Previously unseen  footage of Them Crooked Vultures performing at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010 will be streamed on YouTube on Friday October 16 at 10pm. This is in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The gig in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust took place at the Royal Albert Hall on March 22,2010. I was very lucky to be in attendance that night – as were a fair few of the TBL crew.

Here’s the info via the official Teenage Cancer Trust website:

Teenage Cancer Trust has launched a YouTube channel featuring exclusive and compelling music content to raise vital funds to support young people facing cancer across the UK.

Teenage Cancer Trust Unseen is an incredible archive of never-before-seen footage of live performances at the Royal Albert Hall through the years in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.

This content will be free for fans to view but the artists and the charity are urging fans to donate.

Driven by our patron Roger Daltrey, a who’s who of world-class musical talent has played Teenage Cancer Trust’s gigs at the Royal Albert Hall over the last 20 years. All so young people with cancer get the support they deserve.

And now music legends are stepping up again, donating this exclusive footage to help make sure every young person with cancer can get support from specialist Teenage Cancer Trust nurses or youth support teams.

Because in 2020 that vital support is at risk.

Full details at:

https://teenagecancertrust.org/about-us/our-story/music/unseen?fbclid=IwAR36c4hAQiOdyW2Xd-ppPH5RElqNxIbE1BizkhQih0mdjc-0CxhZVvhVf54

More from ABC News Radio:

For 20 years, the U.K.’s Teenage Cancer Trust has been holding annual concerts in support of its mission to help young people with cancer. With live shows on hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization has dipped into its archives to present Teenage Cancer Trust Unseen, a streaming series featuring previously unreleased live footage from benefit concerts past.

Among the sets featured is the 2010 performance by Them Crooked Vultures, the supergroup made up of Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana on drums, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme.

Other artists on the lineup include Muse, The Cure, Noel Gallagher, The Who and Paul McCartney. The Who vocalist Roger Daltrey is a longtime patron of Teenage Cancer Trust, and was the one who originally started the concert series.

The streaming series kicks off October 8 and will run through October 18. All of the videos will be free to watch, and you’ll also have the opportunity to donate to Teenage Cancer Trust.

http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2020/9/28/them-crooked-vultures-muse-the-cure-more-featured-on-teenage.html

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The new Robert Plant compilation Digging Deep Subterranea is released on Friday  October 2…

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Robert Plant on Jools Holland -BBC 2 Friday October 2:

Robert Plant is featured on the Later with Jools Holland show talking about his musical journey on BBC 2 Friday October 2.I am very much looking forward to watching this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000n1qf

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Interesting one from GQ magazine…Led Zeppelin had a whole lotta love for their cars..

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/led-zeppelin-car-collection

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LZ News:

TBL Archive: Japan 1971

This week marks the 49th anniversary of one of the all time great Led Zeppelin live performances – the September 29 concert in Osaka.

To mark the anniversary, here’s the Japan 1971 tour log Mike Tremaglio contributed to TBL issue 31:  

In the last issue of TBL we left off with the band performing the final two shows of their wildly successful month-long U.S. tour in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 16 & 17, 1971. The band wasted little time in getting back on stage; this time the band decided to conquer new territories and were playing to ecstatic Japan audiences in less than a week.

While the U.S. tour had seen the band playing at a consistently high level, on the Japan tour Zeppelin brought it to a whole new level, playing some of the most exceptional and highly regarded shows of their entire career.

After a week of completely winning over Japanese audiences, the band took a well-deserved six week break. Next came a 16-date winter 1971 UK tour which began on November 11 in Newcastle – just three days after the US release of the fourth studio album and a day before it shipped in the UK. For the tour, the band would play many smaller, intimate and unique venues across their homeland.

But for now, it’s time to head back to the world-famous Budokan in Tokyo…

Thursday September 23, 1971 Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Setlist (from eight different audience source recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, That’s the Way, Going to California, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Boogie Chillun’, Hello Mary Lou, Mess O’ Blues, ?, Tobacco Road, Good Times Bad Times, For What It’s Worth Instrumental, How Many More Times, You Shook Me, Gee, Baby Ain’t I Good to You, Kindhearted Woman Blues), Communication Breakdown

The band performed their first ever gig in Japan and it’s simply incredible. The intensity and ferocity of the performance is not lost on the wildly enthusiastic Tokyo audience.

The new songs from the upcoming fourth album (Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, and Going to California) aren’t the only surprises for the Budokan audience; they were also treated to the concert debut performance of Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, albeit in a truncated version as the intro to That’s the Way.

But the real unquestioned highlight of the show is a downright historic version of the Whole Lotta Love Medley – tracking in at a longest-ever 36 minutes. The band held absolutely nothing back during the medley with extended versions of Tobacco Road, Good Time Bad Times, How Many More Times, and You Shook Me being the highlights.

Fortunately for fans, the concert had been documented like no other performance in the band’s history – there are eight different audience source recordings of this show available.

