On May 31st BBC 6 Music will air an hour long special on John Bonham, which would have been his 62 birthday. The John Bonham Story will be presented by ‘Nirvana’, ‘Foo Fighters’ and ‘Them Crooked Vultures’ star Dave Grohl and will also feature exclusive new interview material from Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and Carmine Appice, as well as the key industry figures and family and close friends.
The makers of the programme reveal the following :
The story begins with John Bonham’s boyhood obsession with rhythm, beating his mother’s pots and …

Ahead of BBC 6 Music’s John Bonham documentary due to be aired May 31st, Jimmy Page was interviewed live on Lauren Lavern’s  BBC6 Music show on the morning of May25th. Talking of Bonzo with much affection, Jimmy said:
‘’John Bonham was an extraordinary musician –  head and shoulders above anyone around him. He had a definite vision of the drums, and how they should be played and how they would fit in with a band. It’s without doubt that his technique was  beyond everybody else’s, and that’s why he’s so looked …

TURNING THE CLOCK BACK 35 YEARS
SATURDAY MAY 24 1975
TICKET BLOCK AA ROW B SEAT 8
Ticket Price £2.50
My friend Dec had queued up for these tickets for this one over night when they went on sale in March. Seven of us went from Bedford (Hi Dec,Tom and Phil!) We went shopping in Oxford Street where I brought a pair of hip mirror shades for the Lorret holiday to follow. Then it was over to Earls Court in the afternoon – one of our crew  Gary Felts had made a top hat …

TURNING THE CLOCK BACK 35 YEARS
FRIDAY MAY 23 RD 1975
TICKET: GALLARY BLOCK 98 ROW F SEAT 6
Ticket Price £1.00
So imagine waking up on a Friday morning with the prospect of over nine hours of live Led Zeppelin in store over the next three days.
Talk about the weekend starts here!
But that was the treat in store as I went to catch the train on Friday May 23rd for EC gig 3. Earlier I’d had a passport photo taken in a booth  in town suitably dressed in Earls Court T shirt – …

This piece was  originally written for the TBL Earls Court Journal in 2000. It therefore predates the 2003 DVD and How The West Was Won releases that would go some way to unlocking their archive.
This is my version of the definitive Earls Court imaginary compilation:
LED ZEPPELIN AT EARLS COURT 1975
 
IMAGINE THE EARLS COURT BOX SET…
“Think of 1980 – It’s The Song Remains The Same soundtrack or nothing. 1990 – The Song Remains The Same or nothing. And now it’s the same. I’ve always wanted to put out a chronological …

TBL EARLS COURT 30th ANNIVERSARY SOUVENIR JOURNAL

I recently found seven remaining copies of the limited edition TBL Earls Court  8 page Journal published to mark the 30th anniversary. These are available on a first come first served basis. If you are interested in purchasing this, email in the first instance at davelewis.tbl1@ntlworld.com. The first seven emails received will have first option to purchase this rare limited TBL publication. UK price is £6.oo, Europe £7.oo, USA £8.00. All prices include postage and packing.

LED ZEPPELIN AT …

THE JOURNALISTS EARLS COURT
 
Chris Welch was the first journalist to interview Jimmy after he’d formed Led Zeppelin and was a loyal supporter of their work through his writings for Melody Maker. In this interview conducted with Dave Lewis in 2000 he recalls his Earls Court experience.
DL: You attended the first night at Earls Court – I seem to remember in your Zeppelin biography you mentioned something about a mix up over your tickets?
CW: There certainly was. When my wife and I arrived we were told there were no press tickets …

Photo Copyright Barry Plummer
THE PHOTGRAPHERS EARLS COURT : AN INTERVIEW WITH BARRY PLUMMER
 
Barry Plummer was a freelance photographer – his work was extensively featured in Melody Maker during the Seventies. Barry’s photos from Earls Court are still much in demand by agencies and magazines throughout the world. In this interview with Dave Lewis conduced in 2000, he looks back on his experiences of shooting Zeppelin at Earls Court in May 1975.
DL: Had you photographed Zeppelin on many occasions before Earls Court?
BP: Yes a few times. I was at that reception …

Concert review: Them Crooked Vultures at Aragon
No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
Gunman
Scumbag Blues 
Dead End Friends 
Elephants 
Highway One
New Fang
Bandoliers 
Interlude with Ludes 
Mind Eraser, No Chaser
Caligulove
You Can’t Possibly Begin to Imagine
Spinning in Daffodils
Reptiles 
Warsaw or the First Breath You Take After You Give Up
 “We think you’re our hometown, Chicago,” said singer Josh Homme as Them Crooked Vultures wound down a two-hour show Tuesday at the sold-out Aragon.
Chicago has a special place in Vultures’ history. Last summer, the trio of Homme, drummer Dave Grohl and bassist John Paul Jones made its live debut …

TURNING THE CLOCK BACK  35  YEARS AGO:
SUNDAY MAY 18 1975
Ticket: Gallery Block 70 Row E Seat 17
Ticket Price £1
Woke up around 10am with the prospect of the second Zep gig ahead.  In the morning I brought the Sunday Observer with the colour suppelment magazine that carried a major Tony Palmer feature –parts of which were in the official Earls Court programme.
”Led Zeppelin bigger than The Beatles?” proclaimed the front cover. What a compliment.
On the train at 5 in the afternoon with fellow fan/Wallbanger player Nic and his girlfriend.  My eldest …