MAGE MUSIC: On This Day 23 October

Friday, October 23, 2015

On This Day 23 October

The song remains...

1966 23 October On This Day The Yardbirds San Francisco at Fillmore Auditorium

1966 The Yardbirds - San Francisco, CA at Fillmore Auditorium
1976 Led Zeppelin – TSRTS promo, US television debut on Don Kirshner's Rock Show
1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Boston, MA at Fleet Center

1966 The Yardbirds San Francisco at Fillmore Auditorium
(Gordon Linden photo)

1966:

Ed Denson (Berkeley Barb, 28 October 1966):

'Eleven amplifiers, eleven amplifiers, the Yardbirds have 11 amplifiers, Jesus Christ -- the words seemed to spring from the air in the Fillmore last Sunday as the other groups on the afternoon show waited for the Yardbirds, the stars, and the amplifiers, and their equipment to arrive. Standel advertises that 10 of theirs have the power to kill anyone standing in front of them ... [The Yardbirds'] first note reveals the meaning of the eleven amplifiers. The guitar has a power, a fullness of tone, a depth that has not been often heard outside a recording studio. The sound moves out of the three amplifiers and possesses you, driving the normal impulses out of your nervous system and replacing them with music. But not a music that you've ever heard before. It has the textures and rhythms of Chicago blues, like almost all rock now, but as they play the bass player turns his body so that his instrument is facing the 27 square feet of amplifier and speakers that stand behind him, taller than he, and the feedback tones fill the room with a sound more powerful than anything before it, and touching more on what is happening, and then the lead guitarist goes into an incredible distorted nm with notes and feedback blending into a beautiful new sound ... No other group has been as close to it as the Yardbirds --Beatles, Stones forget it. At the back of the hall it is too loud, muddy, much of it inaudible and the sound system has utterly failed to match the eleven amplifiers. Not a word can be heard.... I am convinced, I am converted, the Yardbirds are the best group in the world. It took a day to come down from that idea. After it was over I watched them leave, clear smiles on their faces and plane schedules on their minds, and I remembered what they had done to my favorite music, and how my mind ached with the glory of today [but] all the songs sounded the same ... They don't have the variety or didn't choose to on stage that day. Like Butterfield they did one thing, and really well.'

1976:

Don Kirshner’s Rock Show website says that the TSRTS footage was aired on 29 September 1976. I tend to doubt that. Given that the movie hadn’t been released yet and Swan Song’s news release was dated October 15, I’m going with the 23 October 1976 date.

"Although they never appeared live on the show, footage from Zeppelin’s 1976 film, The Song Remains the Same, was aired on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert on September 29, 1976. Featured selects included performances of “Rock and Roll”, “Bring It On Home”, “Wear Flowers In Your Hair”, “Black Dog”, and “Dazed and Confused.” The astounding 25 minute performance of “Dazed and Confused” showcased some of the band’s wildest stage antics, particularly Jimmy Page’s technique with a violin bow. "