Led Zeppelin * 1977-06-23 * The Forum * Inglewood, CA * Millard/Goldstein Master Tapes via JEMS Vol. 227 * Raw and Dadgad Mastered Editions

goody · Jul 7, 2024

Led Zeppelin
The Forum
Inglewood, CA
June 23, 1977
Mike Millard and Barry Goldstein Master Tapes via JEMS and dadgad
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 227
Raw and Mastered Editions

Recording Gear: AKG 451E Microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 Cassette Recorder

JEMS Transfer:
Mike Millard Master Cassettes > Yamaha KX-W592 Cassette Deck > Sony R-500 DAT > Analog Master DAT Clone > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 3.1 capture > iZotope RX > FLAC

Barry Goldstein Master Cassette > Nakamichi RX-505 azimuth-adjusted playback > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 3.1 capture > iZotope RX > MBIT+ resample to 16/44.1 > Audacity > FLAC

01 Intro
02 The Song Remains The Same
03 The Rover > Sick Again
04 Nobody's Fault But Mine
05 Over The Hills And Far Away
06 Since I've Been Loving You
07 No Quarter
08 Ten Years Gone
09 Battle Of Evermore
10 Going To California
11 Black Country Woman
12 Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
13 White Summer > Black Mountain Side
14 Kashmir
15 Trampled Underfoot
16 Out On The Tiles > Moby Dick (with Keith Moon)
17 Guitar Solo
18 Achilles Last Stand
19 Stairway To Heaven
20 Whole Lotta Love (With Keith Moon)
21 Rock And Roll (With Keith Moon)

Known Faults: First four songs recorded by Barry Goldstein; rest of the show recorded by Mike Millard. Occasional dropouts in the first half of the show and a fidelity drop during "Stairway To Heaven" through the end of the encore.

Introduction to the Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Series

Welcome to JEMS’ Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone series presenting recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike the MICrophone, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin done in and around Los Angeles circa 1975-77. For the complete details on how tapes in this series came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS' long history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One

Until 2020, the Lost and Found series presented fresh transfers of previously unavailable first-generation copies made by Mike himself for friends like Stan Gutoski of JEMS, Jim R, Bill C. and Barry G. These sources were upgrades to circulating copies and in most instances marked the only time verified first generation Millard sources had been directly digitized in the torrent era.

That all changed with the discovery of many of Mike Millard’s original master tapes.

Yes, you read that correctly, Mike Millard’s master cassettes, long rumored to be destroyed or lost, have been found. Not all of them but many, and with them a much more complete picture has emerged of what Millard recorded between his first show in late 1973 and his last in early 1992.

The reason the rediscovery of his master tapes is such a revelation is that we’ve been told for decades they were gone. Internet myths suggest Millard destroyed his master tapes before taking his own life, an imprudent detail likely concocted based on the assumption that because his master tapes never surfaced and Mike’s mental state was troubled he would do something rash WITH HIS LIFE’S WORK. There’s also a version of the story where Mike’s family dumps the tapes after he dies. Why would they do that?

The truth is Mike’s masters remained in his bedroom for many years after his death in 1994. We know at least a few of Millard’s friends and acquaintances contacted his mother Lia inquiring about the tapes at the time to no avail. But in the early 2000s, longtime Millard friend Rob S was the one she knew and trusted enough to preserve Mike’s work.

The full back story on how Mike’s master tapes were saved can be found in the notes for Vol. 18 Pink Floyd, which was the first release in our series transferred from Millard’s original master tapes

Led Zeppelin, The Forum, Inglewood, CA, June 23, 1977

The primary phase of the Lost and Found series on DIME comes to a close after 227 volumes with the last of Mike "The Mike" Millard's Led Zeppelin master tapes. The June 23, 1977 concert is known as the Badgeholders show, a word taken from Robert Plant's comments to the crowd, and memorialized on the famous bootleg vinyl set For Badgeholders Only, recorded by John Wizardo. The performance is also notable for a guest appearance by The Who's Keith Moon, more memorable for his antics than his playing.

Among Millard tapes, the June 23 master always carried an asterisk as his recording misses the first four songs of the night. But as luck would have it, our recent partnership with Mike's good friend Barry Goldstein has yielded his master tape of the first 45 minutes of the Badgeholders show, including the four songs Mike missed. In a strange stroke of fate, Goldstein's recording itself is incomplete, covering only the first 45 minutes of the set. You can hear his batteries failing at the start of "No Quarter" (not included here; BG's full 45 minute master will be posted down the road).

