TBL Archive Special: It was 52 years ago… the moment Led Zeppelin elevated from being an exceptional rock band to becoming a worldwide musical phenomenon…they way it’s been ever since…

Led Zeppelin US tour opening  date –  Friday, May 4, 1973 Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia, USA:

Setlist (from River City Review)

Rock and Roll, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains the Same, The Rain Song, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Communication Breakdown

Notes: Other tracks most likely performed but not listed in the review: Celebration Day, Bring It on Home Intro/ Black Dog, Over the Hills and Far Away, The Ocean.  Four Sticks was noted in the review, but almost certainly not performed.

Led Zeppelin wasted very little time on their U.S. tour to demonstrate their incredible drawing power and meteoric popularity, pulling in 49,236 fans (out of the 50,277 stadium capacity).  The concert grossed $246,180 and broke the Atlanta Stadium concert attendance record set by The Beatles on August 18, 1965 (who drew a comparatively modest 33,000 fans).

A closed-circuit TV system projected the group on two 16×24 foot screens positioned on the sides of the stage.  This was the very first time the band had ever employed such screens, specifically for faraway fans.  Unfortunately, the other stadium gigs on the 1973 U.S. tour did not utilize the technology (Tampa, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh); however, large video screens were eventually used again for their 1975 Earl’s Court shows, 1977 Pontiac, Michigan, 1977 Seattle, and 1979 Knebworth shows.

This concert marked the debut appearance of John Bonham’s Ludwig Amber Vistalite drum set.  Bonzo used this set all the way through the last gig at Earl’s Court in London on May 25, 1975.

Although not documented for this concert, Celebration Day was added to the set list on this tour, the first time it had been performed since Charlotte, North Carolina on June 9, 1972.  Out on the Tiles had been replaced by Bring It on Home as the introduction to Black Dog on this tour.  No Quarter was performed live for the very first time and Moby Dick made a return appearance to the set list for the U.S. tour (the first time it had been played in concert since the October 9, 1972 Osaka, Japan show).

The gig was reviewed in the River City Review, a Memphis, Tennessee underground newspaper. Bill Read’s review featured the following comments:

“The band waited until everyone had time to get into the Stadium and get settled before they started the show and 8:30, and even then people were still arriving.  The audience rose to its feet in a gesture of welcome, even as John (Bonzo) Bonham started the group off into ‘Rock and Roll.’  After completing this number, Robert Plant returned the greeting that had been given, and then continued with ‘The Song Remains the Same’ and ‘The Rain Song’ from their new Atlantic release, Houses of the Holy.  Plant then made a reference to the now defunct Atlanta Pop Festivals, and proceeded into ‘Misty Mountain Hop’ and ‘Four Sticks’ (ed. note: he was probably referring to Black Dog).  For those who could not see very well, there were two large viewing screens on either side of the stage, which showed interesting close-ups of the band as they gave their spectacular performance.”

“As John Paul Jones began the rather un-Zeppelinish ‘No Quarter,’ a fogging devise went into play, creating the eerie effect you might expect for the song.  This selection in particular was reproduced in an excellent manner by all members of the band.  Then, Jimmy Page, Zep’s producer and lead guitarist, and Plant put a sensual and intense effort into ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You,’ and, much to the delight of the audience, ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ ”

“As the crescent moon shone above, and as God looked down on all of His children, they bestowed upon the spectators their new rendition of ‘Dazed and Confused.’  During the song Jimmy Page stepped forward with his Customized Led Paul, took out his violin bow and expertly fed his original brand of musical data into an echo unit.  Page sent the head of every person conscious into a world of ecstasy and wonder; and it occurred to me that we might have been given a preview of music born twenty years from now.”

Hit Parader (December 1973) carried an exclusive on tour with Led Zeppelin cover story written by none other than their press agent – Danny Goldberg.  The article read just like Goldberg’s press releases, describing all their record-breaking exploits.  He even quoted the mayor of Atlanta, Sam Cassell, as saying “This is the biggest thing that has hit Atlanta since the premiere of ‘Gone with the Wind.’ ” In his 2008 memoir, “Bumping Into Geniuses: my life inside the rock and roll business,” Goldberg conceded that the quote had actually been contrived by Peter Grant the morning after the Atlanta show.

Saturday, May 5, 1973 Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida, USA

Setlist:

Rock and Roll, Celebration Day, Bring It on Home (Intro)/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 (incl. San Francisco), Stairway to Heaven, Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Boogie Chillun’), The Ocean, Communication Breakdown (incl. It’s Your Thing)

The band certainly did not have to wait a very long time to top their Atlanta attendance figure.  The next night in Tampa they drew a record 56,443 fans ($297,632 gross receipts), passing The Beatles attendance record for a single artist set at Shea Stadium in New York on August 15, 1965 (attendance: 55,600).

