Wading through some old magazines and papers in the loft last week. I came upon a 1969 NME with the headline “Stones in the Park” – a reference to a review of the famous Rolling Stones free Hyde Park concert. Little did I know that come Saturday I’d be seeing my own version of Stones in the park.
For last night down the road in the nearby Bedford Russell Park, the Stones topped the bill as part of the Bedford River Festival. This festival is one of the highest attended gatherings …

When I got in from work on Monday night Andy Murray was two sets down against Richard Gasquet. Watching him come back to win 3-2 made for one of the best tennis matches I’d seen in a long time. That is until I turned up from work tonight to see Federer battling back eventually in vein to Nadal tonight – what a match. One of Wimbledon’s finest.
It was a final to rival the one I watched 28 years ago from the comfort of a hotel room at the Munich Hilton. …

Did a great phone interview with the celebrated filmmaker and journalist Tony Palmer for a future TBL. Tony was responsible for that fantastic Observer magazine feature in 1975 that formed the sleeve notes for the Earls Court programme.  He laughed when I began reciting whole chunks of that text such is the effect it had on me back then (“Statistics are always misleading….With Led Zeppelin statistics are irrelevant – except that they are truly astonishing” etc) and he had some illuminating thoughts about being with Zep on the road during …

I once made the observation that Led Zeppelin fans were not really purveyors of fashion when it comes to clothing. A Ben Sherman shirt or a bootleg LP?  No question really, the LP won every time.  In recent years there has been a variety of garish Zep T-shirt designs to be seen. However last week at the Zavvi store we took receipt of some rather nice new Zep T-shirt designs. They depict various famous Zep concert ads including the Tampa 73 show and the Japanese 1972 tour. They certainly make …

To London for the TBL meet – our very own mini Bonzo’s Birthday Party.
Started suffering from a bit of a head cold on Friday and thought I might have to resort to a whiskey or two to get me through the day but managed to shrug it off. The Chandos pub serves some fine real ales and for us lager drinkers the Alpine went down well.
A good turn out and great to see some old faces including legendary Live Tapes  author Luis Rey, TBL web creator Dave Linwood, long …

On the week of what would have been John’s 60th birthday, it was good to in the company of one of the Bonham family.
It’s been far too long since I caught up with Debbie Bonham and her band, so it was great to be in attendance at her showcase gig at the 100 Club on Tuesday. This date was delayed from March due to guitarist Pete Bullick’s illness so it was also great to see the man on very good form. The band was excellent –showcasing the new album plus …

To Wembley for the Robert and Alison gig. A rendezvous with the boy Foy in the afternoon at The Chandos was followed by a rather confused journey to North London that ended up with a bus ride across the Wembley Triangle (more like Bermuda) to finally get to The Torch pub – scene of many a past pre Wembley TBL meet.  There it was good to see some familiar faces, Graeme, Pam, Krys J, Eddie E ,Kam and Julie ,Dave Fox, Dave Rigg, Anne Marsden,  Alistair etc.
The gig: Often beguiling …

For once this Saturday I’ll be away from the retail frenzy in MK. We’ll be celebrating the Father In Laws 90th birthday (Happy Birthday Ken!) with a lunchtime meal followed by the FA Cup Final on TV in the afternoon and in the evening it’ll be over to Adam’s end of season Brickhill Wanderers FC presentation night –where as captain he will be leading the accolades of another good season. The next morning is the last game where he’s hoping to get those elusive two goals. 
Ahh the FA Cup Final …

Good to see Robert and Alison on the Later with Jools Holland show tonight. The man looked well at home in his new found live environment and I’m looking forward to catching up with the show in London.
Of course any Led Zep related sighting on the small screen has always been something of an event in our house – no more so than back in 1976 when the Whistle Test showed that first ever clip of Black Dog from the Song Remains The Same. This was to be the very …

More tales from the bus – going to work early this morning two seats behind me sat what I can only presume was a would be contestant for Britain’s Got Talent, who spent the entire journey singing out loud the Whitney Houston song book causing much donning of iPods and embarrassed shuffling amongst passengers all around me. I used to quite like I Wanna Dance with Somebody.
Not anymore. 
My own iPod will be resounding this week to the sound of a much welcome compilation set released today. There are very few …