Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters – Cardiff gig announced:

This news via Planet Rock website:

Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters have lined up a relatively intimate headline show for this autumn.

The Led Zeppelin legend and his band will play the 1,900 capacity Wales Millennium Centre in the heart of Cardiff Bay on Thursday 25th October.

The gig precedes their headline appearance at BluesFest at London’s The O2 the following day where they will perform alongside Van Morrison.

Tickets to the Cardiff show go on sale from Planet Rock Tickets at 10am on Friday 20th July.

Robert Plant released ‘Carry Fire’, his eleventh solo album and second with The Sensational Space Shifters, in October 2017 via Nonesuch / Warner Bros. Records.

Following its release, the band headed out on a completely sold-out 14-date UK tour in November/December 2017 that included a date at London’s Royal Albert Hall. They also played Bearded Theory Festival and Bath Festival in May.

See Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters at the following shows:

OCTOBER 2018
Wales Millennium Centre – Thu 25th
BluesFest, London The O2 – Fri 26th

See more at:

https://www.planetrock.com/news/rock-news/robert-plant-and-the-sensational-space-shifters-announce-cardiff-gig/

More Robert Plant US tour dates have also been announced for September:

ROBERT PLANT & THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS have announced a new set of U.S. tour dates in support of their 2017 album, “Carry Fire”.

Tickets for all Plant standalone shows are on sale at the singer’s official site beginning today.

Tour dates:

Sep. 09 – St. Louis, MO @ LouFest
Sep. 10 – Kansas City, MO @ Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
Sep. 13 – Santa Fe, NM @ Santa Fe Opera
Sep. 15 – Telluride, CO @ Telluride Blues & Brews Festival
Sep. 16 – Del Mar, CA @ KAABOO
Sep. 19 – Tucson, AZ @ Centennial Hall
Sep. 21 – Tulsa, OK @ Brady Theater
Sep. 23 – Louisville, KY @ Bourbon & Beyond Festival
Sep. 25 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at The Toyota Music Factory
Sep. 27 – Lubbock, TX @ Lubbock Municipal Auditorium
Sep. 29 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Live at Moody Theater

Robert Plant maintains that the only way to stay relevant to himself, let alone an audience, is to constantly be moving and growing artistically. “I like to dig deep with the people I’m around,” he said. “Wherever I might in whatever circumstances; and that’s not just based on being a singer — that’s based on living a life. I mean, I’m pretty much of a, kind of a, a kind of strange firework, all the way though my life. I’m whizzing around and I don’t know which way I’m going to spring next. It really was quite a sobering revelation, really, to find that everything that I left behind was what I really cherish.”

See more at:

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/robert-plant-the-sensational-space-shifters-announce-new-u-s-tour-dates/

………………………………..

Led Zeppelin News Update:

…………………………………..

Led Zeppelin Live 1975 -1977:

Here’s a preview of the Led Zeppelin Live 1975 – 1977 book…

https://variety.com/2018/music/news/led-zeppelin-photo-book-concert-peak-1202875196/#utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=social_bar&utm_content=bottom&utm_id

……………………………..

A DATE FOR THE DIARY:

Following on from last December’s hugely enjoyable ‘Ahmet We Did It’ 02 Ten Years Gone event at this venue, we are going back to the pub for a day of Led Zeppelin 50th Anniversary Celebrations…

Dave Lewis and Julian Walker Present..

Led Zeppelin at 50 – It’s Been A Long Time 1968 -2018

Led Zeppelin 50th Anniversary TBL Celebration Day Event

Sunday, September 30, 2018

The Atlas Pub

16 Seagrave Road,Fulham, London, SW6 1RX

From 11.30AM to 8.30PM

Nearest tube: West Brompton (District Line, London Overground, and Southern train services)

A day of Led Zep Celebration – Guest Speakers, Video Playbacks, Zep Quiz and more

Guest Speakers already confirmed:

Mark Blake – author of the forthcoming Peter Grant biography Bring it On Home

Chris Charlesworth – former Melody Maker journalist who covered Zep extensively in the early 70s

Luis Rey and Andy Adams – talking about the forthcoming 50th Anniversary updated edition of Luis’s Tape Documentary book which Andy helped edit

Phil Tattershall – well known UK Zep collector/authority presenting ‘Confessions of a Led Zeppelin Taper’

More details to follow.

