35 years ago this month, Led Zeppelin performed what would be their last indoor performances in England.
When the band undertook the series of five shows at London’s Earls Court Arena in May of 1975 they were at the very peak of their creative powers. Spurred on by the critical and commercial success of their sixth album, the double set Physical Graffiti, each show they played took on event-like proportions. The 17,000 capacity Earls Court afforded them the luxury to showcase in the best possible setting, the sheer enormity of their …

Another missing link in the saga of Led Zeppelin’s TV appearances in 1969 has recently surfaced on You Tube.
It had long been speculated that Zep made an appearance on the famous German Beat Club TV show recorded in Bremen in 1969.
Clear evidence that they had recorded a slot first came to light with the emergence of a story in the Hearts & Essex Observer edition of April 4th 1969. This story reported that the band were on board a British Airways Comet plane on Friday March 28th returning from Bremen …

May is here and in my calander, it’s always an important month. Not least of course because it triggers memories of former May Days and in particular the May Daze of 1975 – it’s the 35th anniversary of Led Zeppelin at Earls Court and I’ll be duly commemorating this milestone with a series of retro features on the TBL site – as you can see from today’s first TBL Archive post.
Being such an auspicious anniversary is also reason enough for me to commence a daily ritual of playing at least …

Robert Plant made a surprise appearance on the popular BBC 1  The One Show last night. It was Robert’s second appearance on the hit show – he appeared as the special guest for host  Adrian Chiles final show – he is leaving the show to move to GMTV  after three years. Adrian, an ardent West Bromwich Albion football fan, who are the local rivals to Roberts beloved Wolves, is a good friend of  Robert. Rather bizarrely, Robert was carried on to the set on a ottoman chair, wearing a crown …

We buried our beloved Ken on a glorious sunny St. George’s Day – the sort of beautiful spring day he would have loved.
Our precious family and friends packed the Shefford church to hear the service, a celebration of Ken’s life conducted by the Minster Dave Haseldine with such dignity and grace. They heard our children, well not children anymore as they gained in stature with every word they spoke as they paid tribute to their Grandad.  Sam told of a wonderful kind loving man never fazed by his age, her heartwarming admiration of …

Continuing on from last week’s look back at the mad month of March in 1998, when Page and Plant were riding high after a mini tour of Eastern Europe and looking forward to England and all eyes were on London.
Wednesday March 11 1998
There have been rumors of a special Page Plant launch gig for the album happening in London for some time. They did attempt to book the Shepherds Bush Empire back in January. Locations in Islington and Kilburn have also been checked out in recent weeks. An early morning …

Stairway To Heaven has been voted Britain’s favourite rock song by listeners of the digital radio station Absolute Classic Rock.  The classic track from Led Zeppelins fourth album beat the likes of The Who, Queen and The Beatles – whose tracks were all included in the top ten. One fan of the band who voted in the poll said, “I love The Beatles but their songs are so short and happy. For the best song of all time you want something epic, and Led Zeppelin capture it all — grand …

Them Crooked Vultures at the Fillmore
 
First the goodies: Check out a slideshow here.
So, having seen Lucero last week at the Bluebird, I amazingly got off my lame, seldom-go-to-shows-anymore ass again last night (twice inside a week … I know) for Them Crooked Vultures at the Fillmore Auditorium.
The superband, for those unfamiliar, is comprised of Dave Grohl, frontman for the Foo Fighters and long ago drummer for Nirvana; Josh Homme, frontman for Queens of the Stone Age; and the legendary John Paul Jones, bassist, keyboardist and mandolin player from Led …

Them Crooked rock stars
John Paul Jones leads Them Crooked Vultures through rocking show at The Joint

JPJ at the The Joint. Photo by Eric Kabik. Click HERE  for more photos         
Up on the second balcony of The Joint during Saturday night’s Them Crooked Vultures show, a woman was getting into it. Dressed in jeans and a cropped shirt she whipped her hair around her and danced in a style reminiscent of a 1970s rock-doc. It was hypnotizing.
And she wasn’t the only one rocking out. Opposite the anonymous fan, Them Crooked Vultures also were …