LED ZEPPELIN - WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE FESTIVAL APPEARANCE?

'I told Pagey one or two people would be here, but he said he doubted that very much' Robert Plant, Knebworth August 4th 1979 ...

Thursday 30 June 2016

SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND - LIVE 24/5/75...



Saturday May 24th 1975. Do you remember what you were doing? It's quite a while back now, but a time when labels and tags weren't as important or as gleefully attached to every record that came out. While Led Zeppelin were enjoying a double weekend residency at the cavernous Earls' Court Arena - their fourth sell out night of 5 was underway - the perfectly titled Sensational Alex Harvey Band were concluding their most successful British Tour to date at the dame of London gig venues, Hammersmith Odeon.




18 dates this time around beginning at Newcastle City Hall on May 1st, running through some of the great town hall size venues in the UK. You know 'em - Glasgow Apollo, Sheffield City Hall, Southend Kursaal, Bradford St Georges Hall...... Been to many of them myself, institutions in the history of live music in this country for sure.

So by London the band were honed and ready. And the London show was a triumph. Only Sheffield on May 13th has survived and been circulated as a bootleg tape from this tour apart from London, so it's hard to know if this was a typical or dare I say standard show.

The soundboard tape from Hammersmith has the following track listing -
Intro Fanfare */Faith Healer *, Action Strasse **, Tomahawk Kid *, Give My Complements To The Chef *, Delilah *, Soul In Chains **, Tale Of The Giant Stone Eater **, Gang Bang **, Midnight Moses **, Vambo *, Tomorrow Belongs To Me **, Framed *.
Tracks marked * are from the original 'Live' LP/CD. Those marked ** are bonus tracks included in the new 14 disk box set 'The Last Of The Teenage Idols', which also includes a live version of Sgt Fury, listed as being from this show.
Curiously the box also includes live tracks from the Cardiff Capitol Theatre show, dating it May 20th (it's also been dated as May 22nd and Leicester De Montford Hall as the 20th...)
Anyway, as an elpee it is stunning. Faith Healer was always a wonderful opener, and widescreen evocative songs like Tomahawk Kid (love the 'grab my hairy hand and we'll skip across the sand' line) and Give My Complements to the Chef are brilliant, timeless and impossible to classify songs.

The original LP is getting hard to find in good condition now, with up to £20-25 the going price for a nice condition A1-2/B1-2 pressing. It came out on Samurai on CD with 5 bonus tracks, but they're from the 'Penthouse Tapes' studio elpee. In 2002 Universal/Mercury packaged together the back catalogue into 4 slimcase 2CD sets with card slip case outer sleeves. Live was paired with Penthouse Tapes. A good way to get the 8 elpees, though sadly without bonus tracks or curios.

With the huge (and hugely expensive) new box set out now, the time seems right to remaster and get the original elpees out there, in particular on vinyl...

For me it's such a shame that despite the fame and (possible) fortune their wonderful take on 'Delilah' gave them, the price was too high. I've met many music fans from the era that sadly see them as a joke, comedy band because of it. We know better, but the stigma remains. Sad.

For me, SAHB live is a triumph and a fitting tribute to one of our finest bands.

BLUE OYSTER CULT - AGENTS OF FORTUNE



"Naked, exposed like fine rock 'n' roll"


The late, great Allen Lanier's words from True Confessions, track 2 on Blue Oyster Cult's platinum selling triumphant 4th studio elpee Agents Of Fortune. Released in May of '76, the band were riding on the crest of a wave. The first three elpees had established them in the words of the press as 'thinking man's heavy metal', growing in sales and momentum along the way. Constant touring was the key. 130+ live shows in '74 was replicated in '75, the difference being they came to Europe for the first time playing an extensive run of 23 shows consolidating the success of recently released double live set On Your Feet Or On Your Knees.

Buck describes the first 3 elpees as 'the black and white period'. After completing gig commitments on January 30th after a show in Mount Prospect, Illinois with support from Bob Seger and Rory Gallagher, they settled down in New York's famous Record Plant studios and got to work. Some tracks had been prepared and recorded at the tail end of '75 and during January ETI and Sinful Love had been tested onstage, possibly Reaper and others too.
1976 was the dawning of the age of new technology. With some down time, each band member went away and wrote and recorded at home using new state of the art TEAC 4-track tape machines. Whilst never afraid to use outside lyricists, different members came to the fore, collaborating individually as well as composing solo. Albert brought 5 of the final 10 tracks, including The Revenge Of Vera Gemini and Debbie Denise written with Patti Smith, then beau to Allen Lanier. Only Eric had no annotated contribution to the writing pool.  And the fact all 5 get a lead vocal is testament to the brave new widescreen technicolour world Blue Oyster Cult were striding confidently into.



