The Song Remains the Same (1976) on Netflix
PG19762h 17mDocumentaryMusic
Led Zeppelin are pulled off vacation by their manager for three nights at Madison Square Garden in July 1973. Between the concert footage, each member's fantasies play out.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.6/109,741 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes40%
Trailer
Plot summary
Three nights at New York's Madison Square Garden in July 1973 formed the core of the film, with Led Zeppelin's stage show captured on 35mm and in quadraphonic sound. Around the performances sit scenes of the band arriving by private jet and riding in a motorcade, backstage glimpses, and staged sequences drawn from each member's fantasies, among them a 1930s gangster scene for the group's manager. The concerts run through "Rock and Roll," "Black Dog," "Since I've Been Loving You," "No Quarter," "The Song Remains the Same," "Dazed and Confused," "Stairway to Heaven" and "Whole Lotta Love." Holes in the concert footage were filled by miming on a mock-up of the Garden stage.
Cast
- Peter Grantas Self - Band Manager
- Roy Harperas Self
- Richard Coleas Self
- Derek Skiltonas Self
- Colin Rigdonas Self
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Song Remains the Same (1976)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The band's manager Peter Grant fired director Joe Massot from the film in early 1974, offering him a few thousand pounds in compensation; when Grant sent someone to collect the footage, Massot had hidden it, so an expensive editing machine of his was seized as collateral instead.
- A local trades union tried to block the British film crew from working on Led Zeppelin's Madison Square Garden concerts, and only after the band's attorneys negotiated with the union was the crew allowed to film the shows.
- Manager Peter Grant called the shoot traumatic: although the crew filmed Led Zeppelin over three nights at Madison Square Garden, they never got one complete take of 'Whole Lotta Love'.
- Director Peter Clifton recreated the whole show at Shepperton Studios in August 1974 on a mock-up of the Madison Square Garden stage, and Gerry Harrison, who worked on that shoot, said the band mimed only the parts missing from the film.
- Warner Bros. approved the film only on condition that the swearing was bleeped out, so Peter Clifton removed the words from one optical print to get a rating; on every other print the words stayed fully audible.
- John Paul Jones had recently had his hair cut short when Led Zeppelin agreed to film at Shepperton Studios, so the bassist had to wear a wig for the shoot.
- Until the 2003 release of Led Zeppelin DVD, the film was the band's only official live visual document; it became a cult favorite at late-night movie houses and built a growing fan base through video and DVD.
- A plan to shoot extra footage on Led Zeppelin's autumn 1975 US tour was abandoned because singer Robert Plant had a car crash in Rhodes, Greece.
