LED ZEPPELIN – Live EP (2025 Atlantic)

Feast or famine:  Led Zeppelin have always been weird with their archival releases.  There are numerous valid complaints about the release of this live EP, sourced from their 1975 Earls Court and 1979 Knebworth concerts.   Why not just release the whole shows, as they were on the DVD set?  Why not indeed?  We have no good answers to that, so instead we’ll focus on what we did get:  a smoking hot live EP by Led Zeppelin, including a magnificent “Kashmir”.  It also tickles the nostalgic funnybone that they simply called it Live EP.  From the band that brought you a DVD called DVD, and a box set called Box Set 2.  The cover art recalls Physical Graffiti in such a way that you know without guessing that it’s a Led Zeppelin release.

Of course, calling it an EP is a matter of perspective.  At over 34 minutes, it’s a live album.

“In My Time of Dying” was played fourth at Earl’s Court, but here it opens the affair with a slower, more brooding tempo.  Then things pick up.  You know how the song goes:  “Oh Gabriel, let me blow your horn!” as things get faster and funkier.  Plant drives this beast with orgasmic shouts and declarations, while Pagey plies the neck of his guitar with a slide.  In the back, John Paul Jones and John Bonham are so locked in, it’s boggling.  With Jones playing countermelodies, Bonham accentuates the groove.  You could listen to the song multiple times, focusing on different musicians, and not get tired despite the 11 minute running time.  Plant’s vocal outro is the kind of bombastic exercise you expect in any decent Zep parody – but done with sincerity.  This is is peak Led Zeppelin.

13th in the Earl’s Court set was “Trampled Underfoot”, but here it appears without a gap.  You want funky?  You got funky.  Talk about love!  Plant brings the love.  This accelerated version is locked into the groove, with Bonham adding flair when necessary, and John Paul holding it down.  Pagey is free to possess that riff like a six string demon, all before John Paul goes into a keyboard solo.  At about seven minutes, they just bring the whole thing to a boiling jam.  Not just a jam, but a memorable part of the performance.  A definitive version of a classic.

There is a fade before we get to the Knebworth 1979 tracks.  Something about late Led Zeppelin.  You know they were not at their peak, health-wise, and there are tales of mixed reviews live.  Knebworth was one such concert, considered a show with incredible moments of Led Zeppelin’s chemistry, and others a display of a tentative, nervous band.  “Sick Again” shows absolutely none of the weakness.  It was played 15th in the set.  Perhaps by that time, Zeppelin had felt warmed up and comfortable?

“Knebworth was useless. It was no good at all. It was no good because we weren’t ready to do it, the whole thing was a management decision. It felt like I was cheating myself because I wasn’t as relaxed as I could have been. There was so much expectation there, and the least we could have done was to have been confident enough to kill. We maimed the beast for life, but we didn’t kill it. It was good, but only because everybody made it good.” – Robert Plant

None of that is evident to the untrained ear on “Kashmir”, which was 13th in the set.  “Kashmir” is somewhat a rarity as far as official Led Zeppelin live audio versions go.  The only other officially released live version in audio format was on Celebration Day, a 2007 reunion concert with Jason Bonham on drums.  This sounds brilliant.  There might be more energetic performances out there, but as the only live one by the vintage band on CD goes, it’ll probably get repeat plays in your deck.

As a Live EP (or album if you will), this is a brilliant way to spend 34 minutes with Led Zeppelin.

4/5 stars