Side One
This Ain't The Summer Of Love 2.20
(M. Krugman/A. Bouchard/D. Waller)
True Confessions 2.57
 (A. Lanier)
(Don't Fear) The Reaper 5.09
(D. Roeser)
E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) 3.42
 (D. Roeser/S. Pearlman)
The Revenge Of Vera Gemini 3.53
 (A. Bouchard/P. Smith)




Side Two
Sinful Love 3.29
(A. Bouchard/H. Robbins)
Tattoo Vampire 2.41
(A. Bouchard/H. Robbins)
Morning Final 4.30
(J. Bouchard)
Tenderloin 3.40
(A. Lanier)
Debbie Denise 4.23
(A. Bouchard/P. Smith)




Bonus tracks on expanded CD edition
Fire Of Unknown Origin (original version) 3.30
(A. Bouchard/P. Smith/D. Roeser/J. Bouchard/E. Bloom)
Sally (demo) 2.40
(A. Bouchard)
(Don't Fear) The Reaper (demo) 6.20
(D. Roeser)
Dance The Night Away (demo) 2.37
(A. Lanier/J. Carroll)


Agents Of Fortune is a huge step forward, in terms of production, songwriting and adding that technicolour landscape to their burgeoning catalogue of cerebral favourites. It is far more reflective than anything BOC had released, some echoes of Side Black from Tyranny and Mutation and even the California Stalk Forrest Group sessions, but is underpinned by classics. There's even a nod at the future Imaginos for me, probably due to Albert's large presence in the songwriting process. 




The big tracks are obviously This Ain't The Summer Of Love, ETI, (Don't Fear) The Reaper and Sinful Love. To this day ETI and Reaper are set staples, but aside from the rawk there's so much to discover among the reflective material.


The 2001 expanded legacy remaster gives us 4 extra tracks. Firstly there's an embryonic 'Fire Of Unknown Origin' (Eric is co-songwriter on this if not any of the 10 tracks that made the elpee). It's a laidback lounge backing to a track Albert sings Patti Smith's lyrics. Sally is another Albert/Patti collaboration that Albert's The Brain Surgeons have performed live. It's a nice 60's kitsch piece with a stun guitar lick and some nice Hammond organ. we also get Buck's original home demo to Reaper. The gist actually sounds close to the finished version, polished sound quality notwithstanding. It's a laidback prototype. And finally is an unreleased Allen Lanier song Dance The Night Away, a reflective piano ballad.





The Revenge of Vera Gemini, Tattoo Vampire and Morning Final are faves of mine, carrying on a songwriting style that seems to fit perfectly as a soundtrack to some Stephen King novella, more questions than answers and that floating in the air meaning and interpretation. In short, they were maturing as both songwriters and musicians. And while ETI is a colossal piece of Sci-Fi noodling and imagery and Summer Of Love a sneering dismissal of the long lost and crumbled hippie ideal, they all pale in the shadow of Reaper.



How many bands and artists can boast a true 'classic'? A timeless piece that crosses genres and ego constraints. Sure, many are now a bit tired of it. Familiarity breeds contempt they say. BUT, listening to it as a stand alone track it really does shine. We all know it by heart. As Andy Dufresne muses, you carry the music in your head, heart and soul. And Stephen King uses it in The Stand. And apart from the wonderfully understated guitar motif and perfect harmonies, the lyrics set it apart from the rest. Like so much that was to come in the future, there's double meaning and deliberately clouded interpretation. And then Buck's sturm und drang solo. Beautifully crafted, with such drama, it perfectly throws you sideways before returning to the main theme with one sustained note as the band roll into the distance.






The elpee hit 29 on billboard and 26 in the UK, making platinum US sales along the way. Reaper made 12 US and 16 UK, but has been in all of our heads and hearts for 40 years now with gazillions of radio plays to boot.




The 40th Anniversary show performing the whole thing in London was something else. Please check out my review of that too...

LED ZEPPELIN - JUNE 28TH 69/70/72



June 28th 1969 
Bath Festival Of Blues, Pavilion Recreational Ground, Bath.


The penultimate show of a busy 18 day burst of activity in June 1969. 7 gigs, 2 BBC sessions plus a showcase radio show and a quick trip to Paris for a TV show in a circus tent.
Re-establishing live contact back in blighty after a highly successful 22 date US tour, for decades the only live recording circulating was the wonderful BBC Rock Hour performance from the day before. Thankfully, we now have the stunning Newcastle City Hall show from June 20th to enjoy - however poor the recording - and be a testament to their live power and growing confidence.

 Listed as one of the main attractions on a pretty impressive bill, it's likely Zeppelin played a similar hit 'n' run set to the Rock Hour performance :- 
Communication Breakdown/I Can't Quit You Baby,
Dazed And Confused,
White Summer/Black Mountain Side,
You Shook Me,
How Many More Times/Medley
Of course with no audio or video confirmation, and no detailed reviews of the show this is little more than speculation, an educated guess if you like. The one other recorded gig has the band opening with Train Kept A-Rollin' an Communication Breakdown as the encore, plus the addition of Bonzos first showpiece Pat's Delight. To me it's unlikely Bonzo would have played his solo during a probably compact festival set.
Interestingly enough, the two BBC studio sessions the band had recorded on June 16th and 24th featured two of the tracks from the still some time away Led Zeppelin II, and even if only Whole Lotta Love had had 2 (documented) live previews during the previous US Tour - Winterland April 26th and Merriweather May 25th - there was little sign of anything new being played during the UK shows.



