I watched the dvd in it's entirety last night and I was blown away by Page's playing in the songs that were selected. Just incredible --particularly the first disc (Royal Albert Hall, 1970).
The problem with Page live is that he was not consistent. Some nights he was on fire, other nights he was just horrible.
I saw him perform on television a few times in the 1980s (when I was a huge Zeppelin fan as a teen) and his playing was just awful --as if he hadn't picked up a guitar since 1979.
Later, I read that Page spent most of the late 1970s-1980s battling drug addiction. I've also read that he has since cleaned up his act.
I've always thought Page sounded best when he plugged his Les Paul straight into his Marshall and didn't mess around with effect pedals ('cept his wah) like he did at the early Zeppelin shows.
You nailed it. While Clapton may be good night in night out, one night is never much better than another. Page, on the other hand, can go from sounding like me to something from another planet over the course of a night. Page at his best is probably my favorite player.
MD