TBL Archive – it was 48 years ago…

TBL Led Zep 1975  Snapshot: Number Five:

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 6th,1975

MONTREAL, CANADA

MONTREAL FORUM

Set: Rock And Roll/Sick Again/Over The Hills And Far Away/In My Time Of Dying/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Kashmir/No Quarter/Trampled Underfoot/Moby Dick/Dazed And Confused (inc. San Francisco)/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – Black Dog/Heartbreaker

Snapshot Listen:- How it sounds now:

This is an enjoyable performance though Robert’s voice is still struggling. Sick Again really rocks while Over The Hills appears in a unique arrangement as Page’s guitar lead cuts out and Plant fills in as JPJ carries the rhythm. After ”The Rain Song, Robert lectures the crowd on the Mellotron: “It’s a very peculiar instrument because every time we take it somewhere, it goes out of tune. It’s built and comprises of tapes inside the box, and to simulate violins is not an easy job when you’re travelling to North America. In fact, we’re gonna try to simulate some Eastern violins now.” Kashmir is growing more powerful with each performance and is rapidly turning into one of the highlights of the show. No Quarter clocks in at 19 minutes and pleasingly so.

Moby Dick is now stretching to 25 minutes and Plant refers to  Bonzo as “Karen Carpenter”, a reference to a recent poll in Playboy magazine which placed Karen Carpenter as ‘Best Drummer’, above Bonzo. At the time Bonzo’s first hand response was captured in an interview with Lisa Robinson: “Karen Carpenter couldn’t last ten fucking minutes with a Zeppelin number!”

Dazed And Confused (only it’s third outing on the tour) includes a very delicate version of San Francisco and is now recapturing some of its former glories. Page’s solo on Stairway To Heaven is also developing a previously unknown intricacy. Instead of Communication Breakdown they throw in a ragged but welcomed version of Heartbreaker as a second encore.

“Montreal – you are the best! Maybe the snow has melted all around the hall.” is Plant’s parting comment.

They were on the up, and there were some great performances imminently ahead.

To be continued…

Robert Plant

The first dates of Robert Plant’s 2024 US tour were revealed

There still hasn’t been any official announcement of when Robert Plant’s 2024 US tour with Alison Krauss will take place, but two dates of the upcoming tour became public this week.

The tour will begin with a performance in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 2, it was announced during a press conference by the venue this week. That tour date is now publicly listed on the venue’s website.

Also this week, ticketholders for the postponed June 29, 2023 Plant Krauss show at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia were told via email that the show has been rescheduled to June 18 this year.

It appears likely that Plant and Krauss will tour the US throughout June and possibly into July before Plant returns to the UK to resume performing with Saving Grace on July 23.

An official announcement of the tour is likely to take place in the coming weeks. Cain’s Ballroom, the venue of the June 2 performance, posted on Facebook that more information on the show “will be released in the coming weeks”.

For all the latest Zep and related news check out the Led Zeppelin news website at:

http://ledzepnews.com/

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STOP PRESS:

Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at Cambridge Folk Festival which will take place on July 25-28..

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It was 54 years ago – Evenings With extract…

Coming across this Melody Maker front page story from January 31,1970 prompted me to recall the events of 52 years ago when Led Zeppelin were undertaking a long awaited UK tour…

Here’s an extract from the Evenings With Led Zeppelin book based on the usual impeccable research from Mike Tremaglio:

Fifth UK Tour (Winter 1970)

January 7, 1970 – February 17, 1970

A timely UK outing which coincided with Led Zeppelin II toppling The Beatles’ Abbey Road as the number one chart album. There were eight theatre dates and, not surprisingly, it was their London appearance that drew most of the attention.

Back at the famous Royal Albert Hall on Jimmy’s 26th birthday (January 9, 1970), they did much to enhance their reputation with an excellent show. This concert was filmed by the band under the direction of Stanley Dorfman and Peter Whitehead. Originally intended for a semi-documentary project, it never saw the light of day, allegedly because some of the film was shot at the wrong speed. A 40-minute cut was prepared and turned up as a much coveted yet atrocious quality bootleg years later.

All but one of these dates saw them perform with no support act – a trend that would continue on subsequent tours. The setlist for these shows included a new set opener, a cover of Ben E. King’s ‘Groovin’’ (aptly renamed ‘We’re Gonna Groove’). The version performed at the Royal Albert Hall show remained unreleased until it turned up (along with guitar overdubs) on the posthumous Coda set in 1982.

On January 31, 1970, Plant suffered facial injuries when his Jaguar spun off the road after returning from a Spirit concert. This caused the cancellation of the proposed February 7 date at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, which was later rescheduled for February 17. A rare concert programme was distributed for this show and the accompanying blurb reveals that, “Although Led Zeppelin was created at the close of 1968, they are undoubtedly a group of the Seventies. THE group of the Seventies according to an opinion which is held worldwide.”