There is some cine film of part of the festival in circulation, audio too, but none of it of Zeppelin (yet). Fleetwood Mac may have headlined the show, but by all accounts Led Zeppelin stole it. In Freddie Bannister's revealing 'There Must Be A Better Way' book recalls how he and wife Wendy were in their site office when they heard a 'tremendous commotion' and eventually realised it was the near hysterical response to Zeppelin's set.
As far as Led Zeppelin were concerned, June '69 was an important breakthrough month in England. Home. The 3 nights that ended the tour and promotional activity were crucial and all seemingly impressive performances that would slip into legend.

The Rock Hour set, apart from the kudos of being the band chosen to launch thus new format, brought them into many more homes than any amount of UK gigs would have done. Bath showed them to be head and shoulders above the good and the great of the UK Blues Explosion, adding the 30,000 crowd to their growing band of followers, and the final night of the tour, the Pop Proms and their first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall, drew rave audience and press reaction. Job done, Led Zeppelin were on the rise. And just look what happened in exactly a year later...

June 28th 1970

Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music, 
Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet.

The big one. The band knew it. Gee knew it. In 1969 there was a SRO crowd of 30, 000 (although reports at the time estimated the crowd as being only 12,000). Moving to a much bigger site and adding a plethora of top bands from both sides of the Atlantic swelled the attendance to anything from the 130,000 Freddie Bannister quoted to the 150,000+ Melody Maker slipped into their rave review, even as high as 200,000 randomly thrown in to articles and bootleg reviews over the decades.

So, how did Led Zeppelin grow to be 'the hottest Band in the World' in June 1970? After the 1969 performance they went back to work. Hard. 6 (count 'em) days after the Pop Proms they were in Byro, Georgia playing to 40,000 at the second day of the Atlanta International Pop Festival. A tiny fragment of their set - plus a load of great photo's - exists on silent colour cine film by the way. It was the first of 33 shows running up the last day of August when they once again stole the show at the Dallas Pop Festival. There would be two more US tours before Zeppelin returned to Bath, plus 17 shows in Europe and an 8 date January UK Tour in 1970. And Led Zeppelin II.

Their professional pride and collective ego's meant they held success and acceptance in their own country in high regard, the trick was to balance that with the ever growing lure of mass adulation, lunacy and a King's ransom in the US. Already filling stadia coast to coast - they filled the 16,000+ capacity Boston Gardens the same week 'Led Zeppelin II' was released - their rise seemed inexorable and inevitable.

But Gee knew Bath would make an indelible mark on England. With an agreed fee of £20,000, he informed the press they'd turned down an offer of $200,000 to play Yale Bowl and Boston to play Bath. Brilliant strategy and promotion. After the 5th US Tour, there was time to take stock, sit down and plan Led Zeppelin III.


After a warm-up show in Reykjavik, Iceland on Monday June 22nd, where they (probably) premiered Immigrant Song, Led Zeppelin came home to a heroes welcome and produced a legendary performance. Legend has it they came onstage at sunset. Gee was insistent this happen as he'd researched when the sunset was and wanted their entrance to be spectacular, powering onto the stage with the new and unheard thunderous riffage of Immigrant Song as the crimson skies glowed ominously. You can clearly hear Robert changing (making up!) many of the lyrics, even tho' it was recorded almost a month before....

Going as far as to drag the band before them Flock offstage, he achieved his objective. However, the mass of photo's and tiny fragment of footage shows Led Zeppelin performing in clear if diminishing daylight. It's been generally accepted they hit the stage around 8.30 pm. A week after Midsummer night sunset would have been an hour or so after that.

But what of the performance itself? For many a year, we've had a poor but enjoyable audience tape of the show. Annoyingly, the very rare compilation bootleg elpee, that features Heartbreaker and That's The Way (called The Boy Next Door), has a much lower generation version of the same tape and is much clearer. However, recently a better version of the tape has circulated, bringing the performance sharply into focus.



The Set -

Immigrant Song/Heartbreaker
Dazed And Confused
Bring It On Home
Since I've Been Loving You
Organ Solo/Thank You
That's The Way (aka The Boy Next Door)
What Is And What Should Never Be
Moby Dick
How Many More Times (includes Mr Soul/Bolero/Down By The River/The Hunter/Needle Blues/Honey Bee/Long Distance Call/Boogie Chillun'/El Paso Blues/Lemon Song/Need Your Love Tonight/That's Alright Mama
Whole Lotta Love
Communication Breakdown (includes Sing A Simple Song/It's Your Thing)
Long Tall Sally/Johnny B Goode/Rocky Road Blues/That's Alright Mama(reprise)/Say Mama


Two and a quarter hours. Not a mere concert, an event, a communion and a homecoming party. The proto-metal punch of Immigrant Song grabs the attention from the off before a sublime Heartbreaker and an ever expanding Dazed and Confused. Since I've Been Loving You is spine chilling, even if the distorted PA sound and dirgy Hammond Organ sound lessen the drama a tad. And a brief acoustic premier settles down the adrenalin briefly before Bonzo's hammering and a How Many More Times medley to cherish. The last time played as set closer - forget the brief return early in '75 - the classics and obscurities flow on and on, bringing the band and audience into a frenzy.