Here is a listing of popular bootlegs of this show by audience source:
Source 1 (143 min.): Front Row (Tarantura & Memphis),
The Storm of Fanatics (Mud Dogs),
Live in Japan 1971 (Last Stand Disc),
The Tokyo Tapes (Empress Valley – discs 1 & 2)
Source 2 (128 min.): Tales of Storms (Silver Shadow & Aphrodite Studio)
The Tokyo Tapes (Empress Valley – discs 3 & 4)
Source 3 (149 min.): Reflection from a Dream (TDOLZ)
Source 4 (30 min.): In Concert LP Source (9 CDs) (TDOLZ – disc 9)
Source 5 (152 min.): First Attack of the Rising of the Sun (EVSD – discs 1-3),
Meet the Led Zeppelin (Wendy),
Timeless Rock (Watch Tower)
Source 6 (31 min.): First Attack of the Rising of the Sun (disc 4 only)
Source 7 (150 min.): Led Zeppelin’s Flying Rock Carnival 1971 Complete
Source 8 (126 min.): The Tokyo Tapes (Empress Valley – discs 5 & 6)

Friday September 24, 1971 Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Setlist (from five different audience source recordings):

Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker (incl. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)), Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, That’s the Way, Going to California, Tangerine, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Sing a Simple Song, Just a Little Bit, Boogie Chillun’, Cocaine Blues, Rave On, Your Time is Gonna Come, ?, I’m a Man, The Hunter, Hello Mary Lou, Oh Pretty Woman, How Many More Times), Organ Solo/ Thank You, Communication Breakdown (incl. It’s Your Thing, ?)

While not nearly as acclaimed as their first Tokyo show, the band delivered another outstanding performance on the same level as the previous evening. For this afternoon matinee the band pulled out a few more surprises, including the debut concert performance of Tangerine and a return of Thank You (with Organ solo) to the encore.

Once again, the highlight of the evening is another stellar and unique Whole Lotta Love Medley (this time ‘only’ clocking in at 28 minutes). The band incorporated some rarely played tracks such as Cocaine Blues, Buddy Holly’s ‘Rave On’, and Albert King’s ‘Oh Pretty Woman’ (the one and only time they ever played the track). But the real surprise of the evening was an impromptu, one minute-plus rendition of Your Time is Gonna Come. Plant started singing the song a cappella while the rest of the band started making up an arrangement for it as they went along. The only other time they ever attempted this track was in San Diego during their 1973 tour (a 25 second snippet was played during No Quarter).

While not quite as extensive as the previous evening, there certainly was no shortage of tapers in the audience. There are five separate audience recordings available of this concert.
Here is a listing of popular bootlegs of this show by audience source:
Source 1 (164 min.): Afternoon Daze (Mud Dogs), Pretty Woman (Tarantura)
Source 2 (56 min.): Light & Shade (TDOLZ – disc 1)
Live in Japan 1971 (Last Stand Disc – disc 1)
Hard Rock Night (Wendy – disc 1)
Your Time is Gonna Come (Scorpio – disc 4)
Source 3 (168 min.): Light & Shade (TDOLZ – discs 2 & 3)
Live in Japan 1971 (Last Stand Disc – discs 2 & 3)
Hard Rock Night (Wendy – discs 2 & 3)
Your Time is Gonna Come (Scorpio – discs 1-3)
Balloon Boys’ Rock Carnival in Tokyo (Empress Valley)
Timeless Rock (Watch Tower – bonus disc)
Source 4 (105 min.): Super Stars! LP Source (TDOLZ 9 CD Box – discs 7 & 8)
Source 5 (17 min.): In Concert LP Source (TDOLZ 9 CD Box – disc 9)
Monday September 27, 1971 Prefectural Gymnasium, Hiroshima, Japan
Setlist (from three different audience source recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, That’s the Way, Going to California, Tangerine, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Sing a Simple Song, Boogie Chillun’, Nine Times Out of Ten, Be-Bop-a-Lula, ?), Communication Breakdown (incl. ?)

The band performed a charity concert benefit for the victims of the atomic bomb. They presented the mayor of Hiroshima with a check for 7,000,000 yen – their earnings from the show – and in return received a peace medal.

Once again, the band were very well received by the appreciative audience and delivered another typically stellar performance. The Whole Lotta Love medley was the shortest of the tour so far (18 minutes), but the band continued to incorporate rarities into the feature. They performed Cliff Richard and The Shadow’s ‘Nine Times Out of Ten’ (the only known performance of this track) and Gene Vincent’s ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula’ (performed only once before – in Helsinki on February 23, 1970).

There are three separate audience recordings of the Hiroshima concert.
Here is a listing of popular bootlegs of this show by audience source:
Source 1 (126 min.): Live in Japan 1971 (LSD) and Peace (Tarantura)
Source 2 (111 min.): Peace of Mind (Mud Dogs)
Source 3 (44 min.): Love & Peace in Hiroshima (Bumble Bee – first 100 copies included two bonus CDRs sourced from the old vinyl LP Led Zeppelin 71-72 by Digger Records)
Other bootleg titles of this show (Live Peace in Hiroshima 1971 (Wendy), Zingi (Tarantura 2000), Message of Love (Lemon Song), and Love & Peace in Hiroshima (Bumble Bee)) are a combination of sources 1 & 2 to complete the show.