During the early months of the new decade it was an opinion shared by all who were lucky enough to attend what would prove to be their only indoor UK shows of the year.

January 7, 1970 – Town Hall – Birmingham, England

Partial Setlist (from press review):

We’re Gonna Groove, Dazed And Confused, White Summer/ Black Mountain Side, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Organ Solo/ Thank You, Moby Dick, How Many More Times Medley (inc. Rip It Up, ‘Bye Bye Johnny’, Come on Everybody, Something Else), Bring It on Home

Background Info:

The first show of the British Tour was performed in Plant and Bonham’s local stomping ground. Birmingham. The concert featured the debut performance of ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ which had been written by the band a few days before the concert and wouldn’t be released for another nine months. ‘Thank You’, another song featuring John Paul Jones on organ, was also debuted.

Press Reaction:

Express and Star (Wolverhampton, England, January 8, 1970) – “Led Zeppelin and the lovely strangled cat sound” by Tony Raba: “Fans cheered wildly, danced in the aisles and even on their seats last night to give Led Zeppelin one of the most fantastic receptions ever witnessed at Birmingham Town Hall. The two-and-a-half hour show featured solely Zeppelin… and some of the best rock music I have ever heard.

The group opened its act with ‘Groove’, before going into one of their early numbers, ‘Dazed and Confused’, featuring brilliant guitar work from Jimmy Page who, with the aid of cello bow, made his guitar sound like a cat being strangled.

            Two encores, and eventually the group came on to close with a really wild version of ‘Bring It On Home’, leaving the audience ecstatic and the Town Hall shaking to its very foundations after one of the wildest, raviest shows ever seen there.”

January 8, 1970 – Colston Hall – Bristol, England

Setlist:

We’re Gonna Groove, I Can’t Quit You Baby (inc. It Hurts Me So, I Need Somebody To Lean On), Dazed And Confused, Heartbreaker, White Summer/ Black Mountain Side, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Organ Solo/ Thank You, Moby Dick, How Many More Times Medley (inc. Smokestack Lightning, Beck’s Bolero, Boogie Chillun’, Move On Down The Line, Hideaway, Truckin’ Little Mama/ Bottle It Up And Go, The Lemon Song), Whole Lotta Love, Communication Breakdown (inc. It’s Your Thing, Good Times Bad Times)

Bootleg Recording (89 minute source):

Robert apologizes for the band being an hour late, and mentions that ‘Thank You’ was being played for just the second time. Plant introduces Jimmy as “Jimmy Hoochie Koochie Page” during the intro to ‘How Many More Times’.

January 9, 1970 – Royal Albert Hall – London, England

Setlist:

We’re Gonna Groove, I Can’t Quit You Baby (inc. It Hurts Me So, Don’t Know Which Way To Go), Dazed And Confused (inc. Cocaine Blues), Heartbreaker, White Summer/ Black Mountain Side, Since I’ve Been Loving You (unreleased), Organ Solo/ Thank You (unreleased), What Is And What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, How Many More Times Medley (inc. On The Way Home, Down By The River, Boogie Chillun’, Move On Down the Line, Truckin’ Little Mama/Bottle It Up And Go, Cocaine Blues, Leave My Woman Alone, It’s Your Thing, The Lemon Song, That’s All Right), Whole Lotta Love, Communication Breakdown, C’Mon Everybody, Something Else, Bring It On Home, Long Tall Sally Medley (inc. Move On Down The Line, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On)

Background Info:

This legendary gig on Jimmy Page’s 26th birthday was captured on film for posterity. Originally intended for a TV documentary on the band, the footage remained officially unreleased until the 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD release (just 40 minutes of the show had previously been available on a low-quality bootleg). Jimmy Page: “It was just like it was at the Albert Hall in the summer (June 29, 1969), with everyone dancing ‘round the stage. It is a great feeling. What could be better than having everyone clapping and shouting along? It’s indescribable, but it just makes you feel that everything is worthwhile.”

Press Reaction:

Nick Logan, music critic for the New Musical Express (January 17, 1970), was wildly enthusiastic about the show in his review “Zeppelin Put The Excitement Back Into Pop”. He remarked that the band had been “exercising control over the sell-out crowd from 8:15 when they took the stage until 10:30 when they left it.”

His other observations included the following: “It isn’t hard to understand the substantial appeal of Led Zeppelin. Their current two-hour plus act is a blitzkrieg of musically-perfected hard rock that combines heavy dramatics with lashings of sex into a formula that can’t fail to move the senses and limbs. At the pace they’ve been setting on their current seven-town British tour there are few groups who could live with them on stage.

           Strutting about the stage with arrogance, Plant is a most accomplished performer, drawing from the finest blues/soul-shouter traditions with a confidence out of line with his inexperience previous to Led Zeppelin.

