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 …

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 …

Above: Cologne June 18th 1980:  A pensive DL after realising that nothing was going to shift those posters and thoughts of  an ebay nest egg  30 years on fading fast…
World Cup Update June 18th:  Oh dear…Bonzo was right after all…football is a load of bollocks – when it’s played like that.  An uterly dismal performance tonight that leaves us hanging on for a win on Wednesday or it will be all over. Yes we have been here before -1986  and 1990, but we really are running out of time and …

Led Zeppelin were offically voted the nation’s favourite  band on the BBC’s “I’m In A Rock ‘N` Roll Band” grand finale on Saturday night beating fellow finalists The Beatles and Queen in a phone-in vote. The show also featured Best Singer, Guitarist,  and Drummer live phone-in votes.  Remarkably  Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham were all nominated in their catagories.  John Bonham was crowned top drummer ahead of Dave Grohl and Keith Moon, whilst Jimmy and Robert were runners up  to Jimi Hendrix and Freddie Mercury respectively. The Best …

UK tribute band Boot Led Zeppelin will be performing live on Saturday night during the BBC2 I’m In A Rock’n’ Roll Band finale – the programme will incude a live phone vote for the Best Band catogory with Led Zeppelin likely to be in the running.
The BBC website reveals that after five documentaries exploring the DNA of the rock ‘n’ roll band and the roles in the band, from lead singer through guitarist to drummer, the BBC2 series goes live on with Jonathan Ross at BBC Television Centre as the …

Twenty years ago today on Monday June 4th 1990 I awoke with the prospect of a couple of Robert Plant gigs ahead over the next two nights. These were the London dates Robert was playing in support of the Manic Nirvana album.
Tickets were sorted, arrangements made – I was going with my good friend Terry and a couple of the boys I worked with and planned to hook up with Gary Foy and the TBL crew in Hammersmith..
The good lady Janet was pregnant and our first born was due in …

Just listened to the John Bonham Story on BBC 6 Music. A Brilliantly put together documentary with moving and perceptive comment from a variety of family, friend’s and fellow musicians.
Dave Grohl’s no frills narration allowed the story to flow easily. From John’s early days there were comments from Bill Harvey, Dave Pegg and Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward.  Robert fondly recalled his first meeting -‘’You are pretty good but you would be better with me as drummer’’, and the hilarious story when the door handle fell off the Band Of Joy’s …