Tuesday September 28, 1971, Koseinenkin Kaikan (Festival Hall), Osaka, Japan
Setlist (from 146 & 15 minute audience recordings):

Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused (incl. Third Stone from the Sun), Stairway to Heaven, Please Please Me, From Me to You, Celebration Day, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, That’s the Way, Going to California, We Shall Overcome, Tangerine, Down by the Riverside, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Boogie Chillun’, D in Love, Bachelor Boy, Down the Road a Piece, Maybellene, Hello Mary Lou), C’mon Everybody, Hi-Heel Sneakers, Communication Breakdown (incl. Cat’s Squirrel, ?, Watch Your Step)

The next stop on the Japan tour was in Osaka where the band played two of the most historic concerts of their entire career. They continued to pull out all stops, performing many rarities and expanding their rock medleys into new directions.

The Osaka audience didn’t have to wait until the Whole Lotta Love medley to hear the band perform a variety of rock rarities. During Dazed and Confused, Jimmy played some licks from Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Third Stone from the Sun’. Prior to Celebration Day, they performed a 45 second run-through of The Beatles Please Please Me and From Me to You. During the acoustic set they played the traditional songs We Shall Overcome and Down by the Riverside (the only time they had ever performed either of these tracks in concert).

For the fourth concert in Japan, Zeppelin would once again unveil a variety of rock classics in their Whole Lotta Love medley. As they had done the night before, they reached into the Cliff Richard and The Shadows catalogue and pulled out two songs they would play for the first and last time in concert: D in Love and Bachelor Boy. Next, they would channel their inner Chuck Berry and perform Down the Road a Piece and Maybellene (once again, the one and only time these songs were ever played in concert).

The band returned for encores and jammed to complete versions of C’Mon Everybody by Eddie Cochran and Hi-Heel Sneakers by Tommy Tucker (the only other time the later had been performed was at the Yale Bowl on August 15, 1970 as a 30 second snippet during the Whole Lotta Love medley). For the encores, Plant introduced Atlantic record executive Phil Carson on bass and roadie Clive Coulson on vocals.

In his Zeppelin bio, Stairway to Heaven, tour manager Richard Cole shed some light on the encores. According to Cole, “about four minutes into the song, he (Carson) suddenly realized that his bass was the only instrument he was hearing. He quickly looked around – and he was alone on the stage. As a prank, the band had snuck off in the middle of the song, leaving Phil to fend for himself. He made a valiant attempt at a bass solo, but he gave up once it was clear that the guys weren’t going to rescue him. Phil put down his instrument and ran off the stage, too, as the band rollicked in laughter.” Cole mentioned that while it was hilarious, the incident was also troubling because they “allowed a practical joke to take precedence over the music,” which was very out of character for a band who took their music very seriously.

Communication Breakdown was the finally encore and it included Cream’s ‘Cat’s Squirrel’, as well as a two minute version of Bobby Parker’s ‘Watch Your Step’ (the only other time the song had ever been played was a short snippet during the Whole Lotta Love medley at the Inglewood Forum on August 22, 1971). It was Parker’s ‘Watch Your Step’ that had allegedly influenced Jimmy Page’s guitar riff in Moby Dick.

There are two separate audience recordings of this concert:
Source 1 (146 min. – through Whole Lotta Love)
Source 2 (15 min. – encore after Whole Lotta Love)
Most of the bootlegs are a combination of these two sources to complete the show (except Live in Japan 1971 – Last Stand Disc, which is entirely from source 1, thus excluding the encores).
Here are some of the other bootleg titles featuring this concert:
The Bachelor Boys’ First Stand in Osaka (Empress Valley),
Please Please Me (Tarantura & Wendy), Osaka Woman (Cobla CDR), and
Come On Everbody (Mud Dogs)
Wednesday September 29, 1971, Koseinenkin Kaikan (Festival Hall), Osaka, Japan
Setlist (from 175, 178 & 93 minute recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker (incl. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)), Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused (incl. ?, Pennies from Heaven), Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, That’s the Way, Going to California, Tangerine, Friends, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. ?, Boogie Chillun’, I Gotta Know, Twist and Shout, Fortune Teller, Good Times Bad Times, You Shook Me), Communication Breakdown (incl. Just a Little Bit), Organ Solo, Thank You, Rock and Roll

The fifth and final show of the Japan tour is renowned as being one of the band’s all-time great shows. The performance is incredible, and the band continued to surprise the audience throughout the evening with rarely, if ever, played gems. Fortunately, the concert had been captured for posterity on an excellent sounding, but imbalanced recording. It is often referred to as a soundboard recording due to its outstanding on-stage feel and stereo separation, but that is still being debated. Regardless, it is a recording that is on the top shelf of every Led Zeppelin aficionado’s CD racks, ready for repeated listening pleasure.

There are quite a few surprises during the performance, but one of the key highlights of the evening has to be the one and only known performance of Friends during the acoustic set. After this rarity, Plant sings a few bars of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes; earlier in the show, Page dropped Pennies from Heaven into Dazed and Confused. Both of these tracks were ‘one and only’ performances, adding to the special atmosphere of the evening.

