Last night I watched Becoming Led Zeppelin, the documentary about the origins of the British supergroup, at an IMAX cinema. It was an incredible film. Wonderful archive footage, sincere and emotive interviews and of course, glorious rock n roll.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. This was a classic documentary. There was no need to turn the narrative up to 11 (when the amps already are). It’s a fun romp done with class.
Often the footage of live songs are played all the way through, which for me, was a relief. Throughout the first live song all I kept thinking was “Don’t cut this off!” – there was even cheering and applause from the audience. Watching it in IMAX gave me the closest feeling to what it might have been like in the late 60’s. Well actually, I have been closer…
Celebration Day
On October 12 2012 I was working a boring office job. I was in my early 20s and because I was in my early 20s I was put in charge of running a company’s Facebook page. On that morning, I was on Facebook (working, definitely working!) and I saw an ad pop up saying “tickets available for the premiere of Celebration Day TONIGHT at the Hammersmith Apollo”. This was the live concert film of Led Zeppelin’s reunion show at the O2 in 2007. I had no idea why or how tickets were still available. But I clicked on the advert and bought 2 tickets.
Later that evening me and my friend travelled into London and arrived just in time to see the remaining 3 members walk on the red carpet into the venue. We walked in after and sat down in our seats – somehow we had managed to get tickets in the best spot – dead centre and a few rows from the front. Before the show started we clocked the humongous speakers on the stage. The band came out and said a few words then the film began with Good Times Bad Times. I have never been in a boxing ring but I think I have a feeling about what it now might be like to be punched by Mike Tyson right in the chops. I have never heard a sound quite like it. The clarity, the force, the feeling that you were there. People were standing up and dancing and applauding, you couldn’t tell that you weren’t actually there.
It was the greatest gig I have ever been to – Yet, it wasn’t really a proper gig!
Anywho, back to the documentary and some other reflections…
This might come as a surprise to you, but I’m going to put my neck on the line here: They were quite a good band. OK, they might have been the greatest. I guess the point I’d like to make is this – In this day and age where independent musicians can do a lot to market their music (e.g. Spotify playlists, viral social media nonsense) there is one thing you can’t replace and that’s good musicianship. I’m a firm believer in if you produce good music you won’t have to promote it that much – Focus on the music first. It might seem obvious but sometimes it’s good to remind yourself. One of the things I found out in the documentary which I didn’t realise before was that they self-funded their first album and then took it to a record label already finished (rather than get a deal and the record company pay for studio time) – this meant they could focus on the music and have total creative control.
Another (obvious) thought I had while watching this was how beautifully organic the music was. At the moment we’re starting to see AI creep into music. DAWs are now being integrated with it. I personally find this scary, maybe that’s because I’m getting older and technology to me now becomes “another thing to figure out” while I’m trying to pay bills and be a dad. I’m not necessarily talking about AI producing whole pieces of music, but more that AI supports producers e.g. you’re writing a chord sequence and the AI comes up with an alternative chord sequence for you for a middle 8 section. When I think of that, I feel like music is going to implode at any moment! But, like we saw a couple of decades ago when we had sugary GM food, there was then a push for organic stuff. Perhaps we might see a swing towards organic bands as AI comes through.
My final thought was how despite watching this in a glorious IMAX setting, the film wasn’t made for the full 3D surround sound IMAX experience. I was actually pleased about this. It made for a much more authentic true-to-the-time documentary. It took a moment to adjust at first because all the bloomin’ adverts before hand were all surround sound volume-to-the-max and so initially when the film started it sounded a little quiet! Anywho, I have been doing a lot of learning and digging on the new Dolby Atmos format which I initially at least I have mixed thoughts about. If you’re unsure of what Dolby Atmos is, here’s a simple explanation – It’s a more accessible surround sound format and more major artists are having a separate Dolby Atmos mix of their music now. There was only one point in the film where I thought that the surround sound Dolby Atmos would have been great – and that’s when the middle 8 (middle 108?) section of Whole Lotta Love was being played. To hear all those crazy sounds whizzing around the room would have been extraordinary and pretty psychedelic, man! But one thing I learnt recently after hearing a demonstration of Dolby Atmos and it’s capabilities at Dean Street Studios in London, was that classic bands don’t necessarily translate well into Dolby Atmos. Simply put this is because it lacks the punch and power because everything is too spread out. If it’s pop or something more atmospheric (like the middle of Whole Lotta Love!) then it can sound great.
Right, I’ve rambled on (!!!) enough. If you have any questions about any of the nonsense I’ve spoken about above then just drop me a line, always happy to chat.
Ryan. Thank you for the review/opinion. I am just an avid Zep fan, not a muso or mixer and saw BCL twice on the weekend. I was part way through sending in a response to an online email request from my Cinema as to my experience – when i thought maybe I should see if anyone else had my thoughts and came across your blog. I saw BCL Friday opening night at our ‘cultural’ Luna Cinema here in Perth Australia and also at Event VMax (our closest to IMAX) Cinema on Saturday. I was somewhat dissappointed in the sound on the Friday night thinking it was the limitation of the Dolby Atmos not talking fully in a technical sense to their sound system (but knowing that there would be no issue with the quality of the speakers as they use our very own (South) Australian Krix speakers favoured by many Independent Cinemas in the US) as it lacked real power. The VMAX experience next day was just like yours at IMAX the full brunt and depth of the sound heard in the previews of upcoming movies did not transpire when BCL was played. All sound just seemed to come though the centre speakers. The ‘avant garde’ bit as Page referred to it in WLL (it was always known to me as the ‘freak out’ bit for the last 50 years?) did do its moving tricks through the speakers and was the only noticeable time through the movie of D Atmos working and yet as you say, also lacked any power. Thanks for informing me as to “…classic bands don’t necessarily translate well into Dolby Atmos. Simply put this is because it lacks the punch and power because everything is too spread out…” that really does inform me. I am more understanding now…thanks! I wont be as severe in my opinion back to the VMax Cinema.
Hi Andrew, that’s very kind of you to say. I think you’re right about the different speakers and experience. It really has a major impact on how enjoyable it will be – particularly for a music documentary. Like I said, I initially felt a bit odd when I felt that the adverts/trailers before the film seemed louder!