Further details of the Paul Rodgers  Free Spirit tour at the link below:

http://www.paulrodgers.com/

For more details of the Deborah Bonham Band visit the link below:

http://www.deborahbonham.com/

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Rumours and Speculation:

There’s been a fresh round of rumours and speculation on a possible Led Zeppelin reunion -mainly centred on a story that they will reform for an appearance at the 2017 Desert Trip Festival. Here’s some perspective on such rumours via the LZ News website:

http://ledzepnews.com/2017/05/03/closer-look-at-led-zeppelin-feel-numb-desert-trip-2017-reunion-rumour/

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Led Zeppelin News Update:
In conjunction with the Led Zep news site, each week I will be re- producing highlights from their weekly email update news summary. This goes out every Sunday. Sign up details are below. Many thanks to James Cook.

Led Zeppelin

• The upcoming March 21, 1975 Seattle soundboard bootleg “Deus Ex Machina” is now expected to be released in late May or early June. The bootleg previously had a rumoured release date of some time in May.

Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page photographed at Wellesley College in Massachusetts on April 21 (Facebook/Wellesley College English Department)

• Jimmy Page has been travelling around the US with his girlfriend Scarlett Sabet. We published an article that includes everything they’ve been up to, including visiting Jack Kerouac’s grave, checking out the site of CBGB in New York, and seeing Egyptian artefacts. On April 27 Page was spotted talking with record producer Perry Margouleff at a poetry reading in New York. Margouleff is rumoured to have played a key role in reuniting Page with his stolen “Black Beauty” guitar last year.

• Also at the poetry reading on April 27 in New York, Page apparently told one attendee that he has been “rehearsing” and “working on some things.”

• “The Beginning,” an archive release by singer Chris Farlowe was officially released today on Jimmy Page Records. The album was originally produced by Page in 1961. The deluxe edition of the album is signed by both Page and Farlowe. On Wednesday Led Zeppelin magazine Tight But Loose published an interview with Farlowe about the release.

• We updated our Record Store Day 2017 article with a photo of the back of the record cover for the limited edition Beverley Martyn single that featured both Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.

Robert Plant

• Robert Plant has been in the US, and he reportedly ate at an Italian restaurant in California on Tuesday night.

Upcoming events:

May 19 – The new album by Darrel Higham, which features Robert Plant, will be released.
May 23 – A photo of Jimmy Page appears in the new photo book by Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, which will be released today.
May 27 – Unrestored footage of Led Zeppelin performing at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 will be screened there as part of an event about the director Peter Whitehead.
Late May/Early June – The March 21, 1975 Seattle soundboard bootleg “Deus Ex Machina” is rumoured to be released around this time.
June 2 – Robert Plant will be interviewed on “Brian Johnson’s Life On The Road” on Sky Arts.
June 23 – John Paul Jones will perform at the Sun Station Vadsø festival in Norway.
June 24 – John Paul Jones will perform at the Sun Station Vadsø festival in Norway.
Mid-September – The new Black Country Communion album, which will feature Jason Bonham, is due to be released.

Many thanks to James Cook.

The complete Led Zeppelin News email goes out every weekend. To receive it each week sign up here: http://tinyletter.com/LedZepNews

Led Zeppelin News Website: Check out the Led Zeppelin news website at

http://ledzepnews.com/

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TBL ARCHIVE 1973 – TAMPA 44 YEARS GONE:

These were the remarkable events that were unfolding in Tampa Florida 44 years ago this week…

SATURDAY MAY 5 1973

LED ZEPPELIN IN TAMPA, FLORIDA

TAMPA STADIUM

Set: Rock And Roll/Celebration Day/Black Dog/Over The Hills And Far Away/Misty Mountain Hop/Since I’ve Been Loving You/No Quarter/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Dazed And Confused (inc. San Francisco)/Stairway To Heaven/Moby Dick- Heartbreaker- Whole Lotta Love (inc. Boogie Chillun’)/The Ocean/Communication Breakdown.

Modestly billed as “An event… The supershow of the year”

Led Zeppelin attract 56,800 persons to today’s show and break the single concert attendance record set by The Beatles in 1965. The show grosses an estimated £309,000.

“Hello. It seems between us we’ve done something nobody’s ever done before… and that’s fantastic!” is Plant’s triumphant opening comment.

Robert’s voice is a bit hoarse at first but overall it’s a fine performance for so early in the tour. The set list has had some major changes for the American shows. ‘Celebration Day’ has been recalled and now follows directly after ‘Rock And Roll’. ‘Over The Hills And Far Away’ has now been moved back in the running order to fourth place. ‘Black Dog’ is now performed with a few bars of ‘Bring It On Home’ as an introduction. ‘Dancing Days’ and ‘Bron Yr Aur Stomp’ are both dropped from the standard set. John Bonham’s solo ‘Moby Dick’ is reintroduced, although in a much truncated form. ‘Whole Lotta Love’ is also now much shorter, losing most of the medley section – only ‘Boogie Chillun” is regularly retained.