Once again, the Whole Lotta Love medley, tracking in at 31 minutes, was where the band shined and took the opportunity to play some rock ‘n’ roll classics. Elvis Presley’s ‘I Gotta Know’ segued into The Beatles’ ‘Twist and Shout’, followed by a three minute version of Benny Spellman’s ‘Fortune Teller’ (all three tracks were again ‘one and only’ performances, sans a 40 second snippet of Fortune Teller played in Oakland on September 2, 1970 concert). As they had done during the first show in Tokyo, the band also played both Good Times Bad Times and You Shook Me during the medley.
The last song of the three hour show was Rock and Roll, another preview from their upcoming album and the first time they played the track on the Japan tour.

There are three separate recordings of this legendary concert:
Source 1 (175 min. aka soundboard source): Most bootlegs use this recording as the primary source. Some of the more popular titles from source 1 include: The Complete Geisha Tape (Tarantura & Memphis), Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Mad Dogs), A Cellarful of Noise (Noise Generator), Live in Japan 1971 (Rock Solid & Last Stand Disc), and Live in Osaka (Night Hawk).
Source 2 (178 min. aud. source): 929 (H-Bomb) & 9291971 (Tarantura 2000 –first three discs).
Source 3 (93 min. aud. source): Nine Two Nine (TDOLZ)
Most of the other bootleg titles are multi-sources mixes of the show with the first source usually being the primary source; they include Fatally Wanderer (Wendy), Live in Japan 1971 (Empress Valley), and You Were There in Spirits (Empress Valley). Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Scorpio) used the third recording as the primary source, but filled gaps with the second source.

It’s widely rumored that Jimmy Page has complete multi-tracks of this show in his archive. Allegedly, there were plans to follow the How The West Was Won set in 2003 with a similar archive release to be titled How The East Was Won.

The best way to describe Led Zeppelin’s first trek to Japan could be a twist on the Latin phrase attributed to Julius Caesar – “Veni, Vidi, Vici” – they came, they saw, they conquered. For many Led Zeppelin fans, the 1971 Japan Tour remains the apex of their entire concert history. The Zeppelin machine was truly firing on all cylinders, and their ability to continually take risks and incorporate new songs into the shows each night – sometimes on the spot – demonstrated a band with complete and total confidence. Mission accomplished!

Mike Tremaglio

First published in TBL issue 31 – 2011

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Japan 1971 thoughts from Hiroshi..

Long time TBL contributor Hiroshi rounds up some little known facts from the 1971 Japan visit…

Led Zeppelin in Japan: a few things not known across the sea (Part 1: 1971)

Led Zeppelin’s Japanese tour in 1971 was one of their most memorable and full of incident. Such incidents,tales, fascinating as they are, have not been fully reported abroad due to the language barrier. Here is an attempt to get across some of them for the convenience of the overseas readers. For this purpose, the photo book, Live Tour In Japan 1971 & 1972 (Shinko Music, 2019), served as a great source of information, among others. I would like to thank all who are concerned. — the author]

As is often the case with all things Zeppelin, Ahmet Ertegun played a big roll in materializing the group’s tour of Japan. When Warner Pioneer Inc. was founded (dated November 11, 1970), the distributorship of Led Zeppelin records in Japan was transferred from Nippon Gramophone to them. Ertegun flew over to Japan to attend the party to celebrate the foundation of the company, where he declared he would make Zeppelin’s Japan tour happen next year. It did.

The concert tickets were to be released on August 5. However, in the evening of the day before, the 4th, the news of the tour’s cancellation at the last minute was aired over the radio out of the blue, which gutted the fans. The story goes that due to John Paul Jones’ sudden illness, the U.S. tour that preceded the Japan dates would have to be entirely rescheduled, and the promoters, Kyodo Tokyo, came to the conclusion that the tour had better be withdrawn as quickly as possible to avoid predictable confusion. Needless to say, Kyodo office was flooded with the protesting phone calls from the distraught fans the next day. The promoters started a further negotiation with Ertegun by international call, and at the end of the day, both sides agreed to give the go-ahead for the tour as initially planned — a little drama was unfolded below the surface until the matters settled. The tickets were released on the 9th. Today, this whole scenario sounds rather dubious as there are no such records as the said rescheduling of the U.S. tour left anywhere. The true reason aside, if the tour had actually been cancelled, there is a fair possibility that it would have been rescheduled and tacked onto the Australia/New Zealand tour 1972, and the group’s legendary Japanese saga would have surfaced as a whole different story from what it was.

For their 1971 visit, Led Zeppelin were initially scheduled to arrive in Japan in the afternoon of Tuesday September 21. They then informed the promoters in Japan that they changed the plan and would arrive on the 20th. As it turned out, Page, Bonham, Grant, Cole and Carson flew out from Hawaii on Saturday 18th, the day immediately after finishing the two shows in Honolulu 16-17, and landed at Tokyo Haneda Airport at 15:25 on Sunday 19th. Next day, they turned up unexpectedly at the Warner Pioneer office in Roppongi in the morning, taking the record company staff by surprise.

After spending another couple days for the rest and vacation in Hawaii, Plant and Jones flew in to Haneda Airport later than the other group, in the evening of Tuesday 21st, to be greeted by the rest of the team who had already entered Japan. Outside the arrival gate, Bonham was seen holding an Akai video recorder in his hand, apparently for professional use, that he had purchased in the afternoon. The cumbersome video tape deck hung from his shoulder weighed approximately 10 kg! He was caught in the pics from the later dates carrying a more common Super 8mm camera that was handier to use.

