, it was exciting to find a complete pro-shot document of their final U.K. show, even if the recording didn't exactly capture the band at their peak. I was vaguely aware that new and improved versions of this had made the rounds over the years, but never went out of my way to upgrade my old VHS copy. 

When this popped up on Hunger City, I figured I'd give it a try - and I'm glad I did. This is a huge upgrade over anything I've ever seen for this show, apparently sourced from a very low-generation (i.e. 1st or 2nd gen.) tape with what appears to be dubbed, remastered audio of the soundboard recording. I can't really describe it well enough to do it justice, but I'd highly recommend this one to any fan of Zeppelin. The info file has several reviews which you can read in full on the link, but here is a sampling of the comments: 

"The picture quality is excellent, a fraction better than Knebworth Festival 1979. The soundtrack stereo sound quality is also really excellent, and both factors combined make this a highly enjoyable release." (Underground Uprising) 

"The production of this set is second to none at this juncture. Genuine Masters has eclipsed the other releases of this new low gen source by a hair. The clarity is stunning and the PCM Stereo Audio, superb." 

"The Genuine Masters release is the absolute best version available. There will not be a better version of this show unless Mr. Page officially releases his masters of this show." 

The resolution of the video is really amazing -- close-up shots of Jimmy show very detailed views of his fingers on the strings, and you pick up a lot of nuance on Robert's facial expressions. There is a slightly washing out of colors during bright points of the show, but it's not distracting or disappointing in any way unless you're comparing it head-to-head against a commercially released DVD.