Photos of Robert Plant and the record crowd appeared on the front page of the Atlanta Constitution with the headline “Stadium Rocks – Led Zeppelin Plays to 50,000.”  The article was primarily focused on the crowd itself and mentioned that it was the first time the field had been opened to an audience.  Curiously, it also mentioned that “paper and aluminum cans were trampled underfoot or were skittered across bare parts by the wind.”  Coincidence?

Soon after the Tampa show, an Associated Press article written by journalist Mary Campbell was published in newspapers throughout the United States.  Robert Plant discussed the Tampa concert with Campbell:

“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 up on was the complete vibe of what music was being done.”

Plant was asked why the band was more willing to talk to the press this time around and he responded:

“Last summer when the Stones were in America we were doing a tour concurrent with theirs.  We had no coverage.  We were beating their attendance, though…We’ve been aware of how we’ve been doing for a long time.  And I really think some people ought to know what we’ve done.  I’m proud of what we’ve done and what we are doing, and so many more people could dig it.  That is the idea.”

Phil Rogers, staff writer for the Evening Independent (May 7, 1973) newspaper in St. Petersburg, Florida reviewed the gig in an article titled “Led Zeppelin Style: Start Slow to Buiold” (sic).  Here are some key excerpts from Rogers’ article:

“Then the long awaited were on stage.  Zeppelin started slow and built slow, for each song, for the whole show.  Robert Plant’s voice vibrated into the open cavern of people that covered – painted – wallpapered every viewable spot in the stadium.”

“At times attention wandered from the stage.  Someone said she was bored.  At the time the remark was made, I would tend to agree.  No one else in the crowd seemed to be exactly jumping up and down either.  But then, Led Zeppelin was building.”

“Led Zeppelin was starting to warm up.  Jimmy Page took a violin bow to his guitar, drummer John Bonham took a long, very excellent drum solo and the sound started to come alive…The first notes of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ drew immediate applause.  ‘There’s a lady…’  Plant’s voice brought recognition to the rest of the crowd and more cheers for the group.  The best song so far; things were getting better.”

“The finale, ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ (sic).  White doves, released from the stage, flew to the audience in a message of fluttering, wheeling peace.  Thousands, upon thousands of matches spotted the stadium like little eyes looking for the group’s return.  A granted request.”

The Watcher (May 21-27, 1973) underground newspaper (Winter Park, Florida) carried a review of the record-breaking show titled “The Apex of Rock and Roll Attendance – Led Zeppelin Fills Tampa Stadium.”  Written by Michael Crites, the review included the following observations:

“Led Zeppelin performed a predominantly high-energy concert with only a taste of their progressive soul and glamorock experiments of recent days, and their acoustic tunes.  The quality of sound was not good, very little of the patented Zeppelin echo was audible and there was a somewhat fuzzy edge.  Of course, these are natural drawbacks to a stadium show.”

“One of the outstanding numbers from ‘Houses of the Holy’ titled ‘No Quarter’ is indicative of Zeppelin’s schizophrenic nature.  The song included a mysteriously mellow piano, a solid drum beat and disguised heavy guitar.  At the mellotron Jones activated the strings, which are dynamite in your living room and probably would be exciting in a concert hall.  Zeppelin took off in developing an orchestrated piece formed by intricate composition.”

“The fifteen minute drum solo was a useless filler and a condescension to the masses.  I think Bonham is a damned good drummer without continuous beating.  Charlie Watts has never played more than thirty seconds by himself.  ‘Moby Dick’ was the only boring portion of the show.

A three and a half minute news report was broadcast on local TV station, Channel 13.  The feature showed the band getting off their planes and into limos, footage of the crowd, and short clips of the band performing on stage (with Misty Mountain Hop from the fourth LP being played instead of the actual live audio). Part of this feature was used as the intro to their 2007 reunion concert at the 02 Arena in London

TBL Retro adverts and reviews – The way it was in April 1969… 

With thanks to Mike Tremaglio

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TBL Flashback: May 2007…

From the TBL website…

Three enjoyable days out in the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago it was to the Esquires Club in Bedford to attend ex Free / Bad Co drummer Simon Kirke’s gig. The show was excellent with Simon on acoustic guitar and keyboards and very soulful vocals backed by Larry Oakes and doing absolute justice to a clutch of Free / Bad Co faves – amongst them My Brother Jake , Weep No More and Shooting Star. Later he played drums on the climax of the well impressive Free tribute band Freeway. Before all that I sat down with Simon backstage to conduct an interview – his memory was well intact as he recounted the ups and downs of the Swan Song era, jamming with Bonzo, recording at the Grange and what he described as the best years of his life in Bad Company 74-79. The fruits of all this exclusive chat will appear in the next magazine.

Next day fighting off the predictably hangover it was to the Knights Templar for the Destroyer fan gathering. Despite one or two drawbacks (including the bright sunlight that made the video screen hard to view) good vibes prevailed as we came out of dens to discuss the merits of Led Zep cica ’77 and other topics (including Spurs away three points at Boro match – sorry Graeme!). It was great to see old faces such as Mark Harrison, Howard Mylett and Eddie Edwards. The astonishing charity auction figure of over £1,000 raised again emphasised the sheer generosity of Led Zep fans and the alliance they have for the ABC Trust. The guitarist should be very proud of such fans.