Mr. Setsuo Yamada (b. 1898 – d. 1975), the mayor of Hiroshima-city at the time, after graduating Tokyo University, studied at Oxford Uni in the early 1930’s thus spoke fluent English. In his office, he talked to the members of Zeppelin without an interpreter, which must have impressed them. He also attended the group’s show that night, only to leave the venue after a short while, due to the ear-shattering volume…or so the story goes.

After all these years, I observe from time to time a debate among the fans outside Japan whether not only the Osaka shows but also the Tokyo shows were properly recorded or not. They were. In Japan, nobody doubts it one bit from back in the day. In November 1971 issue of the New Music Magazine, it is reported that “both two Tokyo and two Osaka dates were recorded in 8 tracks and Page took back the tapes.” It is argued in some quarters that the shows were recorded in 6 tracks, but a staff member from Warner Pioneer who was in charge of the live recordings mentioned in the article published in January 2013 issue of the Crossbeat magazine that they used a combination of two 8-track, 2-inch reel-to-reel tape decks for the task. In the same article, he also revealed that he diverted the signals via branch cables to make a separate recording of the final show (September 29) as the record company wanted to keep it for posterity. The tapes were then kept and looked after in the storage of anther company that manufactured music tapes exclusively (including Warner Pioneer catalogues), and someone copied and leaked them, which eventually became the source of the famous bootleg, Live In Japan. As far as I remember, the double LP of the lower-pitched version were out in the end of 1974, and only available at a few exclusive collectors record shops in Tokyo and Osaka that mainly dealt in import records (my guess is that around 200 copies were pressed. I bought one in ¥7,000 in March 1975). Part of it was copied later and released as a single LP under the title, A Cellarful Of Noise, from The Amazing Kornyfone Label (TAKRL). Then in mid-to-late 1976, the pitch-corrected 2LP version were recut by the original bootlegger and sold at the few outlets as above. Numerous subsequent versions followed thereafter.

Zeppelin and UFO landed in Japan:

A little but significant event worthwhile to note is that UFO visited Japan almost simultaneously with Led Zeppelin. They arrived on September 18. After playing at Mugen, the then fashionable discotheque in Akasaka area in Tokyo, for a few nights including the 21st (other dates unclear), they played in Osaka on the 24th and concluded the tour back in Tokyo on the 25th. The final show was recorded and released under the title, U.F.O. Landed Japan (AKA UFO Live/UFO Live in Japan/UFO Lands in Tokyo), initially a Japan-only release.

At night, the members of Zeppelin and UFO mixed with each other from time to time at Byblos, another prestigious discotheque in Akasaka, where Phill Mogg & Co. were seen asking the bigger stars for autographs! It is said that UFO also attended one of Zep’s Budokan shows (probably the 23rd as they moved to and played in Osaka on the 24th). Their single, C’mon Everybody, cut from the debut album, had become quite a hit in this country towards the end of 1970, which made UFO ‘big in Japan’, as it were.

To this day, C’mon Everybody is generally recognized as a UFO song among the Japanese rather than the Eddie Cochran classic (as is Summertime Blues The Who song). It is probable the socializing with UFO motivated Zeppelin to pick C’mon Everybody for the encore in Osaka, September 28. Most likely, a number of people in the audience didn’t know the song was written by Eddie Cochran — they must have thought, “Zeppelin covered UFO!”

New Music Magazine, September, 1971 issue (out in the street late August)

New Music Magazine, November, 1971 issue (out in the street late October)

Two articles reporting the Japan tour: “The Airship Troopers Storm Japan” by Ichiro Fukuda — who quotes Robert’s harsh comment on the Berkeley crowd — and “Blown Away By Zeppelin” by Toyo Nakamura, the editor in chief. Both writers attended all of the five shows.

“In general, many people are inclined towards the opinion that the first night in Osaka was the best, which I am partial to.” (Nakamura)

Many thanks Hiroshi – more to follow in Part 2.

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Here’s my review from earlier this year of the recent Transatlantic Records bootleg release More Comedy Less Work:

Now this is what I call an inspiration…

My thoughts on…

Led Zeppelin-  More Comedy – Less Work: Live At The Festival Hall Osaka Japan September 29,1971

4 CD long box package Transatlantic Records

I’ve come a little late to the party when it comes to the recent soundboard tapes that have surfaced from Led Zeppelin’s tour of Japan in 1971. I recently acquired the Please Please Me 6 CD set via the Eelgrass label and I am looking forward to wading through this expansive set of recordings of their September 28, 1971 performance at the Festival Hall in Osaka.

The following night, the last of the Japanese tour has appeared on a variety of releases, most recently as 929 How The East Was Won – this I have on a double CD set, again via Eelgrass that presents the soundboard source.

Now there’s a much longer presentation of this celebrated performance under the title More Comedy Less Work.

It presents the near complete performance with a mix of the aforementioned soundboard source plus the so called multi-track stage recording and a couple of extracts from the September 28th show. All this has been achieved via a Winston tape overhaul. For those who are unaware, Winston is an avid fan who is highly skilled at improving the sound of Zep bootleg recordings. Over the years Winston has widely and freely shared his remastered recordings, many of which have been acclaimed as definitive versions.

With that prospect in mind I could not resist the opportunity to delve into this new version.

