Best Led Zeppelin Album?

Well, yeah.

I have a friend that spent the night for those Tribune tix order forms via that edition. He loved reading the article posted above and reminiscing about that night. Thanks to whomever posted that.

You're welcome! I can't imagine how crushing it must've been for the people who went to those lengths just for, as Fastnbulbous pointed out, the order form for tickets -- not even the actual tickets themselves -- to hear about Bonham's passing the next day.

The wikipedia page on what would've been the 1980 US tour has some interesting info, including the planned logo:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Led_Zeppelin_-_The_1980s%2C_Part_One_Logo.jpg

Here's the ad/order form:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1980/09/25/page/33

(xpost) Cool logo! Looks kind of Peter Saville-ish.

Can imagine people reading that order form thinking "15 bucks? Screw that!"

The apostrophe in The 1980s is unfortunate.

Yeah, people putting the apostrophe in the wrong place when writing about decades (it's the '60s, not the 60's) drives me nuts.

Can imagine people reading that order form thinking "15 bucks? Screw that!"

What did arena show tickets usually go for in 1980?

Yeah, people putting the apostrophe in the wrong place when writing about decades (it's the '60s, not the 60's) drives me nuts.

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, August 11, 2015 3:29 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This! I've had editors backwards correct this for me in the past >:-(

What did arena show tickets usually go for in 1980?

I've seen posted photos of concert tickets from the early '80s in the $5-10 range. Not that $15 would have been so outrageous — probably at the higher end of what people were paying — though hilariously paltry compared to the $350 or whatever U2 etc. are charging these days.

The Who in 1982 was somewhere around $15 iirc.

$15 in 1980 would be around $44 today. I don't think there's anyone you can see now on the arena/stadium circuit for $44.

Yeah this concept of arena shows as luxury product is a recent phenomenon, and one I still find completely baffling.

blame these two:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/02/12/arts/12artsbeat-eagles/12artsbeat-eagles-blog480.jpg

(I'm not kidding; they kicked off this phenomenon in '94)

Yep, first ones to charge a then-unheard-of $100 for tickets.

"This year there has been a very dramatic increase in the ticket price for premium acts," says Bill Elson, a senior vice president at the International Creative Management talent agency in New York and Los Angeles. "The Floyd tickets are a big jump from the 1989 Rolling Stones tour, which was going for $35, and the 1989 Paul McCartney tour, which had a top ticket price of $28.50. The cost of gasoline hasn't gone up as rapidly as the price of a top concert ticket."

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-05-08/entertainment/9405080046_1_ticket-woodstock-las-vegas

think the headline should have had a "Well, yeah"

"I saw the Eagles with Steve Miller and Pablo Cruise in Comiskey Park for only $12 in the '70s," said Scott Scrivner, 32, of Chicago, who bought $88 seats for the Eagles' World show. "I fell off a ladder when I heard the price. I thought for that kind of money, they might start singing `Evergreen' or `The Way We Were.' "

Pending the resurrection of Bonham, I can't imagine ever spending $100 to see a show. Hell, it's been so long since I went to a big-c Concert that I can't imagine spending more than $30-40, period.

The real question is why didn't concert promoters think of raising prices sooner. Rock music had existed for forty years before somebody thought to themselves "Hey ya know what? We could make some serious dough if we just charged more money for tickets."

I couldn't find a thread and don't have time to do make a poll, but what's the best book on Zep that focuses more on the music rather than just the rockstar bullshit? I mean, that's a big part of their story and you can't escape it totally, but you know what I mean.

I haven't read this one, but it sounds interesting.

Yeah that's in my list. I wonder if it's organized along a narrative timeline like a lot of the oral histories, or just a bunch of interviews slapped together?

The real question is why didn't concert promoters think of raising prices sooner. Rock music had existed for forty years before somebody thought to themselves "Hey ya know what? We could make some serious dough if we just charged more money for tickets."

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, August 11, 2015 11:52 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, it's kind of counterintuitive. I mean arena rock shows are at their core mass populist spectacles, so it made sense that tickets would have been in the reach of the common man. But there have also been huge shifts in the demographics of rock audiences -- in 1975 there probably weren't enough highly-paid professionals (or aging, financially established folks) who were also rock fans to fill arenas in every city at high ticket prices.

But I think people are out of their goddamn minds to pay over 100 (let alone 200, 300, or 400) for an arena show where the band will be tiny and the sound will be boomy. I've never paid anything like that for a concert, and if I were going to, I'd want a smaller venue.

Yeah, like my living room.

I paid $135 to see Prince play a club that holds approx 500 people; our vantage point was a balcony about 20 yards from the stage

this was the second-best concert experience of my life (the best was Colin Stetson at Eaux Claires this year)

My first concert other than Chicago at age 4 was the Who/Clash at Shea Stadium--was in the last few rows with my parents, guess I was 12 or so...sorry to add to derailing of the thread. I thought the crowd was a little scary!

I saw the 1982 Who/Clash show at the LA Coliseum and I believe it was $18. I think the first time I spent > $50 for a ticket was to see the Stones on the Steel Wheels tour - also at the Coliseum and with Guns N Roses opening.

you couldn't pay me to see a stadium show

BTW, Erik Davis' 33 1/3 book on Zeppelin IV is my fave book on LZ. Even though it's not about LZ at all.

Love that book

LOVE that book. it gets pretty ridiculous at times but deliberately and in a way befitting its subject.

I paid $135 to see Prince play a club that holds approx 500 people; our vantage point was a balcony about 20 yards from the stage

this was the second-best concert experience of my life (the best was Colin Stetson at Eaux Claires this year)

most i've ever paid was $55 to see prince from the rafters in an arena like 12 years ago. easily the most worthwhile $55 i've ever spent

I think the most I ever spent for tix was for a NYE show, and it was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and it was still only something like $60 or maybe $80 per person, and the venue turned out to be pretty enjoyable even though it was some weird underground level theater near times square, and I only spent that much out of feeling bad at never doing anything spendy on NYE, and we had a blast.

And the last time I saw a stadium concert was probably the Tibetan Freedom Concert when I was in college, and the sound was so atrociously bad and the bass actually made me feel ill at some points.

a thread: the priciest / most expensive concert ticket you've bought

How did II not win this? I always thought Four Sticks bogged down IV and if I never hear Rock & Roll again it'll be too soon.

'Four Sticks' is fucking awesome, though!

III

Houses of the Holy is my favorite -their most diverse. After that I'd go I then III.

Presence

I would recommend either I or IV for Zep newbies, if you don't like them you won't like anything they've done. But Presence and Out Door have been my personal favorites lately. The drums!!

Yeah IV is a great starting point - it covers a lot of ground considering it's only eight tracks. I think HotH is the best though.

1. Physical Graffiti
2. II
3. IV
4. III
5. Houses of the Holy
6. I
7. Presence
8. In Through the Out Door

im w Sparkle Motion, it's HOH/III for me

Presence > PG > Houses > IV > III > Out Door > I > II

some days I would switch III and IV

― WmC, Monday, April 6, 2009 3:40 PM (seven years ago)

Revised to Presence > PG > IV > III > Houses > Out Door > I > II

PG then III then HOTH then II then I then IV then Presence then ITTOD then CODA

III is the one that got me into Zep because it seemed different to their other work