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TBL Flashback May 2018….

From the TBL Website…

Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters Bath Festival – May 27,2018:

On The Spot Report and photos by Richard Grubb for TBL…

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters – Bath Festival – May 27, 2018

Setlist:

Killing Floor / Lemon Song

Turn It Up

The May Queen

Rainbow

Going To California

Please Read The Letter

Gallows Pole

Carry Fire

Babe I’m Gonna Leave You

Little Maggie

Fixin’ To Die

Encore: Bring It On Home/Whole Lotta Love

Under a glorious early summer’s evening sky and after the promise of heavy thunderstorms, the ever-reliable Sensation Space Shifters and their competent vocalist hit the ground running with a storming Killing Floor / Lemon Song hybrid, launching out of the blocks at about a hundred miles an hour.

With the genteel Bath congregation momentarily reeling from such an unexpected early assault, the relatively sedate Turn It Up settles things down to a more familiar groove before Seth Lakeman joins the troupe for a very enjoyable May Queen. There’s a relaxed mood in evidence, maybe caused by the weather, which threatened, but never delivered, the downpours that were predicted. The arrival of Rainbow captures the mellow vibe for this most perfectly refined festival (the food stalls were definitely in the “world-fusion” category…) and the hand drums are in full effect.

We next get a variety of locally relevant Plantations, and some tongue-in-cheek advice for Imelda May whose set preceded: “Imelda, you’re drinking too much, Honey. We never did that,” is delivered with a roguish side-glance and just the hint of a wink. This relaxed bonhomie matches the evening perfectly and it’s at about this point I realise what an utter pleasure it is to be in this man’s company once again.

Skin gets the chance to show yet again what a superb acoustic player he is, with Justin on mandolin for a note-perfect Going To California. Billy Fuller’s upright bass deserves a special mention, which adds a lovely natural bottom end that underpins the whole thing. Please Read The Letter is bizarrely introduced as an Alison Krauss song, “written by a couple of geniuses,” that starts off very slowly, almost too slow – soporific even – but it builds and builds to something very powerful indeed. Unexpectedly, it’s one of the evening’s highlights.

Leadbelly’s Gallows Pole (according to the singer) is a riot, less hoedown than last year’s outings, with Seth’s fiddle now channelling the sinister tone of the song, rather than the square dance flavour we witnessed last time.

Now we come to something special. Really special. The extended Carry Fire has very quickly established itself as the very definition of sensational and space shifting – giving each player a chance to shine individually but in the context of (a) a great song and (b) a great band. It had it all: light, shade, tightness, looseness, mystery, majesty and all-round epic awesomeness. If it was the only thing played and it lasted 90 minutes it would still be worth the price of the ticket. Just superb!

Some Spanish style flourishes from Skin for another favourite – the extended Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You, which goes down well with the crowd (once they realise what it is). Great dynamics and great sound too…

We’re hitting the home straight now with band introductions following Little Maggie. The merest hint of Stairway raises a few laughs – introducing Billy Fuller as being from Bristol, looking nine miles west (“it’s a feeling I get…”), and new boy paternity cover drummer John Blease who did an incredible job on only his second gig (allegedly) with the band. You’d never know it.

To close the main set, it’s a welcome return to the set for Fixin’ To Die with Justin’s rockabilly/psychobilly interlude that never gets old – he looks positively possessed at some point. As an added bonus we even get what might qualify as a drum solo, even it’s just for a few bars. Only the kitchen sink missing then…

There’s an 11pm curfew so there’s only time for one more song, but it’s a good one: the inevitable Whole Lotta Love. Refreshed with a short Bring It On Home intro, its gargantuan riff benefits from two Gibson guitars in full flight and for the next eight minutes everything is right in the world. House lights and bows see the band bid goodnight to an appreciative (if slightly sedate) crowd and we wander off into the balmy night with a warm glow.

Earlier in the day I spotted a Now and Zen tour t-shirt from way back in 1988, which reminded me that my first Robert Plant live experience was 30 years and 2 months ago. Over 40 RP gigs, several stylistic detours and dozens of supporting musicians later, I can honestly say that tonight’s performance was right up there with any that I’ve seen, and things show no sign of slowing down. Long may it continue!

Richard Grubb for TBL

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Record Collector with Zacron report:

Friday April 25:

Sunday April 27:

On the player the Led Zeppelin Destroyer April 28 1977 CD set – as recorded at Richfield Coliseum on this day 48 years ago.

Great performance from a very good audience recording -my, they were on form that night…

Monday April 28:

The new issue of Uncut is in the house – Great issue with an excellent Doors cover mount CD…

Tuesday April 29: