Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same (1976)
"The Song Remains the Same" (original title)

A Led Zeppelin concert filmed in Madison Square Garden, New York.

Directors:

Peter Clifton, Joe Massot

Writer:

Peter Clifton

Stars:

John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page

Cast

Credited cast:
John Bonham	...	Himself - Drummer (as Led Zeppelin)
John Paul Jones	...	Himself - Bassist & Keyboardist (as Led Zeppelin)
Jimmy Page	...	Himself - Guitarist (as Led Zeppelin)
Robert Plant	...	Himself - Lead Singer (as Led Zeppelin)
Peter Grant	...	Himself - Band Manager
Richard Cole	...	Himself
Derek Skilton	...	Himself
Colin Rigdon	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Led Zeppelin

Storyline

The members of Led Zeppelin are called back from vacation by manager Peter Grant to play Madison Square Garden. The film is enhanced by each of the band member's personal fantasies (hallucinations?), such as the opening scene (which is awfully confusing the first time around) in which Peter Grant, dressed in a 1930s black gangster suit drives a 1930s black Ford to a house and blasts everyone with a machine gun.

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Plot Keywords:

led zeppelin | band | castle | 1970s | new york city | 

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Taglines:

In Concert And Beyond

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Genres:

Documentary | Music

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same

Filming Locations:

Felt Forum, Madison Square Garden - 4 Pennsylvania Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Swan Song

Technical Specs

Runtime:

137 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) 4-Track Stereo (with Dolby noise reduction) Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Since late 1969, Led Zeppelin had been planning on filming one of their live performances for a projected movie documentary of the band. The group's manager, Peter Grant, believed that they would be better served by the big screen than by television, because he regarded the sound quality of the latter as inadequate. The first attempt was the filming (by Peter Whitehead and Stanley Dorfman) of Led Zeppelin's Royal Albert Hall performance on January 9, 1970, but the lighting was judged to be mediocre, and the film was shelved (this footage was later remastered and featured on the 2003 release 'Led Zeppelin DVD'). Another attempt was organized for the outdoor Bath Festival on June 28, 1970, but only limited footage was filmed, and was similarly deemed unsatisfactory.

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Goofs

Throughout the movie, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones have different outfits on. However, this is because the movie was filmed when the band played Madison Square Garden 3 nights in a row in 1973, and both Jimmy and John Paul didn't want to wear the same outfits. Small portions of songs were also filmed in 1974 at Shepperton Studios because of missing pieces of songs.

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Quotes

Himself - Lead Singer: [prior to singing "Stairway to Heaven"] I think this is a song of hope.

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Crazy Credits

"Stairway to Heaven" is played in its entirely, resulting in several minutes of blackness after the credits have finished rolling as the music continues

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Connections

Referenced in Supernatural: The Song Remains the Same (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Black Dog"
Written by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones
Performed by Led Zeppelin
Music Published by Superhype Music, Inc.

User Reviews

Virtuoso performance

"The Song Remains The Same" is essentially a film of a concert, yet thanks to the drug and ego-addled personalities of Led Zeppelin in the mid-1970s, the footage is fleshed out to include weird 'fantasy' sequences involving each of the four band members. While this section of the movie leaves a little to be desired, the concert footage is truly breathtaking, capturing the greatest hard rock band in history at their apogee.

The film opens with an odd gangster-style sequence, where faceless mobsters are mowed down by what would appear to be rival gangsters. Whatever meaning this scene is meant to represent is not clear, however it has been suggested that the faceless mobsters are the British press, who had vilified Led Zeppelin through their entire career. Who knows, but it certainly makes for an interesting start to the film.

From there the film takes an interesting turn. Each individual band member is introduced. We see drummer John Bonham ploughing his fields in a tractor, bassist John Paul Jones reading nursery rhymes to his children, singer Robert Plant playing with his wife and children in an English country lake (the scene resembles the cover of Led Zeppelin's 1973 album 'Houses of the Holy'), while guitarist Jimmy Page is introduced next to a riverside. They each receive a letter informing them that they are to tour the next day.

Once Led Zeppelin take the stage at New York's Madison Square Garden, the action really begins. The band run through some of their absolute classics, including 'Whole Lotta Love', 'Stairway to Heaven', 'Heartbreaker' and a massive version of 'Dazed and Confused'. The quality of musicianship is amazing. Page's guitar playing belies belief and John Bonham's twenty minute drum solo is awe inspiring. As the band plays there are more fantasy scenes, the best of which includes Robert Plant as some kind of Arthurian hero. The way in which Led Zeppelin embrace and play on the Tolkien-like world of mystical fantasy is truly refreshing in these over-stylised days, where musicians are more concerned with the amount of gel in their hair than the music they produce.

Watching the band at work you get a distinct feeling that the musicians of today really aren't as proficient as they were twenty or thirty years ago. Led Zeppelin it seems were better live than on record, which would be unheard of today.

As an audience we are able to see "The Song Remains The Same" for what it is: a timepiece. Post-1975, Led Zeppelin's work became gradually lower in quality and as Punk revolutionised the music scene, they became dinosaurs at the end of the decade. But in this time, their 1971-1975 period, Led Zeppelin were the biggest band in the world, and their power is captured with brilliant clarity on this film. Whatever happened after this time is a moot point; this is how Led Zeppelin should and will be remembered. A must for any serious music fan.