After that the encores were a rush, Whole Lotta Love brought even more frenzy and madness before a frantic medley of Rock classics closed the show.  


Melody Maker's front page screamed '5 encores for Zeppelin!'. The media was smitten and wasn't afraid to say so. Rightly so, Led Zeppelin were more than pleased with the event. Never fans of festivals due to time and stage restrictions and the mass of artists performing, the gamble really paid off. It would be 9 years before they would play a UK Festival again, once more in collaboration with Freddie Bannister, but that's another story...

On bootleg, we have the original audience tape. The Krishna Sound vinyl compilation elpee and two cassettes. The truly dreadful Magic Market direct cut acetates from Japan Knock Oneself Out Volumes 1 & 2 contain about 60% of the show. Le-Mon released the complete tape, but instead of trying to find a lower generation tape just eq'd and compressed it to hell. Shame. recent CD sets have at least used the better tape, which is widely circulating on free download sites and you tube etc etc

On film, the legendary lost footage, destroyed by Gee with a bucket of water, was lost or hidden. We now know - as indeed I was told decades ago - that Peter Whitehead DID film the festival. There is a chunk of silent footage, including a lot of backstage scenes, and probably the opening tracks before the natural light faded. For now all we have is a short 45 odd second cine clip of Immigrant Song. So far......

The amazing maturity and change on Led Zeppelin over the year between the two Bath appearances is startling. Their sound, stage craft, repertoire and confidence had grown so much. A year in the evolution of Led Zeppelin then is like a whole career growth for almost everybody else. Remarkable. By the time 1970 drew to a close they were recording some of their most innovative and important work. In 27 months they had gone from Good Times, Bad Times to Stairway To Heaven, from powerful yet reverential blues You Shook Me to a complete metamorphosis, even a new language, with When The Levee Breaks.  

June 28th 1972
Community Center, Tuscon, AZ

The final show of Led Zeppelin's 8th US Tour, after 4 Californian shows including the two compiled together for the official 3CD How The West Was Won. Fantastic show, carrying on the unbelievably high performance standard throughout the tour. Slightly shorter than the previous shows, it's also the last time America would see the classic multi-song rock 'n' roll medley.
From a fairly recently discovered audience recording, 
the set list is :-
Drone/Immigrant Song/Heartbreaker
Black Dog
Over The Hills And Far Away
Since I've Been Loving You
Stairway To Heaven
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Dazed And Confused (incl Walter's Walk/The Crunge)
What Is And What Should Never Be
Dancing Days
Moby Dick
Whole Lotta Love (includes Boogie Chillun//Let's Have A Party/Stuck On You/Hello Mary Lou/Going Down Slow)
Rock And Roll


Despite no indication or discernible edit, most of the acoustic set performed across the tour in missing, accounting for the shorter set time. Despite that, we're left with a stunning show, full of masterful playing and a sense of complete control over their performance. Knowing this to be the final show before a long awaited return home, everything flows easily.  



Dazed And Confused is stunning, Page testing the rhythm section and Plant with some incredibly slick and interesting playing. By the time we reach the finale, the medley is both stunning and unusual. Stunning for the slickness of playing and ease and confidence as they move from song to song. Unusual as Jonesy plays keyboards, adding an authentic dimension to many of these old classics.

The bootleg CD's are great, a fine enjoyable listen. Also, we have about 4 minutes of silent dubbed colour cine film, blurred but interesting. 

A great show, and a fine way to finish their 8th US Tour in 3 and a half years. The net visit to the US would hail them as superstars, along with dragon suits, lighting effects and a much more standard setlist. The musicality and might of the Zeppelin machine would be greater than ever, but they were no longer anyone's secret crush. Coming out of the shadow of the three ringed circus of the Stones own '72 trek, Led Zeppelin found themselves in the centre of the spotlight, fame and mayhem. The sheer abandon of these summer '72 gigs would never happen again.

LED ZEPPELIN - ACHILLES LAST STAND


"Oh to laugh aloud, dancing high above the crowd"
Of all the 'epic thingummybobs', as Robert once wryly observed, Achilles Last Stand is perhaps the monster of all monsters. As a 15 year old already rabid Zepaholic, the first time I heard Presence stays with me to this day. This is the story of how it all came to be, how it evolved and where the band took it, and indeed where it took them.

As the summer of '75 blossomed, things were just about as good as it gets within the Zeppelin camp. A hugely successful tour, record breaking double LP on their own label, even a reappraisal from the usually cynical British press after the summer season at Earls' Court. A handful of huge US shows had been booked to crown a year that saw 'em back at the very top.

And that's when it all started to go very wrong.

Robert's car accident in Rhodes on August 4th derailed not only the immediate future but raised questions for the long term too. After initial recuperation, all the energy and positivity was now bottled up and threatening to blow, so a decision and plan of action had to be made. Jimmy was particularly keen to keep the momentum going, so with Robert now ensconced at a rented beach house in Malibu, the rest of the band flew over and rehearsals for the 7th Led Zeppelin studio LP began at SIR Studios in Hollywood.

Only a brief snippet of these rehearsals have surfaced, sadly just a limbering up exercise of a boogie with some Tea For One lyrics that morphed into Minnie The Moocher and the rhythm section auditioning the riff of Royal Orleans. 

With ideas and basic structures bludgeoned into shape, Musicland Studios in Munich was the decided destination. Run by legendary disco producer Giorgio Moroder, it was very state of the art and gave Jimmy the live sound he liked to work with. At the end of the first week of November, Led Zeppelin went back to work. And on November 12th, alongside Hots On for Nowhere and Royal Orleans, Achilles Last Stand was laid down. 

Final mixing for the LP was done on the 23rd, using the extra couple of days Jimmy had scrounged from Mick Jagger as the Stones were already booked to begin work on their Black & Blue LP.

So, where did Achilles spring from? The strident riff and relentless energy on this scale is a new original avenue for Zeppelin, the only touching point is probably Immigrant Song, but instead of a tight unison riff behind Robert's tales of gore we have a widescreen guitar army floating and punctuating the main theme while the Bonzo/Jonesy rhythm section holds everything together.

The main F# to E cadence is the one part of Achilles that can be traced back through live performances. As early as Osaka, Japan on October 4th 1972 Jimmy was expanding Dazed and Confused to include a light rolling theme as a link between the post opening verse call and response instrumental games and the violin bow sketch. Robert would soon latch on to the melody and add lyrics from (mainly) 'San Francisco'(Wear some flowers in your hair), made most famous in the Zep movie of course.

Although not exactly the same, the mood and structure was flushed out and Jimmy would overdub a myriad of guitars hauntingly echoing the theme that bookends the piece. The rest comes out of the ether. Fist pumping on the table as Charles Shaar Murray observed in his NME review at the time. 'We started screaming and never stopped' is one of Jimmy's dry observations of the time.

Incredibly focused and driven, Jimmy managed to create a boggling array of duelling guitars that not only drove the piece to another level but also complemented Robert's travelogue lyrics without swamping the live feel of the song. Some of the overdubs are what you would expect, but others came, as Robert once opined about Jimmy 'from a little south of heaven'...

Truly, it's a remarkable song. A triumph at a time of uncertainty and adversity and a positive vibe amongst a collection of more reflective and negative songs. Bonzo's insistent triplet patterns, tied in with Jonesy's 8-string Alembic stabs lay the perfect undercurrent.

If you listen to the Physical Graffiti rehearsal tapes from Headley Grange, even the sadly brief SIR sessions from October '75, you can hear the remarkable syncopation and understanding within the band. The widescreen vision Jimmy had to add overdub after overdub and create such a relentless masterpiece is mind boggling.

In interviews soon after the release Jimmy mentioned he thought Bonzo and Jonesy 'didn't really see' where Achilles was going. I don't think even Jimmy had a full idea of how it would end up!

Add to that Robert's optimistic lyrics complete with middle eastern cries and it's complete. The mighty arms of atlas indeed. And to start a crucial elpee after all the kerfuffle they'd been through with such a song is a sign of not only confidence but defiance.

Now Zep turned their attention to getting back on the road. Robert's healing process was sufficiently far along for rehearsals and for Gee to put a tour together. In late November they assembled at Ezyhire in North London. Achilles was tackled immediately - as they had always done with new 'big' numbers like Stairway and Kashmir - and successfully arranged for Jimmy to use his trusty Les Paul and in his words 'different effects', after initially thinking he'd have to use the doubleneck to replicate some of the guitar army onstage. He was sufficiently enthused by the way the first rehearsals went to proclaim 'Something epic is going to happen musically - that's the way I feel with this next tour'.

Once the rust had been removed and thumbs up were flashed all around, the tour was set up. Initially the idea was USA first, possibly South America too and then Europe including an 'extensive' UK Tour. Hmm. 1977 began with rehearsals reconvening in January at ELP's Manticore rehearsal complex in Fulham, West London.

With the tour scheduled to being in Fort Worth, Texas on February 27th, the guys went away happy. Achilles was to be the climax of Jimmy's final solo showcase of the night. The guitar synth/octivider sketch was to include an anthem or two amid the smoke and creeping lasers. Some Theremin blats and then The Bow. Over anything from 8 to 20 minutes he realised his sorcery imagery dreams and created a mind boggling array of sounds, textures and visuals. Or twatted about while some lasers flashed about and spun round....

This was placed to lead up to the set closer of Stairway and be some 2 1/2 hours or more into proceedings. After Robert ailed with throat problems, the tour finally kicked off in Dallas on April fools day. 

The 'Magick' tour saw Zep eventually play 44 shows. As a pivotal part of the set, you would expect Achilles to be played every night. Well, at every complete show it almost certainly was. Here are the stats - Audio bootlegs of the tour 37. Audio recordings of ALS 33. Add to that footage of 6 shows that included ALS. 5 lots of cine film - 2 of which have no audio bootleg - and the pro shot show from Seattle Kingdome on July 17th.

It became a stock part of the 4 1979 shows, without Jimmy's solo spot which was now a prelude to new epic 'In The Evening'. For the 'Over Europe' gigs in 1980, it appeared on 12 of the 14 nights, missing in Nuremburg on June 27th (the show being truncated due to Bonzo overdosing on potassium thanks to eating 27 bananas....) and the final Led Zeppelin show in Berlin on July 7th where it was dropped for reasons unknown.

Ironically the final performance of Achilles Last Stand was in Munich on July 5th, in the very city it was recorded. Of the 79/80 shows, both Knebworth gigs were filmed and recorded and cine film from 4 of the Over Europe gigs has been captured on cine film that includes ALS, in Cologne, Rotterdam, Zurich and Munich.

So, 51 live versions in one form or another. Add to that the 1980 rehearsal audio, attributed to both London's Victoria Apollo and Rainbow Theatre in April/May 1980. For me, the Rainbow is more likely. The official Rainbow website states Zeppelin had booked from April 22nd to May 2nd for rehearsals.

Post Zeppelin, Page & Plant had initially decided to include ALS in the 1995 US Tour setlist, and performed it on the opening night in Pensacola, Florida on February 26th and at Atlanta on the 28th. Then it was gone. Despite some great enthusiastic drum histrionics from the late Michael Lee it was then dropped, never to be played again.

As much as the studio version is a masterpiece to many, live it took on another life. Robert was enthralled and perhaps amazed by the Knebworth performance included in 'DVD', and on an 'on' night it was certainly something to behold. I remember in the summer of 1977 getting a C120 tape of 'For Badgeholders Only Part One' with the bonus of Jimmy's solo and Achilles from the first 'Destroyer' 4LP bootleg set recorded in Cleveland on April 28th. A chaotic audience recording, the result is for me simply stunning. Of all the versions I've heard and seen, this sticks with me. Maybe because it was the first. The intensity and brutal power is something else. The Hammer of the Gods indeed.

LED ZEPPELIN - ALL MY LOVE







'Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time'

A song of renewal, reflection and pride. The most painful vocal Robert has even sung, the most poignant lyric. Written with Jonesy, it slips outside the expected for some. To me it carries on the lush melancholy of Down By The Seaside, the sad reflection of That's The Way and the wistful lament of Ten Years Gone.

One of only two tracks credited to just Plant and Jones, it has a melodic pop sensibility and light touch. Rehearsed into shape in October '78 when the band ran through new material at Ezyhire Rehearsal Studios, it was recorded in Polar Studios, Stockholm the next month.

Working through the week, with Jimmy bringing the master tapes home at weekends to work on alone, the second and third weeks of November were the most productive. Probably one of the first numbers ready to record, it was laid down on November 15th, the same day as In The Evening and Southbound Suarez (the other Plant-Jones composition in the Zeppelin catalogue), even though one set of master reels dated the session as November 17th. That could have been the mix date rather than the recording date being a Friday.


The focal point of All My Love is, of course, Robert. Although he's never expanded on it, it's an ode to Karac Pendra, his tragically lost first born son. It's an astounding vocal performance, with some of his finest phrasing and most personal lyrics. Jonesy's keyboards bring a lushness to proceedings while Jimmy's simple understated acoustic figures complete the open light sound. Bonzo too holds back and accents everything nicely.

The country feel to Jimmy's solo and fills come via his Botswana Brown Telecaster, fitted with a Parsons-White B Stringbender. Shades of the live arrangement of Ten Years Gone, and something that would be expanded onstage.

Of course we have the priceless unfaded outtake, known (as per the reel tape box) as 'The Hook'. Now, a lot of studio outtakes fall into the categories of being either a 'different mix', 'unedited' or 'different take'. The main problem is there is a lot of fodder in many cases, any differences being small and insignificant. Here, the end is so joyful, so enlightening and emotional, it simply MUST be heard and cherished. I have great memories of sitting with Dave Lewis back at my folk's place on Canvey Island, listening to this together in sheer awe and delight. A lump to the throat memory!

So, this extra is for me one of the great unreleased versions. Essential. The mix is more open (In Through The Out Door is the first Led Zeppelin recording session where Bonzo had the front skin on his 26" Ludwig bass drum) and breathes majestically out of the speakers. Missing the solo's, it is the same take as used on the finished elpee, but just when you singalong to the long fade you know by heart, a stinging stringbender lick jolts you out of your comfort zone and the whole thing takes a different turn. 

Jimmy would have added these licks alone, but here it sounds like he and Robert are leaning into each other and interacting as only they can. Robert's 'when I think about it' ad lib and Jimmy's beautiful responses are a thing of wonder. Thank the recording Gods this was captured and found and we now have it to enjoy. You can hear the smiles and nods.

