Pic: Keith Hale/Sun Times
Robert Plant made a surprise appearance on Tuesday  June 29th in Chicago. He joined Los Lobos on stage at the Taste Of Chicago Festival held in Grant Park’s Petrillo Band Shell for a rousing version of the Roy Head classic “Treat Her Right” (The number Robert jammed with Jimmy Page on at his December 13th Hammersmith Odeon appearance back in 1983).  David Hidalgo of Los Lobos had mentioned earlier in the band’s set that they had finished shooting a video earlier in the day with Robert Plant …

Black Country Communion pic by Marty Temme
Back in February Glenn Hughes explained to me that the album he was recording with Jason Bonham,  Joe Bonamassa and Derek Sherinian was ‘’A big rock statement’’.  He went on to say ‘’This is the real thing the right thing to do at the right time.’’
Having been afforded an exclusive preview of the Black Country Communion album due for release here via Mascot Records on September 20th, well Glenn has been true to his word.  The album is jam packed with quality rock songs …

Previously unseen cine footage of Led Zeppelin has appeared on  YouTube . The silent footage was taken at the Sydney showground gig in Australia on Febraury 27th 1972. It features shots of the band on stage performing Immigrant Song, Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven, Moby Dick, a piece from the acoustic set and Whole Lotta Love. Also included are shots of the band prior to coming onto the stage and shots of the audience. The film appears to come from three different cameras positioned around the stage and is …

To commemorate those epic six Los Angeles Forum shows of June 1977,  here is a lengthy overview of the 1977 tour that first appeared in TBL issue 9. The pre-amble sets the scene on the state of play inside Led Zeppelin at the time and leads on to a summary of three of those June performances as heard via the legendary Listen To This Eddie bootleg plus the two Last LA Forum sets issued back in the mid 90s.
Thanks to the late Mike Millard’s superb audience tapes, we can hear …

England out – Lampard’s goal that never was is  a bitter pill to swallow and could have changed the game – but at the end of the day we were just not good enough – in fact woeful in the second half.  Forty years of hurt…as the song says ”We’ll keep on getting bad results”……A low ebb at the Totnes Arena…beers are needed…..DL 5.25 PM June 27th
The valiant USA went out of the World Cup last night in a 2-1 defeat to Ghana.  Overall they can be well proud of …

There have been rumours on various web sites that Robert Plant is set to perform two shows at the HMV London Forum on July 5th and 6th. We have it on good authority that this will not be the case – however there are plans for at least one UK date to be scheduled following the US tour to tie in with the Band Of Joy album release.

The HMV chain has an exclusive pre sale offer on tickets for an upcoming UK date open to anyone who pre orders the …

On June 21, 1977,  Led Zeppelin played the first show of their historic 6 night run at the Los Angeles Forum, playing shows on the 21, 22, 23, 25,26 & 27.  To those familiar with Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings, these shows are widely considered to be among the best of the whole 1977 tour.  For this tour, the band decided on a set list that combined old favorites with a couple of new songs from their latest album, “Presence,” which was released the previous year.  They also chose to bring out some …

The TBL Limited Edition Earls Court 35th anniversary T. shirt is now available.
Be sure to be seen in the coolest T. shirt of the summer
Positive feedback so far for this essential TBL accessory:
”It looks fantastic and quality is superb.  Will definitely wear with pride!  I have a unique t shirt that I wear to gigs and have done since ’93.  This will be retired in favour of the Earls Court t shirt” -Carl Jacobs/UK
The T shirt is a Fruit of the Loom Super Premium quality white shirt with the Jimmy …

 
Above – On stage  Cologne June 18th 1980 – Photos copyright Tom Locke/TBL
To mark the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the final Led Zeppelin tour, this special TBL archive extract takes us back to the hot and steamy summer night of June 18th 1980. A night of rejuvenation that I was lucky enough to witness at very close quarters.
Being in close proximity during five of the gigs, there was a real sense of rejuvenation among the band and entourage. Even if the performances were an uneven blend of the …