AboutMike Caldwell Expertise Fortunately, or unfortunately, there are no Led Zeppelin questions I can't answer. My immediate specialty (or proclivity as it may be) has to do with concert performances and lyrical interpretations.
Experience Countless hours of biographical research and personal interaction with relevant individuals. Avid contributor to Led Zeppelin newsgroups since 1997 (check Google groups!)
Publications Bullseye News Magazine. The Vapid Voice.
Expert: Mike Caldwell Date: 4/29/2008 Subject: Mike Millard and Bootlegs
Question QUESTION: Hi, I recently downloaded Listen to This Eddie and I was Impressed by its exeptional quality, and I was wondering how Mark Millard managed to do this recording with this quality, i've also heard For Badgeholders only and now I know that he isn't a one time wonder. So how did he manage to record this quality and what was his teqnique also to which crowd did they play to at to at those concerts and are there any other Millard recordings? Also could you give me a link to download that great quality Japan show
ANSWER: Millard was a prominent recorder of concerts (including Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin). Millard was clever enough to pretend to be bound to a wheelchair, thus getting special access to a good location at the LA Forum. That's how his sound was so close up and lacking the reverberations that plagued the process of recording a show from way in back. Using his wheelchair, he attached a Nakamichi stereo cassette recorder under the set of the wheelchair, attached to a set of AKG high quality microphones. By virtue of his quality equipment and quality positioning, with the wheelchair ploy, he was able create superior recordings.
Of the Led Zeppelin shows, he recorded the March 11, 1975 show at Long Beach Arena, a fragment of the March 12th show at the same venue. He supposedly also did all three 1975 shows at the LA Forum (March 24, 25, 27). He then also recorded some of the 1977 LA Forum shows from June 21, 23, 25 and 27. Also he allegedly got the June 19 show in San Diego. Millard unfortunately committed suicide years later.
Check tapecity.org or similar bittorrent based file sharing sites, and do a search for, say, Osaka September 29, 1971. It was fairly well recorded and a good performance.
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QUESTION: Hey, do you know a direct download place (ie.Rapidshare) to get the osaka september 29? also to which crowds did they comonly play to at the Forum and the LB Arena.
Answer Hi,
I don't usually do direct dowload stuff, especially for the Osaka show, since I already had a couple copies of it from years ago. So I'm not much help there, though there are places like isohunt.com and thepiratebay.org that do have the show for sure, just not sure how it is accessed.
At the Forum, concerts could host as much as 18,000, and Led Zeppelin sold out those shows fairly easily. The Long Beach Arena was smaller, like around 13,500 at most, but they still filled those seats without a problem. Obviously the California crowds were wildly enthusiastic, which makes those Millard recordings even more valuable for capturing the great atmosphere.
