The first time I remember discussing the new band being formed by Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones, was in the back of the car as we travelled to the Lytton Arms for the Knebworth book launch last August. My good friend Tom commented it could be a band worth ‘’pitching up for’’ to use one of his expressions.

Indeed it has been.

These past few months tracking the progress of Them Crooked Vultures has been an absolute  joy – and in a parallel perhaps to that of Robert’s Priory Of Brion project, there’s been something of a  ‘’Follow that car – catch them while you can’’ vibe about it all.

It all culminated in a terrific night on Monday as we convened on dear old Albert’s place for the first night of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs. As you may have seen by the comments on the TCV news story, the TBL meet beforehand was a real corker –many thanks to all those that came and said hi – in particular Michael from Australia and Dave Roberts and his daughter Ashley from Canada. It really was a ‘TBL comes alive’ occasion

As for the gig – as I said in the review, it was the sense of history of the venue, combined with the sheer bombast of the band with JPJ in the middle of it all, that made it so special. Whatever happens next, Them Crooked Vultures have provided the opportunity for thousands of Zep fans to see exactly why John Paul Jones was such an indispensable part of the previous band he was in from 1968 to 1980.

‘’I’l be playing and it’ll be exciting’’ he told me nearly a year ago. He was more than true to his word…

All roads now lead to Shepherds Bush this weekend for the Boot Led Zeppelin Earls Court 35th anniversary gig tomorrow (Saturday March 27th). The TBL stall will be ‘pitching up’ as Tom would say and we look forward to seeing all that can make it along. Radio One DJ Fearne Cotton  is due to introduce the band on stage – and let’s face it with respect, Fearne is a little more easy on the eye than the likes of Bob Harris, Nicky Horne etc, who did the chore 35 years ago – and she doesn’t  have a beard.

This gig also looks likely to reunite the Bedford Earls Court crew as my good friends Tom, Phil and Dec are all planning on being in attendance as they were with me back on that fabled night of May 24th 1975. Expect Raff and the Boot Zep boys to cover every colour of the Zep prism as Robert originally put it, with a set list that recreates the magic of those epic shows of  35 years ago.

A change of circumstance on Wednesday night (apologies Terry!) did allow me to watch the live TV coverage of Spurs sweeping aside Fulham to go through to the FA Cup Semi Final. A scintillating second half performance did the trick. Well done ‘Arry and the lads – and with Man City losing to Everton, that fourth place slot is a possibility.

It could all go wrong of course but last night was a joy to watch.

Sad to hear today of the death of  legendary rock photographer Jim Marshall – he captured Zep at the swaggering peak -notably  offstage at the Hyatt House and at the Los Angeles Forum in 1972 and took that memorable backstage  image of Jimmy with the double neck  that can be seen in the Ross Halfin compiled ‘Photographers Led Zeppelin’ book. Earlier in the week there was the  passing of  another great sporting commentator -” The voice of boxing”  Harry Carpenter. His commentating at the many famous Muhammad Ali bouts were almost as much a part of the contest as the fights themselves. 

Hampered here a little bit this week with the first blast of the annual hay fever I suffer–  mine has something to do with the trees and kicks in between now and May.  In between rubbing my eyes and sneezing, work has continued on TBL 26 with a couple more pages laid out yesterday and The Who feature is in the last throes of a wrap. 

The clocks go forward this weekend which means whatever  time we travel back from Shepherds Bush, it will be an hour on –and with Adam’s match this week in Luton on Sunday afternoon, it could be a bit of a rush. I just hope history does not repeat itself  as on that night of May 24th 1975 we missed the last train and had to sleep on the station. With my hay fever that would not be a good prospect.

As long as Boot Led Zep restrict their performance of Dazed and Confused to less than forty five minutes in length we should be back on the platform at St Pancras for the last train home… Raff, it’s in your hands.