The sheer size of the crowd tonight causes problems at the front of the stage. After ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, Robert appeals to the crowd: “Listen, as we’ve achieved something between us that’s never been done before, will you just cool it on the barriers here. Because otherwise a lot of people might get poorly, right? So, if you have a little respect for the person who’s standing next to you, then possibly we can have no problems, ‘cos we don’t want no problems, do we? It’s bad enough with the balance of payments!” The situation doesn’t improve however, so after ‘The Rain Song’ Plant addresses the crowd once more: “We want this to be a really joyous occasion. I gotta tell you three people have been taken to hospital and if you keep pushing on that barrier, there’s gonna be stacks and stacks of people going. We are animals, but we can move back a little bit because it’s the only way.”

Robert comments that ‘Dazed And Confused’ takes him back to when he was 19… “before I got the clap or anything” A power packed 11-minute version of ‘Moby Dick’ flows straight into ‘Heartbreaker’ which is in turn links non-stop into ‘Whole Lotta Love’. This is the only occasion where these pieces are linked in such a manner. Plant makes references to beating The Beatles’ record during the ‘Boogie Chillun” section.

The first encore of ‘The Ocean’ is complete with Bonham’s spoken introduction and ‘Communication Breakdown’ closes the show.

200 white doves are released as the band leave the stage.

Peter Grant recalls: “The thing with Tampa is that I didn’t tell them really how big it was going to be but when we drew up Robert was going ‘Fucking hell G, where did all these people come from?’ And I just said ‘Don’t worry son. I know you’re still on probation with the band but you’ll be alright’, which of course he was. I was confident they could handle it. In fact, I knew they would rise to the occasion.”

Plant: “I think it was the biggest thrill I’ve had. I pretend – I kid myself – I’m not very nervous in a situation like that. I try to bounce around just like normal. But, if you do a proportionate thing, it would be like half of England’s population.

“It was a real surprise. Tampa is the last place I would expect to see nigh on 60,000 people. It’s not the country’s biggest city. It was fantastic. One would think it would be very hard to communicate; with 60,000 people some have got to be quite a distance off. There were no movie screens showing us, like in Atlanta. The only thing they could pick on was the complete vibe of what music was being done.

“It’s a bit like amyl nitrate. It’s like a rush that you’re not ready for. I didn’t know how many people were going to be there. I had no idea what it would look like. There was nobody else but Led Zeppelin, four of us, and all those people as far as the eye could see. But the minute we walked out there, there were so many little matches held up that the whole place was glowing and that is a start. When you get that sort of reception as a start, you know the medium is set.”

DL

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Led Zeppelin – The Destroyer 40 years Gone:

Here’s a further piece about The Destroyer bootleg release as discussed last week.

This is the thoughts of Eddie Edwards – long time TBL contributor and author of the brilliant Garden Tapes Zep Song Remains The Same dissection website – see http://www.thegardentapes.co.uk/

This was first published in TBL issue 19.

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Stairway To Heaven again at the #1 spot in Classics 1000 on Radio1 ( Belgium’s national radio channel)

2 Heroes (Bowie)

3 Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)

4 Child in Time (Deep Purple) !

Thanks Johan Mangelschots

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Facebook challenge: Ten live acts you have seen one is a lie…

This one did the Facebook rounds last week – this was my contribution – ten acts I’ve seen live – one is a lie:

1 Led Zeppelin

2 Nik Kershaw

3 Spice Girls

4 Dave Clark Five

5 Small Faces

6 New Order

7 Free

8 Deacon Blue

9 Television

10 Michael Jackson

Victoria Record Fair – Cliff Hilliard Finds:

It was great to see Cliff Hilliard at the Victoria Record Fair. As many of you know, Cliff is one of the foremost collectors of Led Zep tickets – amassing one of the world’s largest collections of Zep tickets – both group and solo. In recent years Cliff has tuned his collecting attention to searching out the many session and guest appearances Jimmy Page made in the 60s, alongside collecting Zep contributions to sampler and compilation albums.

I’ve witnessed Cliff in action at the record fairs we attend – and his ability to search out the most obscure items amongst the racks is absolutely uncanny  – some at top dollar prices (Cliff does know what he is after and is prepared to shell out the going rate) others for a bargain.

Saturday was no exception as when we grouped in the pub afterwards, Cliff revealed the following amongst his day’s purchasing:

Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends EP – Mexican Atlantic promo seven inch EP featuring Baby Come Back,Wailing Sounds, Union Jack Car, Thumping Beat. These are tracks from the famous Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends album issue din 1970 that feature contributions from Jimmy Page and John Bonham. It comes in a unique picture sleeve with a pic of Jimmy and Lord Sutch recording in the studio in 1969

Wanderin’ album on Decca by Royd Rivers and Cliff Aungier. Cliff Aungier began playing the London circuit  folk clubs, when Bert Jansch, John Renbourn held court.

This  1965 album Wanderin’ was arranged and produced by Jimmy Page and featured the work of harmonica player Royd Rivers. It also has sleeve notes by Jimmy Page on the back cover.

The Pretty Things album second album Get the Picture on Fontana. This has the track You Don’t Believe a composition by Page/Graham May/Merrell. This song and We’ll Play House both feature Page on guitar.