I am of course looking forward to soaking up the previously mentioned 6CD Please Please Me set that chronicles the previous night ( I will report back on that one in due course), but my eagerness to hear a complete September 29 Osaka presentation had me ripping off the outer cellophane ready to get intimate with the three CDs. Note a fourth CD in the package showcases an Up Close radio show from 1992 and a Jimmy Page interview from 2017.

The reasons for my enthusiasm are simple:

For a start, all self-respecting Led Zep fans know that the three city, five show Japanese tour the band undertook in September 1971 was very special. Across those gigs they varied the set list considerably, throwing in all sorts of one offs and unique cover versions. The night of September 29 was no exception, in fact being the final night they really went to town.

The basic set list is also pretty much as it was a mere 53 days on from this memorable Osaka 1971 performance when on the night of Sunday November 21, I was lucky enough to witness Led Zeppelin live for the first time on a night of pure electric magic at the Empire Pool Wembley.

During this period Led Zeppelin were right on top of their game – and then some…

These were the nights where they sought as Jimmy would put it, that fifth element. There’s a hunger and vitality in the playing – a sense of wonderment at what they could achieve and how far they could push the boundaries. There was nothing they could not attain musically, their ambitions were infinite.

Other factors: Robert Plant’s vocal register was at its highest and most potent – a quite remarkable instrument in itself that he deployed to maximum effect.

The interplay between Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham was at a new peak of creativity..

They had a brand new fourth album in the can and ready for imminent release and they knew it was good – and of course they were more than eager to preview material from it.

In short, their confidence was absolutely sky high and boy did it show…

Now my relationship between Led Zeppelin and this Japanese tour goes way back. In 1976 I first got to hear what it sounded like via a bootleg LP.

Led Zeppelin A Cellarfull Of Noise – Live In Japan was a single LP on the Kornyfone label. I purchased it from the Sounds Ahead record shop in Marlborough Court just off Carnaby Street – a tiny record shop that specialised in under the counter releases.

Unfortunately this recording of the fabled September 29 Osaka show was strictly lo-fi and it also played slightly slow. It did however open my ears for the first time to the potency of their playing and also included that bizarre interlude when John Bonham went missing. ‘’Where’s Bonzo?’’ proclaimed Robert repeatedly prior to a drummer-less performance of Tangerine.

Things did improve considerably with the acquisition of the various September 29 audience sourced CD set that surfaced in the 1990s. Last year came the much welcomed new double CD of soundboard highlights. It’s always been one of my all-time fave Zep gigs.

Now the oddly titled More Comedy Less Work presents the full show in genuine Winston style.

The packaging itself is fairly rudimentary   – a cartoonish illustration with an overhead airship on the front of the digipack long box. The Led Zeppelin script is lifted from the Led Zeppelin III cover and a sticker indication noting that this is a limited run of 300 portrays the group image featured on the back of that album sleeve. The back cover has some brief explanatory notes about how the recording was pieced together. An eight page booklet has small photos from the tour and reproduces the 1971 Japanese tour programme, though in very small black and white thumbnail type pics.

Some further explanatory notes about the unique content of the set list would have been an asset. It’s all in the Evenings With Led Zeppelin book and TBL issue 31 thanks to Mike Tremaglio’s diligent chronicling.

As for the music, well, let them take you there ….to the Festival Hall in Osaka for the final night of what had been a highly successful tour.

I am well versed with this performance via the previous recordings but hearing it complete in such quality is an absolute revelation.

Right from the moment you hear Bonzo exclaim ‘’Louder, louder’ the listener is hurtled right into the action and let me put it on record from the off: This performance of Immigrant Song may well be the best ever – Plant’s echoed shrill is a pure joy, Bonzo pushes it all ahead in tandem with JPJ and as for Jimmy… the moment he opens up the wah wah for a truly scintillating run is one of the all-time great Zep live moments. The unrelenting energy of it all is just extraordinary.

From there, well it’s a total tour de force. Everything that is great about the band – everything that they have learned to harness in a mere three years is all here. The matchless confident stomp of Heartbreaker really hits the mark – as does the slow burn blues rock of Since I’ve Been Loving You. The seamless patch in of Black Dog from the 28th keeps the momentum flowing.

Dazed And Confused is a cavalcade of electric magic – there’s no other words to describe it, and there’s a drop in for a one off extract of Pennies From Heaven. It’s worth noting here that whenever Zep extended the studio versions of their catalogue, as they did many times – it always came out sounding like a development rather than an indulgence – and there’s no finer example of that than this marathon performance.

Stairway To Heaven is a suitable regal delivery and Celebration Day is always great to hear from this era – actually whenever I hear it I am always reminded of the opening sequence at Knebworthon August 4, 1979 when it made a welcome return to the set.

The acoustic set offers blissful light and shade acoustic harmony moving through That’s The Way and Going To California followed by that aforementioned amusing interlude where Bonzo goes missing prior to a sweet Tangerine. What follows is a rare piece of Zep concert history: the only known live delivery of the Led Zeppelin III staple Friends –which is followed by an ad hoc short cover version of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

A strident What is And What Should Never Be ushers in a complete Moby Dick – the master Bonham and his art..