It seemed only fitting that we present the last of Mike's iconic Led Zeppelin recordings with a patch from his longtime friend Barry. While Goldstein's master was recorded on lesser gear than Millard's and lacks that level of fidelity, it is still a very good, clear and close tape and makes an excellent complementary component. We should also note, as was the case with the last couple of Millard Zeppelin releases in the Lost and Found series, alignment issues from the early 2000s transfer of Mike's master cassettes to DAT do pop up here in "Stairway To Heaven" and on through the end of the encore, diminishing fidelity.

That transfer flaw noted, the majority of Millard's recording is sublime as is the band's fine performance. Samples provided of both sources.

Here's what Jim R recalled about Led Zeppelin and their pal Keith Moon at The Forum in 1977:

I attended the Led Zeppelin concert with Mike Millard on June 23, 1977. The gig was at the familiar Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, Zeppelin's US home court if there ever was one.

June 23 was the third night out of six shows. Mike and I sat in the sixth row, dead center on the floor, perfect seats within our much discussed Sweet Spot i.e. rows 3-7 center on the floor. It was a great position capable of picking up stage amps, stage monitors and the huge PA as well. Sixth row is also slightly safer as far as not getting busted during the show, as the stage lights typically don't illuminate it as much as the first couple of rows.

In hindsight, this turned out to be one of the last times we were to see the Mighty Zep, the final time being the June 27 show, closing night of the run and their last SoCal appearance ever (see Vol. 214).

This was a "normal" length set, around three hours, and it includes some of the better performances by Jimmy Page on the tour. The rest of the band was spot on as well. June 23 is famous for Keith Moon joining the group on stage and "helping" Bonzo with the drumming. Though Moon was clearly drunk, the band was quite enamored with his antics. Moon was the quintessential party guy.

Some of you may be wondering why we didn't go to all six of Zeppelin's Forum shows, instead of "only" four. The answer is how the tickets were released to the public. They initially sold tickets for three concerts (the same number of Forum shows as they played in 1975) at 10am. These were quickly gone, then later the same day they released tickets for the fourth then fifth nights.

We heard about this as we were still in the parking lot and tried to trade some of our tickets for the extra nights, but no one would bite. Keep in mind, these Zep shows were the first $100 scalper tickets, an unheard of price at the time. When the shows were postponed to June, a sixth and final night (6/27) was added with its own on-sale date a couple months after the first five, where Mike and I both scored awesome seats. Plus we saw them in San Diego on June 19.

The Summer of 1977 was at the tail end of the wheelchair era, but I pushed Mike in for this one. Security was getting wise to Mike's covert recording, so he passed each completed cassette to me for safe keeping in case he got busted during the show. The corrupt security guards had been instructed to confiscate Mike's tapes after the show in order to sell them to bootleggers themselves, but we were a step ahead. At the end of the show, I had all the tapes, and would swiftly squirm my way out of the packed humanity near the stage and meet Mike at his car. I had my own set of keys so I could lock myself inside if it came down to it. Mike had a set of cheap blanks on him to give to security if needed. We were always thinking ahead.

I took some good pictures at the show, but the sixth row was our worst seat location out of the four nights we attended.

I hope you enjoy the sights and sounds from this wonderful performance.

Cheers to my buddy Mike. RIP Mike, John and Keith.

###

JEMS is proud to partner with Rob, Jim R, Ed F, Barry G and many others to release Millard's historic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself.

We can’t thank Rob enough for reconnecting with Jim and putting his trust in our Millard reissue campaign. He kept Mike’s precious tapes under wraps for two decades, but once Rob learned of our methods and stewardship, he agreed to contribute the Millard DATs and cassettes to the program. Our releases would not be nearly as compelling without Jim’s memories, photos and other background contributions. As many of you have noted, the stories offer an entertaining complement to Mike’s incredible audio documents.

Special thanks to dadgad for his work repairing and mastering both sources. As we have done with all Led Zeppelin titles in the series, we're releasing this in both mastered and unmastered/raw editions. It's been our pleasure to partner with dadgad throughout and we look forward to more Zep projects with him in the future. Rob S did the transfer of Mike's cassettes and the DAT he made at the time, and we're grateful for both. Jim R gave us his memories and his images, including a glimpse of Mr. Moon. Professor Goody made sure both sources were properly pitched. And last but not least, mjk5510 took care as always of post production and our CD cover art. We couldn't do this without them.

Finally, cheers to the late, great Mike the MICrophone. His work never ceases to impress. May he rest in peace.

BK for JEMS

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