Press Review excerpt: Zeppelin had agreed to play for a fairly modest fee, which allowed them to lower the ticket prices. Which of these two things is more surprising is difficult to say. But what is clear is that in Montreux, trust reigns between the artists, the organizers, and the audience, that the good vibes roam freely in the atmosphere.

Jimmy Page is quite different. Delicate and polite, he keeps to himself and lives his quiet little life. He is, by far, the most subtle of them all.

Saturday's concert (August 7) was a slight disappointment. "A little rusty," Jimmy said after putting down his guitar, and he was right. A not-quite-perfect soundcheck didn't help matters. The band, however, has enough skill to hold its own in such circumstances, and it was like a good rehearsal for the next day. Because Sunday was something else. And Led Zeppelin gave much more than what was expected of them. It was, once again, the superb crowd-exciting machine, as effective in its intentions as in its execution. Truly, all reservations are lost during a concert like that, and you ultimately come away satisfied to have let yourself get caught up in the game.  

They played many of their most famous songs, strongly electric, such as "Heartbreaker," "Celebration Day," "Since I've Been Loving You," "Dazed and Confused," and "Whole Lotta Love," which, at every concert, brought the crowd to their feet with beautiful spontaneity. They played acoustic songs, during which John Bonham was going to mop up backstage, and John Paul Jones picked up his electric mandolin. They played a few songs from their fourth album, two rockers called "Black Dog" and "It's Been a Long Time" (?) and two softer songs, "Stairway to Heaven" and "Going to California" (acoustic). 

In the middle of "Whole Lotta Love," they launched into some amazing medleys of old rock (such as "That's All Right Mama," "Mess of Blues", etc.) that were quite exciting. And all the while, Jimmy Page held his own, demonstrating his technical maturity, the sparkling precision of his phrasing, his complete domination of sound through his electronic equipment. His feeling too when he played the blues, and his formidable technical skill didn't appear as an end in itself. Demonstrations, certainly, but never out of context. Page's intelligence is great, and he knows how to develop a piece instead of using it as a pretext for acrobatics; he can improvise at length without losing the flow of his ideas, without breaking the initial atmosphere, without departing from his flamboyant logic. It may seem a little unfair to the other three to focus on Jimmy Page, but without a doubt, it was he who made this Sunday concert a great one. He's good, this guy.  [– PARINGAUX / Sept. ‘71].