Dalibor Lanik Home Page - Concerts: Page/Plant (2)

Although I saw Page and Plant in concert, and although it was less than 9 months ago, I couldn't resist to see them again this November (I was really surprised to see that they're playing in Prague so soon again). The "Vystaviste" hall was again full, so I suppose I'm not the only one that went to both concerts :) There was a warm-up band that played for approx. 30 minutes before P&P. They played sort of oriental music so when they started their first song, nobody was sure (because it was dark and we couldn't see the musicians) whether it was P&P or somebody else. Anyway, they were not that bad, but unfortunately I didn't catch their name (I think they had "London" in it).

This time I was sitting on a totally opposite side of the stage, a bit to the right, so I could see the whole stage without problems, if it was a bit far. The thing was that the tickets to the concert were sold at different prices, they ranged from 690 Kc (the cheapest) to 1500 Kc (around 80 DEM). I, of course, bought the cheapest (hey, wasn't Rock and Roll about equality!????!) I'm not sure which tickets were the expensive ones, but I think, since I got the cheap one and I sat, they were the ones in front of the stage (last time it was the other way round).

Since I carried my good old AIWA HS walkman to the concert I even managed to record some of it, so You will have more than text to describe the concert :) As for the sound quality - don't expect much; the concert was recorded on a walkman, onto a normal tape, digitized on my poor SoundBlaster PnP 16 (Yes, sixteen!) sound card with bundled WaveStudio at 8 bit, 11025Hz sampling rate, mono. Even at this low quality setup, the files were a couple megs per song, so... don't wonder why I didn't do it in 16 bit or at higher sampling rate. Then I converted WAV's to RealAudio with RealPublisher and managed to reduce file size by quite a bit, but the sound quality is still far from good. So - if You have any good PD sound software with which I can improve sound quality (equalizer etc.), a mail notice will be appreciated! Also, if You (which You will) hear a break in the music for half a second or so, it's only me (probably) hitting the mike - You know those microphones that automatically adjust to the loudest sound and reduce background noise? Well my walkman has one of those :) Anyway, these samples should be good enough to get a taste of the concert! Now back to concert.

They started the concert with a sort of oriental intro (2:11 minutes, 271Kb) and then played Wanton Song (3:32 minutes, 437Kb). After that (It would be better if You could only listen to the recording, because I can't make it a surprise what's coming next if You read about if first :) but it's too big to be downloaded at once) a real hit - Heartbreaker (5:50 minutes, 721Kb), followed by Led Zeppelin classic What is and What Should Never Be (4:49 minutes, 595Kb).

Then they played the title song from the new album, Walking into Clarksdale (7:51 minutes, 969Kb), and then legendary No Quarter (14:22 minutes, 1770Kb).

Again, Plant and Page proved that they're the masters and that they're not loosing the feel for real rock. They returned to play a couple of extra songs, not once, but twice! The audience just wouldn't let them go! If they didn't turn on the main hall lights, I believe P&P would return for the third time.

If You like Page & Plant, you can read about the last concert they had in Prague (February 1998) by clicking the link.

Again, here is the list of all the tracks I recorded, all in REAL AUDIO(3902 bytes) format:

Intro (2:11 minutes, 271Kb)
Wanton Song (3:32 minutes, 437Kb)
Heartbreaker (5:50 minutes, 721Kb)
What is and What Should Never Be (4:49 minutes, 595Kb)
Walking into Clarksdale (7:51 minutes, 969Kb)
No Quarter (14:22 minutes, 1770Kb)

If You don't have RealPlayer, You can download it at site.