We also have the isolate drum only track, highlighting the light and deft touch John brought to the song.

Live, it was rehearsed for and performed throughout the Over Europe '80 Tour. Strangely absent from the new premieres in '79, it sat seventh in the set, after Hot Dog and before Trampled Underfoot. Reworked to include a fanfare style coda, it worked well live and went down a storm every night. Performed at all 13 complete gigs (obviously missing from the Nuremburg 'Bananagate' show), All except Vienna and Munich exist as soundboard bootlegs.

As there is no professional film of the Over Europe '80 Tour the only possible footage we have of All My Love is audience cine film. Only Munich has a small clip of the footage discovered so far.

Not released in the US as a single, it was available in Brazil (a mono/stereo promo also exisrs), Paraguay, Peru (plus promo's backed with Herb Albert!) and Argentina (three different promo singles on both Atlantic and Swan Song) in one form or another. It was even issued in the Phillipines, and again white label promo 7's exist. And to cap it all acetates from the US (indeed of every track from the album exist in one way or another, legit or probably not...) circulate at a high price. 

And Robert revived the song onstage in 2011 in Santa Barbara, a slighlty slower and more country style without the uplifting key change at the coda. All the same, wonderful to hear him revisit a very personal tribute in this way.

LED ZEPPELIN - MAY 24TH


"Dear old Dennis, no artists left in the country - He must be Dazed And Confused"











One of the determining factors in picking the weekend of May 23rd to 25th for Celebration Days, the 1992 Led Zeppelin Fan Convention was Earls' Court. 17 years had elapsed, and May 24th 1975 will always be one of those magical shows to celebrate....


When the history of Led Zeppelin is written, as it has been many times, the date May 24th will always be earmarked as one of THE pivotal dates. A favourite of mine for many a year, largely thanks to the gorgeous bootleg elpees,  volumes 1 & 2, in for the time (and still now) outstanding full colour covers.


From a clean but fairly distant audience source, they picked highlights as best they could given the  constraints of vinyl and commercialism. And for many a year it was the only bit of Earls' Court you could get, alongside the rare as hen's teeth No Quarter Red Devil vinyl that featured a similar track listing to EC1 without Kashmir or the Woodstock sketch from Dazed and Confused.

44 years on all that has changed. Collectors, even curious fans, can take their pick of you tube clips, the whole set can be downloaded from various audience and/or soundboard (aka video soundtrack) recordings. Whod've thunk...




So, what of the show? The fourth night of five, and by now the sound gremlins had been ironed out as much as possible, and nerves had calmed. The previous night, Friday the 23rd was a great show too, the one dubbing them the 'Awesome Foursome' by enterprising bootleggers. On the home stretch, the second Saturday show was the one where most of the boxes were ticked and the planets fell into as near a perfect alignment as you would get with post-73 Zeppelin.

Nicky Horne introduced proceedings, citing his excellent Capital Radio show as part of his introduction. The track listing is -





Rock And Roll/Sick Again, Over The Hills And Far Away, In My Time Of Dying, The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song, Kashmir, No Quarter, Tangerine, Going To California, That's The Way, Old Man (excerpt, Robert only), Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Trampled Underfoot (incl Gallows Pole), Rip It Up (excerpt, Robert only), Moby Dick, Dazed And Confused (incl Woodstock), Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love (incl The Crunge, Sex Machine, Turn On Your Lovelight)/Black Dog.

Wow. The longest show of the summer season thus far. 43 years later it actually stands up pretty well. The opening salvo is muscular, the Jimmy/Bonzo musical cajoling and duelling shapes up pretty quickly, elevating the extended solo in Over The Hills And Far Away into a cloud of frenzied free form improvisation. Fantastic. After that In My Time Of Dying (as featured out of sequence on the official 'DVD'), is startling. One of the main reasons that Zeppelin, for me, were and are the very best. Even on a big stage in a cold unfriendly exhibition centre with a less than high fidelity sound, they play as if in a 12 foot square room getting into it with each other without 17,000 friends getting in on the fun. Robert gives us a hint of 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' before Jimmy's first perfect, incendiary solo. Moments of genius for me!
The second night had a review that cried 'when Led Zeppelin are peaking kiss your skull goodbye'. Time to pucker up....
Kashmir is stunning. It may be missing the pre-ordained drama of Jimmy's 'White Summer' sketch to rack up the tension in the 77-80 period when it closed the 2nd hour and was possibly the show highlight, but here Bonzo counts it in and they just play it. A great song from the new album 1-2-3-4, do it! Jimmy uses a retuned Les Paul and Jonesy sprinkles it all with mellotron fanfares, trying desperately to keep the thing somewhere near in tune.