Tickets will be on sale early August – again more details to follow on all that.

Dave Lewis and Julian Walker

……………………….

Seattle Kingdome 41 years gone…

It was 41 years ago on Tuesday July 17  that Led Zeppelin performed at the Seattle Kingdome to some 62,000 fans.
The whole show was videotaped for the venue’s close circuit TV screens and was retained in their archive.

Back in August 1981 I was privileged to be shown this footage in the Swan Song office. Many years later it did emerge on bootlegs and of course is now readily available via YouTube etc. It remains a striking visual remnant of their final US tour when they really were as big as any band could get….

To mark this anniversary and by way of a preview – here is the entry from the Evenings With Led Zeppelin book for the Seattle date

July 17, 1977 – The Kingdome – Seattle, Washington, USA

Setlist: The Song Remains The Same, The Rover (Intro)/Sick Again, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Over The Hills And Far Away, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, Ten Years Gone, The Battle Of Evermore, Going To California, Black Country Woman, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp (inc. It’s All Right With Me), White Summer/Black Mountain Side, Kashmir, Out On The Tiles (Intro)/Moby Dick, Guitar Solo, Achilles Last Stand, Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Rock And Roll

 Background Info:

Led Zeppelin opened the third leg of their US Tour with a massive show at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington. Attendance was 62,000, second highest of the tour (surpassed only by the 76,229 Pontiac Silverdome gig on April 30, 1977). It would be their eleventh and final show in Seattle (including the Seattle Pop Festival that was held in nearby Woodinville on July 27, 1969).

The Kingdome opened on March 27, 1976 and the first concert held there was Paul McCartney’s Wings on June 10, 1976. The venue housed both the Mariners (baseball) and Seahawks (football) expansion teams. The Kingdome was imploded on March 26, 2000, and set a Guinness Book of World Record for the largest building (by volume) ever demolished by implosion.

 Press Reaction:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (July 18, 1977) – “Led Zep vs. the Dome Acoustics” by George Arthur: “It was Led Zeppelin, rock’s metallic titans, versus the Kingdome last night in the latest installment of the continuing battle between rock and the county’s 67,000-capacity concert hall. If any band could subdue the dome, it’s ricochet acoustics and dwarfing size, it would be Led Zeppelin. Their music aspires to the same monumental presence as the venue.

“The roar of anticipation which greeted the darkening of the house lights left no doubt about the crowd’s favorite. Much was obviously expected of the evening’s challengers. The tide began to move in the band’s direction as the set progressed when bassist John Paul Jones moved to the piano for a Zeppelin variation on ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’ (sic).

            “‘Ten Years Gone’ provided the evening’s first test of Plant’s phenomenal vocalizing. He was surprising close to the real thing. Which is to say, he established what in non-dome concerts is called a vocal presence… In his between-song patter, Plant did his best to protect the illusion that it was an audience and not an anonymous crowd… In sum, he did his best to ignore the dome  and its overgrown shortcomings.”

Seattle Times (July 18, 1977) – “Zeppelin conquers Dome” by Patrick MacDonald: “For the first time since Wings, a rock show felt right in the Kingdome last night – but only because it was Led Zeppelin, the biggest band of them all. The sounds was still pretty bad but that didn’t matter much, because Zeppelin isn’t the kind of band that requires careful listening most of the time. The rock they belt out is meant to jar your whole body, so the Dome’s echo and reverberations hardly mattered. They almost seemed like part of the show.

“The performance lasted over three hours, a lot of it taken up by long solos by all members of the band. Visually, the show offered an extra-large TV screen with close-up coverage and clever replays. Laser beams were used a couple of times… but not nearly as effectively as they could have been. Led Zeppelin once led the way with special effects but last night showed nothing new or daring.

“If there was any surprise in the show, it was the band’s undiminished power, which seemed nearly as strong as when the group started almost ten years ago.

“By the third song, after the cheers died down and the smoke cleared away, it was evident that the group was in top form. Plant began singing in tandem with Page’s guitar, trading notes furiously, then Plant did a great turn on harmonica.

“Plant, who attended the Sounders soccer game in the Dome Friday night, told us we were ‘lucky to be standing in a soccer pitch – it’s holy ground’.

“They did ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, one of their great British blues songs, a forerunner to ‘Stairway To Heaven’ in terms of pent-up power, but it came out comparatively weak.

“After the long drum solo, which ended in a burst of smoke and fire, Page’s diddling around with a theremin (an electronic rod that produced spacey sounds), the concert really caught fire. The band went all out for ‘Achilles Last Stand’ – that and the earlier ‘Over The Hills And Far Away’ were the best all night – and then topped it with ‘Stairway To Heaven’, although the guitar solo fell short of the recording.

“What made the show work in the Kingdome wasn’t the quality of the music – that will never be the case in the Dome – but the enormity of the event. Like Wings, the crowd’s anticipation and excitement, built up over weeks of waiting, helped create an atmosphere conducive to a good snow.

“For an evening of good, loud, crude, raunchy rock – plus a continuingly fascination sideshow of 65,000 freaks – you couldn’t have done better. It turned out to be one of the best rock shows of the summer.”

 Bootleg Recordings

(4 sources – 208, 204 & 186 minute audience & 213 minute video soundtrack):

While there are three audience recordings of the show, the real highlight is a three-and-a-half hour video of the concert. The concert had been projected onto the Kingdome’s 49×65 foot scoreboard screen during the show so fans could see the action on stage.

Snippets of the video appeared in 1990 when the Remasters box set came out, and they were used for the ‘Over The Hills And Far Away’ promo video and MTV’s Rockumentary special. It took another 12 years for the concert to become widely available, when it was released on the bootleg DVD “Heavy Metal” on the Celebration label in 2002. It has been released countless times since with much improved quality.

Regardless, despite the very uneven performance, it’s nice to see a whole show on video from the tour. The improved video and audio quality from the original releases make it far more enjoyable.

Page broke a string during ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’ and Jones improvised a stand-up bass solo with Plant throwing in a few lines of Frank Sinatra’s ‘It’s All Right With Me’. ‘Moby Dick’ was performed for the very last time.

Extract from Evenings With Led Zeppelin – The Complete Concert Chronicle by Dave Lewis and Mike Tremaglio – to be published by Omnibus Press in September. Pre order at  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evenings-Led-Zeppelin-Chronicle-1968-1980/dp/1783057017

…………………………….

Bob Dylan at Blackbushe – it was 40 years ago…

40 years ago this week on July 15, 1978, I was lucky enough to attend the massive Bob Dylan event at Blackbushe. To mark the event, here are my recollections of the day and my affinity for Bob Dylan. For many reasons, as you will read on – this was  one of the most memorable gigs of my life.

Bob Dylan at Blackbush: Seeing was believing.

Bob Dylan came into my life when I was 12 years old in 1969. That was the year I discovered a copy of Blonde On Blonde in our house. Everything about it was mesmerising. From the starling fold out cover to a single song (Sad Eyed lady of The Lowlands) taking up one side of this expansive and illuminating double album. I was totally hooked. From that point on, I followed his every move scouring the weekly music papers for information.

The first Dylan album I purchased was Self Portrait – so keen was I to hear live recordings of his 1969 Isle of Wight performance. Though much maligned at the time, I found the free and easy flow of this double set very appealing. In early 1972, at vast expense (£5.50 new pence) I splashed out for The Concert For Bangla Desh set that has that marvellous side of Dylan’s surprise performance at George Harrison’s benefit concert staged at Madison Square Garden in August 1971.

A year later, much inspired by a major feature on Dylan bootlegs in Let It Rock magazine, I became the proud owner of the famous Royal Albert Hall bootleg on the Trade Mark Of Quality label. I’d searched this gem out in a small ad in Sounds for live albums. It kick started my lasting obsession with bootlegs -being a massive Led Zeppelin fan their Live On Blueberry Hill was purchased at the same time as the Dylan set.