The Whole Lotta Love medley is a 31 minute veritable Zep Spotify playlist. Try this for a starters: Elvis Presley’s I Gotta Know segued into Twist And Shout performed as The Beatles used to, followed by Benny Spellman’s Fortune Teller. Again via Mike Tremaglio’s research in the Evenings With book we know this trio are ‘one and only’ recordings, save for a 40-second snippet of Fortune Teller which was (also played in Oakland on September 2, 1970 concert. As they had done during the first show in Tokyo, the band also throw in the rarely played live Good Times Bad Times and a blues wailing You Shook Me.

Finally, after an emotionally draining Thank You this three hour show concludes with Rock And Roll – another preview from their upcoming fourth album and a first time outing on this Japanese tour.

The September 29 Black Dog is added on in the multi-track version.

To summarise:

So what we have here is a near complete representation in the best sound quality yet of one of the truly great evenings with Led Zeppelin.

I’ve been playing non-stop this past few days  -and what a much needed inspiration it’s been..

Whilst Led Zep and related artists are never far too away from the player here, this is the first real genuine new Led Zep aural experience I’ve soaked up in a good while. It’s a recording that offers a stark reminder of why I have invested so much time and energy into chronicling this band these past 50 years – and why Mike and I spent a sizable amount of our waking hours over a five year period producing the 576 pages that made up the Evenings With book. It’s one of those times when the power of music – and there’s no finer music than Led Zeppelin at full throttle live in concert in my book – gets right to the soul and provides such inspiration, and as we all know, in these unprecedented times any inspiration right now is much welcomed…

More Comedy Less Work will rightfully take its place alongside the Fillmore West April 27, 1969 performance , Plays Pure Blues (Texas International Pop Festival August 31, 1969), Live On Blueberry Hill (LA Forum September 4, 1970) and Going To California (Berkeley September 14, 1971) as my go-to fix when it comes to the in- concert appreciation of the first three years of Led Zeppelin’s existence.

In a world of current confusion one thing certainly remains ever constant – listening to Led Zeppelin perform live in 1971 is a truly wonderful thing… and this overwhelming September 29 performance of that year is more than ample proof…

Dave Lewis – May 25, 2020

Here’s TBL bootleg expert Paul Sheppard’s views:.

More on More Comedy Less Work – TBL contributor and Zep Live on CD expert Paul Sheppard’s observations:

Led Zeppelin – More Comedy, Less Work

Osaka, September 29 , 1971

Background and Context

There are, to the best of my knowledge, 2 main audience sources plus two soundboard sources for this show. These can be sub-divided into several generations for each audience source plus two generations for the soundboard sources. Over the years, in the realm of Cd bootlegs, we have had copious releases of varying quality using one or the other source or mixes of both.

What it comes down to are the following groupings for the Cd releases that have emerged:

• An actual soundboard – a maximum length of about 90 minutes with Empress Valley feeding out individual track releases as well
• An actual soundboard mix – in reality a mix of audience sources
• Source 1 “soundboard – possibly two different versions and short of the whole show
• Sources 2 &3
• Sources 4 & 5
• Mixes – where most of the show is available and where ‘More Comedy – Less Work’ fits in

More Comedy – Less Work (LZ/TAR) 4 Cd

What we get:

CD1

01 – Welcome To Osaka 929 [aud]

02 – Immigrant Song [sbd] 929 + 928 wail fix edit

03 – Heartbreaker [sbd] 929

04 – Since I’ve Been Loving You [sbd] 929

05 – Black Dog [sbd] 928

06 – Dazed and Confused [sbd] 929 patched

CD2

01 – Stairway to Heaven [sbd] 929

02 – Celebration Day [MT] 929

03 – That’s The Way [MT] 929

04 – Going To California [MT] 929

05 – Tangerine [MT] 929

06 – Friends [sbd] 929

07 – Smoke Gets in Your Eyes [sbd] 929

08 – What Is and What Should Never Be [sbd] 929

09 – Moby Dick [sbd] 929 patched edit

CD3

01 – Whole Lotta Love [MT] 929 +patched audio

02 – Communication Breakdown [sbd] 929

03 – Organ Solo [MT] 929

04 – Thank You [MT] 929

05 – Rock and Roll [MT] 929 – Bonus track

sbd – soundboard (speed corrected -2%)

MT – multi track stage recording (edited to completion with Plantations and various patches by Winston)

As described in the accompanying notes:

This is a merge of the newly released soundboard, previously released stray soundboards and the excellent remaster done by Winston.

Besides the speed correction on the SB portion there are a few small fixes to clean up some very minor sloppiness in the performance. Moby Dick is not quite complete but about 90% there. Black Dog is from the 28th (for the SB).

SB levels were brought down in order to level match and for headroom. Very minor eq and limiting was applied and only in spots to get more cohesion in sound.

The Verdict:

A clean and relatively uncluttered recording with Tarantura influenced packaging (though by no means as luxurious as Tarantura’s). The ‘soundboard’ parts are especially good. Owning as I do, 15 versions of this show either on Cd or stored, I can say that this is as good as it gets and highly recommended. Ok, so we have to accept the inclusions from the night before (notably ‘Black Dog’) but I can live with that. Always a pleasure too to hear the ‘Pennies from Heaven’ segment within ‘Dazed’ which a lot of other releases miss out.