Introducing Roy Harper – promo album on US Chrysalis. This compilation of Roy’s work and influences was compiled and introduced by DJ Bob Harris. It features interview comments from Ian Anderson, Paul McCartney etc. It also features the Led Zeppelin III track Hats Off To (Roy) Harper.

Phew! Some truly phenomenal finds. Now that really is what I call record collecting! Cliff and I have talked about one day creating a visual record in book form of his amazing Page/Zep related collection – it really does deserve to be seen in such a format. Meanwhile Cliff’s thrill of the search goes on – it’s an absolute Zep related musical education to be in his company as he goes searching through the record fair racks. Hats Off to Cliff!

Bedford VIP Fair – Saturday, May 6:

This Saturday May 6, the Bedford VIP Record Fair takes place at the Harper Suite venue. I am having a stall at that one with various TBL goodies on offer and more. I look forward to seeing all that can make it along.

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Happy 60th Birthday Tom Locke…

Another Wallbanger friend of much repute, Mr Tom Locke joins us in the 60 club this week. I’ve known Tom since we were 17 and he has shared many a Zep related sketch with me – he was right next to me at Earls Court, Knebworth and the five Over Europe 1980 gigs -plus many other gigs and events over the past 42 years. Tom is away for his birthday on Friday so Phil, Max, Tom and myself linked up on Tuesday to celebrate his coming of age milestone. Happy 60th birthday Tom!

DL Diary Blog Update:

Aniother busy week out and about:

Friday treats at the Vinyl Barn – at the Vinyl Barn last Friday – an excellent US copy of Janis Joplin Pearl and Rod Stewart 1982 Absolutely Live double album – top stuff – thanks Darren!

We had a splendid day out at the Victoria Record Fair. This has developed into a really fantastic Fair – easy access venue, and compact lay out with plenty of variety on offer amongst the many stalls. It was good to meet up with a variety of  like minded people including Luis Rey – author of the seminal Led Zeppelin Tape Documentary book, long time TBL contributors Paul Sheppard and Julian Walker. it was also good to catch up with Ross Halfin who I had not seen for a while.

Here’s a pic taken in Royal Oak pub with Paul Sheppard, Luis Rey and Julian Walker – a veritable feast of Zep knowledge between us and unsurprisingly, the talk was the nooks and crannies of Led Zep live and more..

One more pic here of some smiling men with record bags – Ian Saikia, the aforementioned Cliff Hilliard, Steve Liversley and James holding up our purchasers of the day – it’s what we do best!

In my bag a few beauties -including a couple of Leon Russell albums – the Best Of and A Song For You – a Shelter Records radio promo sampler.

The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya Yas Out CD box set

Mar Y Sol – live album from the 1972 festival includes Allman Brothers/ELP/Dr John etc.

Scarlet Rivera promo album on Warners – Scarlet was the violinist on Bob Dylan’s Desire album

T. Rex – Electric Warrior bootleg double LP

Hank Marvin and John Farrah – 1973 soft rock classic.

Frank Sinatra – A Man Alone – I was well pleased to find one of my favourite albums in a US gatefold sleeve edition

Elton John – 21 at 33 – much underrated 1980 Elton album

George Harrison –George Harrison 1979 LP

Free Alright Now single in a very nice German Island label pic sleeve

Bad Company singe Youngblood/Do Right By Your Woman on US Swan Song

One of my finds at the Victoria Record Fair on Saturday was this UK copy of T. Rex Get It On (a bargain at £2) in this fabulous sleeve of Sydney Scarborough Record shop in Hull…sixty years of sound service indeed…there’s a Facebook page celebrating the store which is now closed.. https://www.facebook.com/sydscarborough/

I also made a bulk purchase of  over 30 copies of Rolling Stone magazines from the mid 1970s. More for the archive…mind you, the good lady  frowned somewhat on hearing of that decision!

The good vibes prevailed into Sunday. Here is the good lady Janet and myself  in our local The Fox And Hounds with our very good friend Alan Stutz (he is a Chelsea fan so he was happy after their 3-0 win at Everton). We are celebrating Spurs rather splendid 2-0 win against Arsenal. An away trip on Friday night at West Ham will be another challenge. Chelsea’s run in should assure them of the title but Spurs have certainly done themselves and the fans pround this season.

On the player amongst many other things – David Bowie Cracked Actor Record Store Day release – and what a superb set – a really great performance –his vocals are just awesome. As recorded on September 5 1974 at the Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre. The night of my 18th birthday oh yes! In fact the night I had my first alcoholic drink…well legal one anyway!

It’s been back on TBL projects this week with more work and preparation on the Evenings With LZ book.

Right, I am off to sort out a few bits for my stall for the Bedford VIP Record Fair on Saturday.

Dave Lewis – May 3, 2017

YouTube Clips:

James Brown/Led Zeppelin Mash Up: It was the late great James Brown’s birthday on Wednesday so let’s get on up for a bit of this rather brilliant  James Brown/Led Zep mash up..take it to the bridge…