Over the next five years, I was captivated by Dylan’s recorded output. Planet Waves, Before The Flood, Blood On The Tracks, Desire and Hard Rain were all soaked up by this then teenage Bob Dylan fan with passionate devotion.

So come 1978 and the announcement that Dylan was to perform a series of concerts at Earls Court, I was well excited. However, ticket demand was huge and unfortunately I missed out on those shows.

My then girlfriend Fiona and I did hatch a plan to tout for tickets outside Earls Court but seeing the prices they were commanding, that idea was shelved. At the time, I avidly read all the Earls Court reviews in the music press – and there was also the considerable silver lining of the new truly excellent Dylan album Street Legal. This became the soundtrack of the summer. I’ve only got to hear that faded in intro and Bob to utter the words ”Sixteen years” to be right back in that rather crazy summer – where in the space of some seven weeks I was lucky enough to see The Who, David Bowie and Bob Dylan.

There was an event greater silver lining in the late June when promoter Harvey Goldsmith announced that Bob Dylan would be appearing at was to be known as ‘’The Picnic At Blackbushe’’. An open air one day festival to be staged at an old airport runway at Blackbushe Aerodrome.

Tickets for this event proved much easier to obtain. I travelled into London to purchase a couple at the Music Boutique shop in Shaftesbury Avenue. Saturday July 15, 1978 was going to be a landmark date in the calendar.

Fiona’s enthusiasm for Dylan had been influenced and honed by me over the preceding three years that we had been going out – I was now 21 and she was 19. When I first met her she initially found it hard to share my passion for the Zim. She even wrote a half joking letter to the NME explaining of her dilemma.. To our surprise it was printed in the May 17, 1975 edition. ‘’ Under the pysudenum ‘’Worried Zep Fan – Bedford’’ Fiona proclaimed

‘’Is there something wrong with me? I reckon there must be coz I cannot get into Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan! Yes isn’t it amazing?

I must be the only music lover in Britain who considers him one of the best songwriters ever but doesn’t get off on him 99.99 % as other people I know do.

I am not musically frigid when it comes to Zeppelin, Floyd and, Stones, so what’s the matter with me?’’

The rather caustic reply being:

‘’But if you consider him one of ‘the best songwriters ever’, you are getting off on him, Buffoo.’’

We both considered it an honour her letter had been printed – such was the esteem for the weekly music press back then..

Sadly, as Blackbushe beckoned, our relationship was beginning to sour. I saw this event as a way of perhaps revitalising our relationship. So it was on the evening of July 14 1978 we left Bedford, sleeping bags packed with all the festival essentials and headed off for London’s Waterloo station. From there in the darkness of the night, double decker busses were laid on to take us from Fleet Station to the Blackbushe grounds.

Once there, we spent a somewhat uncomfortable night sleeping in a field between the bus and a few parked cars. As daylight broke we got ourselves together and headed for the Blackbushe runway. By 7am, we had picked a fairly central spot to begin our vigil for the master.

Of course a few thousand other like minded enthusiasts had already done the very same thing. We were therefore already some way back in the crowd. However as we were to discover, countless more fans would be converging behind us throughout the day. Weather wise it was a little cloudy at times but mostly dry and warm.

The prospect of Bob Dylan at Blackbushe was a very big deal indeed. It was his first UK outdoor appearance since the Isle of Wight Festival a decade previous. The reaction to his recent Earls Court shows had been unanimously positive. This event, and make no mistake about it, it was an event, brought out a host of rock royalty to witness it all unfold – including Ringo Starr, Bianca Jagger,Billy Connolly and one Jimmy Page. Led Zeppelin would go onto play their own events at Knebworth the following year. In an interview with Chris Salewitz in the NME just prior to their appearances in August 1979, Jimmy had this to say about Dylan at Blackbushe:

‘’Knebworth is like a natural amphitheatre. I should imagine its quite a good gig to be at. I went to Blackbushe but that was a bit of a sea of bodies -.but it was great to see Dylan’’.