The fourth CD contains eight tracks from a US radio show broadcast on 28th Jul, 1992 called ‘Up Close’ which focuses on the 1990 Remasters alongside an interview with Jimmy Page in 2017.

Paul Sheppard

Many thanks to Paul

………………………………….

DL Diary Blog Update:

Friday September 25:

Friday treats at the Vinyl Barn:

At a rather damp and cold but always excellent Vinyl Barn this morning, on this 40th anniversary of the passing of John Bonham, I was well pleased to find a Led Zep related purchase.

The Best Of CCS on the RAK label includes their 1970 big band rock cover version of Whole Lotta Love. A top 20 UK hit, it was this arrangement that was adapted to form the Top Of The Pops theme tune in the 70s.

As Darren mentioned, CCS were something of a supergroup with blues legend Alexis Korner, renowned session bassist Herbie Flowers and Blue Mink drummer Barry Morgan plus John Cameron arranger conductor and library music expert in the line up. The album also includes their versions of Wade In The Water (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction and Living In The Past – top stuff – thanks Darren!

Friday September 25:

My very good friend and long time TBL contributor Gary Davies visited John Bonham’s grave this morning at Rushock. He left a some flowers with a card on my behalf and all TBL people that says:

‘’ John Henry Bonham 40 years gone but always remembered. From the readers of Tight But Loose.’’

Saturday September 26:

Saturday treats on Record Store Day Drop 2 at the Slide Record Shop in Bedford…

An early start to bike over to the Slide Record shop to ensure Record Store Day Drop 2 purchasers are made -and all sorted.

The Yardbirds Roger The Engineer 2 LP expanded edition and the Fleetwood Mac Alternate Rumours – top stuff indeed – many thanks to Nerys Bannister and Warren for the great Slide Record shop service…

Saturday September 26:

Saturday is platterday -inspired by the Record Store Day Yardbirds Roger The Engineer some vintage Yardbirds on the player – the excellent Yardbirds Featuring Performances by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page US double album on the Epic label and sounding mighty fine…

Saturday is platterday – on the player the newly purchased Record Store Day Drop 2 release of Fleetwood’s Mac ‘s The Alternate Rumours.

The beauty of these alternate Fleetwood Mac RSD releases (I have the previous RSD alternates of Fleetwood Mac/ Fleetwood Mac and Tusk) is that it’s like someone has moved the furniture around in your living room.

So ingrained on the brain are the originals, hearing these demos, alternate versions and early takes can be somewhat disorientating – but there lies the attraction. It’s a totally fresh way of hearing an old classic and they don’t come any more classic than Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours…

Thursday October 1:

On the player here…

Bob Stanley And Pete Wiggs Present English Weather

This is in the series of truly excellent compilations Bob Stanley has overseen for the Ace Record label and came out in 2017. I got this about a year ago and returned to recently – I’ve had it on all week and it’s provided the perfect backdrop to the melancholy feel here and autumnal weather – as Bob and Pete so eloquently state:

”The autumnal sound of Britain at the turn of the 70s, looking out through wet window panes to a new decade with a mixture of melancholy and optimism for what might come next. With The Beatles gone and the pound sinking, a new and distinctive sound emerges, led by flutes and mellotrons.

Melodic, melancholy with jazz and folk touches and the same similar shrug of resignation.”

In effect these are the sort of progressive sounds I would hear regularly drifting out of the local record shops Carousel, Carlows and Out of Space here but as a naïve 14 year old, never felt hip enough to ask at the counter what they were.

Amongst the highlights: Caravan Love Song With Flute, Scotch Mist Pamela, Bill Fay ‘Til The Christ Come Back, Van Der Graaf Generator Refugees, John Cale Big White Cloud, Camel Never Let Go, Daevid Allen Wise Man In Your Heart, Prelude Edge Of The Sea, Alan Parker & Alan Hawkshaw Evening Shade and Robert Wyatt’s Matching Mole O Caroline.

The latter I first came across in late 1977 –it remains one of the most touching and beautiful love songs ever written.

With it’s evocative of the times sleeve portraits and extensive perceptive sleeve notes, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs present English Weather, along with the equally excellent companion release Occasional Rain, will be a continual soundtrack here as the darker nights set in and the drizzle turns to rain –and the plaintive sounds of the simpler times of the early 1970s take over…and provide much needed musical inspiration…

Update here:

Not too much to report – still feeling very anxious and not going out far in the light of the rise in infections. I had an opportunity to go to London tomorrow but do not feel up to it – it’s all a bit of a bridge too far at the moment. The good lady Janet has been full on at the pre school – not surprisingly, after a nine month lay off, her leg has been feeling the strain and the physio exercises to strengthen are ongoing. I’ve been wading through the TBL archive collating material for some TBL projects I am aiming at in the coming months.

Some particular inspirations this past week:

An inspiring catch up on the phone with Ross Halfin…

Great service from Warren and Nerys at the Slide Record shop on Record Store Day drop two…

Playing the excellent Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs compilation English Weather…

The new issue of the always excellent Shindig! dropping through the door…

Thanks for listening – stay safe and well you very lovely people…

Dave  Lewis – October 1 2020

Until next time, stay safe and stay well…