No Quarter should have been on DVD, or a CD/LP release somewhere. Possibly the best version - certainly up to that point - it has a relaxed yet intense feeling and so many moments of genius it is nigh on perfection. Maybe not as sophisticated as the '77 arrangement and versions like LA June 23rd, but brilliant all the same. The 3 way instrumental is out of this world, as is Jimmy's Theremin/Wah Wah coda. After that we get Robert's time in the spotlight. As master of ceremonies he is of course the focal point, but the reflective and acoustic numbers are where he really shines. He talks and talks throughout,  he commented later that Knebworth was 'a communion with the English folk', and this is similar.



His long speech before Tangerine is heartfelt and emotional, something he's been throughout the shows. Shame Jimmy is very out of tune on this, his solo in particular is strained and dissonant. The acoustic set is however, a triumph, and one of the main plus points of these shows. After that 'Trampled Underfoot' is nothing but astonishing. As the last century drew to a close I managed to get hold of footage of this and previewed it to a few friends before we showed it to the Zep fans at an Anniversary Daze event in Shoreditch, London. Stunning. One of the top performances by Zeppelin EVER. 100%. Find it, watch it, let it take you over. It's what rock n roll is all about. Seriously. Like 'Stairway', Jimmy chose the version from May 25th for 'DVD'. A couple of mistakes for me.

After that, Bonzo's showpiece was a bit of an anti-climax. I've got nothing but admiration for him and his talent, and for me watching it it's great. Just at the time, being there, 20 minutes after two hours including a long No Quarter, was maybe pushing it a bit. Having said that, it's a stunning solo from John. To see him working like this close up, the syncopation, the independent limbs layering and weaving beats and fills into one storm after another is priceless. Not as wild as the magnificent Royal Albert Hall footage but close.
I remember a review of one of the early USA '75 shows or maybe it was paraphrased in one of the Steven Davis Goodfellas meets Jackanory pulp fiction paperbacks. Anyway, the gist was that the in house security, largely Vietnam vets, were sneering and unimpressed by the sluggish show until Moby Dick when one turned and hissed to another 'Geez, they oughta let him play by hisself all nite'.

When Jimmy's finger turned his genius into mere mortality and Robert was croaking like Tom Waits duetting with Captain Beefheart, Jonesy would impeccably steady the ship and the star of the show was Bonzo. Alone he could get 20,000 plus kids up and shaking. Love Robert's introduction in San Diego '73 - '175 pounds, full of shit and speed' - and the tongue in cheek Listen To This Eddie LA muse 'Aah, so that's the Quaalude stagger...'. The best. Please sit down with a cuppa and have a look at my Bonzo appreciation.

Dazed is next, and although a bit sluggish and deliberate, it does include the magical 'Woodstock' insert, which is priceless. Always loved the coda on the 75 versions too, Jonesy knitting heavy plotted notes tied to Bonzo's bass drum while the stars fly into the cosmos. By now, as Luis Rey so rightly observed, the 'improvisation' was a little too rigid and it had reached the end of it's time.

 Nigh on 3 hours in we get to the set climax - Stairway To Heaven. What a version. Despite Robert not being in the high register it grows and soars, leading to possibly one of Jimmy's finest solo's, duelling with Bonzo as they reach a stunning climax.







The encores are a celebration as usual, with some James Brown impressions and a great sonic tight but loose Theremin interlude before the pyro and Black Dog. Like Dazed, it's a bit weary at times, but the Theremin frenzy still manages to summon up much power and the usual sonic dissonance. Then, with the huge neon LED ZEPPELIN sign burning brightly, it's over.



 It's been a very long trip (man), and most bands would be happy to play an hour 30, hour 45. Not Zeppelin. The expansion of the set, with 4 new (and long) numbers being added plus the marathon showcase pieces added to the lack of desire to drop anything from the last set. In fact only 4 were missing from the 'standard' Houses Of The Holy set, but by the time the acoustic set was slotted in the set length was getting overwhelming.

But, these gripes aside, it feels right for 1975. The dinosaur was striding the rock world like a colossus, the healthy undercurrent of new bands playing short, punchy material like Dr Feelgood and the up and coming rockers like Thin Lizzy and UFO, the next breed of Heavy Metal bands like Judas Priest, Scorpions and the prog edged Rush ensured a great balance. Of course, within two years punk had reared it's media fuelled head and many bands were to fall on their swords. Not Zeppelin. but, after this grandiose summer season in West London, things would never be the same again.

So there we have it, a legendary night. The bootlegs have a lot to do with it, that this was the night half the show was available on vinyl way back in 1975 plus the myriad of reviews too. Of course the other nights shouldn't be forgotten or overlooked, there is magic to be found in every one for sure. This just happens to be the one where more boxes are ticked than the others.

ALSO ON MAY 24th

1969. Led Zeppelin play the second of two nights at the kinetic Playground, Chicago, IL.  



1970. Robert and Bonzo guest with Cochise at Mothers' Club, Erdington, Birmingham. A country style 6 piece, Cochise released  LP's between 1970 and 1972, and two members - Rick Wills and John Wilson - later worked on Dave Gilmour's first solo LP. Singer Stewart Brown was also a member of Bluesology, cutting his musical teeth with a young Reg Dwight.