I know exactly what he means about that, because by midday the Blackbushe aerodrome really was a sea of people. It was quite astonishing. Previously Fiona and I had been amongst large outdoor rock events such as The Who’s performance at Charlton Athletic football ground in May 1976 and again later in the year witnessing Queen at Hyde Park. They had been large gatherings but Blackbushe was altogether on another scale.

I didn’t see too much of the two opening acts Lake and Merger as I was catching up on some sleep. In the afternoon though, I thoroughly enjoyed Graham Parker & The Rumour’s set. Graham was a good bridging act between the old wave and new as the time the musical climate was a changing. Rapidly so, in the light of the punk rock explosion.

Not that you would have noticed too much at Blackbushe. Flares and denim was the order of the day still. Eric Clapton and his band followed in the late afternoon. It’s worth noting here that the Blackbushe bill was superior to the one Led Zep would assemble at Knebworth in 1979 – Chas & Dave, Fairport Convention, Commander Cody Southside Johnny,Todd Rundgren and a slightly haphazard Keith and Ronnie in the New Barbarians made for a rather lackluster line up.

Back at Blackbushe, Eric was a much brighter bet. He gave an assured performance that included Badge, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Layla, and Wonderful Tonight.

The sound quality did meander a little as a breezy wind did blow the sound around a little. Thankfully this was not so apparent during the Dylan set.

I did actually tape some of the performances on my rather cumbersome Phillips tape recorder. Some of the Graham Parker and Clapton extracts came out pretty well –  unfortunately by the time Dylan appeared the batteries had run low – a situation I found myself in a year later taping Zep at Knebworth. I was always too fixed on watching the action than bothering too much about any potential recordings.

Eric was followed by Joan Armatrading. Her brand of pleasant sounding semi acoustic soft rock (of which Love And Affection was the highlight), went down very well and acted as the perfectly calm backdrop to the now mounting anticipation for the man…the man known as Robert Allen Zimmerman.

After all the waiting….there he was, centre stage amongst a slew of fellow musicians looking suitably enigmatic in a top hat – and oh yes, seeing was believing.

The opening numbers – an instrumental My Back Pages , Love Her With A Feeling and Baby Stop Crying were slightly low key but by the time Dylan romped through a vibrant Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues, the game was definitely on.

We were set next to an older couple from Oxford who had seen him in 1966 and at the Isle of Wight. They were particularly impressed with my youthful enthusiasm as a number of whoops and hollers escaped from my mouth as each song unfolded – not to mention some wild air drumming.

And what a list of songs it was. Through reading the many reviews I was pretty aware of what he might be offering up, but even by his standards this was a mighty long performance – over three hours in length. It did include an interlude when he ambled off stage for backing singers Carolyn Dennis and Helena Springs to take the spotlight but mainly it was full on royal Bobness.

Along the way, there were moments of great musical celebration such as Maggie’s Farm, Like A Rolling Stone, All I Really Wanna Do, Aall Along The Watchtower and Blowin’ In The Wind.

All mixed with moments of sheer emotion – witness Girl From the North Country , I Shall Be Released, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, Forever Young (what a beauty that is),  the slowed down I Want You and Is Your Love In Vain?

The latter song from the recent Street Legal album, he might have just been singing that just to me. It was evident that my love was in vain as during the long day, Fiona and I discussed our relationship and we both knew the end was in sight. Sadly, as many young lovers do, we had out grown each other and my first intense love affair was drifting into the sunset.

‘’Do you love me, or are you just extending goodwill?

Do you need me half as bad as you say, or are you just feeling guilt?

Will I be able to count on you?

Or is your love in vain?’’

How those words resonated with me on that memorable evening.

Which brings us appropriately enough to the defining moment of the whole day. For the final few numbers we decided to move back to the perimeter of the arena. From there we could see the mass of people some crowded around makeshift fires and others were holding candles. It was a truly stunning sight made all the more poignant by Dylan’s closing performance.