At the end of two 15-minute long encores, when the audience had been on its feet dancing, clapping and shouting for 35 minutes, they were still calling them back for more. I spoke to ‘Sir’ Jimmy Page after the show and he confessed that the whole band had suffered extreme nerves beforehand, mainly because people like John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck had requested tickets.”

Record Mirror (January 17, 1970) also gave the band high marks, noting that, “Jimmy Page proved he is one of the best musically-equipped guitarist(s) on the pop scene” and “Robert Plant puts his lines across with a roar and sometimes insinuating sexiness in his movements.”

            Top Pops And Music Now (January 17, 1970) chimed in with another positive review of the show, saying the “group contains four of the finest musicians around, (though) they are not musicianly. Nor are they particularly progressive. But they are extremely good. Very exciting. The Greatest Bopper Group in the World… they built an atmosphere and backed it with good solid rock.”

Given the lack of audio or video evidence, there had been some question whether or not ‘Since I’ve Been Loving Lou’ was played. The answer came in the form of Raymond Telford’s Melody Maker (January 17, 1970) review, as he called that song one of the best numbers played that evening.

Official Release:

Led Zeppelin DVD (Atlantic 2003)

Bootleg Recordings (113 minute multiple soundboard & video sources):

‘Heartbreaker’, ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, ‘Organ Solo/Thank You’ and the ‘Long Tall Sally’ medley were all excluded from the DVD release (though the ‘Long Tall Sally’ medley video is available on bootleg). he band introductions at the beginning of ‘How Many More Times’ as well as ‘That’s All Right’ from the medley were edited out of the DVD. The guitar solo in ‘Communication Breakdown’ was also edited down by almost half a minute.

‘We’re Gonna Groove’ (with overdubs) and ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ from the posthumous 1982 Coda LP were both taken from this show.

‘Heartbreaker’ (cut after 4 minutes, just as the guitar lead gets off the ground) and ‘Long Tall Sally’ both exist on audio, despite being excluded from the official DVD. ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ and ‘Organ Solo/Thank You’ have never surfaced in audio or video form (other than the short audio snippets on the DVD menu).

January 13, 1970 – Guildhall – Portsmouth, England

Background Info:

The second and last time Led Zeppelin performed at the Guildhall in Portsmouth (they had last played there on June 26, 1969).

January 15, 1970 – City Hall – Newcastle, England

Background Info:

The second of five times the band played the Newcastle City Hall.

January 16, 1970 – City (Oval) Hall – Sheffield, England

Background Info:

The first of two times the group played Sheffield City Hall (the other being the January 2, 1973 show).

January 24, 1970 – University of Leeds, Refectory – Leeds, England

Background Info:

The venue for this concert was listed in the UK music papers as either the Leeds Town Hall or Leeds University. Extensive coverage of the concert in the University’s Union News removes all doubt as to where the show was performed.

The Who’s legendary Live At Leeds LP was recorded just three weeks later at the same venue on February 14, 1970. Spring 1970 term was a banner time for Leeds University students as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Ten Years After, Yes, Joe Cocker, The Small Faces and Mott the Hoople were among the renowned artists who performed at the Refectory during that spring term.

Press Reaction:

”Chris and Vic” of the University News (January 30, 1970): “Their ‘two hour’ hop at the Union took nearly three hours. The fact that there were six encores only emphasizes their terrific performance. The refectory was a mass of people captivated by the sounds put out by the incredible Led Zeppelin.”

February 17, 1970 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh, Scotland

Support Act: Barclay James Harvest

Background Info:

(Rescheduled from February 7, 1970)

This one-off gig in Scotland was originally scheduled for February 7, but had to be postponed due to Robert Plant being injured in a car crash on January 31. Plant was returning from attending a gig by Spirit at the Mother’s Club in Birmingham that night and was involved in a car accident. He sustained facial lacerations and damaged teeth when his Jaguar had a collision with a minivan. As a result, the gig was postponed 10 days, giving Plant the time necessary to recuperate.

The band was supported by Barclay James Harvest, the only time they were supported by another band in 1970 (besides the two festival dates – the June 28, 1970 at the Bath Festival and August 29, 1970 at the Man-Pop Festival).

Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh promoted the concert, and a programme was produced to commemorate the event.

Extract from the book Evenings With Led Zeppelin by Dave Lewis and Mike Tremaglio

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Wise words indeed…I’ll drink to that…

Busy here on various things – work on the DL memoirs included and some input on a non Zep  project that harks back to the year 1984 – more on that ahead.

As ever, there’s been musical inspiration and here’s what is going down currently on the player…

Led Zeppelin – Dancing Days Are Here Again/Southampton ’73 – 4 LP

Television – Adventure – CD reissue

Television  – Long Island 1978  – CD

John Martyn – John Martyn Live at The Hanging Lamp Richmond 8th May 1972 – LP

The Songs The Beatles Gave Away – Various Artists – LP

John Coltrane – A Love Supreme – CD

David Crosby -Voyage – 3CD

Thanks for listening