From Led Zeppelin's 1973 concert tour to promote their album Houses of the Holy, footage from their Madison Square Garden concerts. Interspersed with this is footage of the band on tour, their private lives and dramatised images of what the songs mean to them. Songs include: Rock 'n Roll, Black Dog, Since I've Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains the Same, The Rain Song, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love.The greatest band in the history of music, and certainly the greatest ever live band, captured at their peak and in their element. The live footage shows a superbly talented band in full flight, playing with incredible power and cohesion, and highly confident in their abilities and popularity. There's a mystique to the performance - it transcends mere music.However, reducing the impact of live music is some of the non- musical stuff. The behind the scenes of a touring band and home lives stuff is fine, and gives a good indication of what it must be like to be the world's greatest band. No, it's the dramatisations and symbolic imagery that take the edge off what was otherwise a fantastic movie. They just seem so cheesy and unnecessary.

Considering the time when it was made and the filming technology available, this was a generally decent concert documentary but the intervening fantasy and home movie type footage was unnecessary for this viewer. Not being a major fan of Led Zeppelin I thought the stage performance would have been a lot better. It seems to me their raw power is captured better in studio recordings I've listened to, and that may be attributable once again to the sound equipment available at the concert venue. I also thought Robert Plant was a bit overwrought in his delivery, trying and failing to elevate himself as the quintessential rock god. As compared to say, Mick Jagger who genuinely seems to be having fun when performing, Plant's attitude seemed to be 'look at me, ain't I just the greatest'. I offer that just from what I saw in the film; I have no idea what Plant is really like so if I sound judgmental, so be it. On the other hand, Jimmy Page looked like he was working it and having a good time. 'Stairway to Heaven' was my favorite number from the show, most likely because I've heard it so many times elsewhere and find the lyrics fascinating. As for the rest, it all would have been helped by a spring clean from the May Queen.

I say this on faith, because obviously I have not seen all filmed concert performances. But out of the many I have seen, this ranks near the top.Led Zeppelin in what I really believe was their prime. So powerful! The soaring vocals of Robert Plant, the beyond brilliant guitar playing of Mr. Page, and most powerful, the unreal drumming of the late great John Bonham.Every song in the film rates a 10 on the performance scale, the best I think, is Dazed and confused. It starts out strong, draws you in, and finishes in an absolute stunning climax, which is jaw dropping, even if you've watched it 1000 times.The fantasy segments are all well done, and interesting to watch. The part where Jimmy Pages ages, and reverts to youth, was groundbreaking at the time, and still is great to see.If there is any part that could have been skipped, its where the late Peter Grant is mercilessly berating an executive from the venue. He was known to be a bit of a thug, and this shows it. A bit unpleasant to watch.This is the next best thing to being at a Zep concert. If you have a big screen, and surround sound, you will have an unforgettable experience.

I'm not a massive fan of Led Zeppelin but I think that this is at least partly due to me missing them totally from my musical education. I got some albums recently to try and rectify this and was surprised by how many of the songs I already knew without knowing it was them. Following on from that I watched this film which manages to flick from being good to being ridiculous on almost a scene by scene basis. Now, I'm not totally sure of the history here but I am led to understand that the film came at a time when the band was under great strain and not at their best. For me this didn't show too much in the concert footage, which I found to be enjoyable as a live performance but also technically well captured and recorded. Those who have seen them elsewhere may disagree but I have nothing else to work with here.However the remainder of the film is mostly poor. Between (and under) the live performances are bit of other material, almost none of which works. The stuff that had potential is the behind the scenes stuff and I did want more of that, with perhaps a bit of structure and meaning to it – sadly I got none of this. Even still though, these bits are brilliant compared to the pretentious nonsense that the band came up with for the rest of the film. Absurd home movies and fantasy sequences are played out that are laughable in the extreme. I really do want to believe that the band had given up trying to prevent the film coming out so instead decided to take the p1ss, although at the same time that speaks badly of their respect for fans so I'm not sure if bad taste or bad attitude is preferable. These scenes extend the film beyond what it can bear and I was glad when it finally ended.No doubt about it that the music is good but with so much rubbish thrown in on top of it I'm just not sure if the film is worth the work involved to see the recorded performances. One for the hardcore fans much more than the casual viewer.