This was an encore performance of The Times They Are A Changin.’ During the song Fiona and I both glanced at each other as the master delivered those iconic lyrics – we never uttered a word but I know we were both thinking the same thing. For this relationship the times really were a changin’…

Totally overawed by what we had witnessed, we somewhat solemnly trudged along the dark lanes of the Surrey countryside in search of Fleet Station. However, the planned coaches to take us there were nowhere to be seen. We slept on Fleet Station eventually catching a packed train to Waterloo in the morning.

Bob Dylan at Blackbushe was to be the last gig I attended with Fiona. Gigs had been very much part of our adventure, indeed Fiona had been next to me for the five Led Zeppelin shows at Earls Court. Once back in Bedford our near three year relationship came to and end and our lives moved on in different directions. I’m pleased to say we still keep in touch and look back fondly on these days of youthful innocence.

Some six months later, the Bob Dylan at Budokhan album was released. Having been recorded on tour in early 1978 it was a welcomed reminder of the glory of that Blackbushe appearance

It was to be another ten years before I saw Bob Dylan on stage again – a very enjoyable night at the Birmingham NEC where he linked up with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. I did a couple of the early 90s Hammersmith gigs as well.

As for his recorded output, after Slow Train Coming my interest waned somewhat. Oh Mercy was something of a return to form and latterly Modern Times hit the mark

I still follow his career with interest and I’m glad he is still out there on that never ending tour. In recent years, I’ve avidly soaked up all those official Bootleg Series retrospective sets and he remains the greatest living poet.

I will never forget seeing Bob Dylan at Blackbushe not least for it being Fiona and myself’s last stand.

It was an absolute privilege to be in the company of an artist at one of the peaks of his career (and there have been many).

He has been a spokesman for more than one generation and on that July night back in 1978, he was a spokesman for me. The quest to finally see him perform live was certainly not in vain…

Dave Lewis – July 15 , 2018.

The above recollections can be seen in the excellent Wymer Publishing book The Picnic At Blackbushe -which in words and pictures tells the story of this epic event.

Ordering link here:

https://www.wymeruk.co.uk/webshop/books/rock/bob-dylan/the-picnic-at-blackbushe/

………………….

DL Diary Blog Update:

Friday treats at the Vinyl Barn – at the always excellent Vinyl Barn last Friday morning I was well pleased to pick up the Jimi Hendrix Valleys Of Neptune album on vinyl plus an original copy of The Beach Boys 1968 single Blue Birds Over The Mountain -UK pressing in Capitol sleeve – a song covered by Robert Plant with Chrissie Hynde on the Carry Fire album. Top stuff – thanks Darren.

So the World Cup ended with a 4-2 win for France over Croatia. England settled for fourth place after losing to a superior Belgium team 2-0 with Harry Kane the Golden Boot winner. So ends a remarkable month of football which like I said last week, will hold many a memory.

A drop of Red Zeppelin Ale? Don’t mind if I do!  This one came was bought in Tavira Portugal, just over the boarder from Spain on the south coast. Than you Nick and Anne Hamp for that one.

Last weekend saw the staging of the 40th bi-annual Bedford River Festival. This is a massive event that attracts over 100,000 to the town. I have been to most of them and last weekend’s event benefitted greatly from the hot weather – all in all the mix of live music, river events and side shows was superb entertainment.  Here’s a pic of the Lewis family and Adam’s friend Liam at the event last Saturday.  Left to right –Liam, the good lady Janet, Adam, Sam and me.

Another week of work on various projects leading in to the next couple of months. It’s also been something of a Graham Nash week here leading up to his appearance on Sunday at the London Bridge Theatre. I am very much looking forward to attending that one. I’ve just received the excellent new Graham Nash Over The Years double album compilation – alongside 15 classic Nash songs it includes 14 unreleased demos and mixes. Superb value.

I somehow have missed out on seeing Crosby, Stills & Nash on their recent visits so the prospect of seeing Graham Nash some 54 years after I last saw him perform live (I saw The Hollies at Bedford Granada Cinema when I was aged 7) is a very exciting one indeed. Full report to follow.

Dave Lewis – July 18, 2018