On This Day 22 June

They went to the land of ice and snow

1970 22 June On This Day Led Zeppelin in Reykjavik Iceland

• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Reykjavik, Iceland at Lauguardalsholl Sports Arena
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - San Bernardino ,CA at Swing Auditorium
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 2004 Jimmy Page receives MOJO Maestro Award and accepts Vision Award for Led Zeppelin DVD (2003)

1970 Jimmy Page in Iceland

1970 Jimmy Page with Led Zeppelin in Iceland

1970 Bonzo calling home... or somewhere

"We weren't being pompous. We did come from the land of the ice and snow. We were guests of the Icelandic Government on a cultural mission. We were invited to play a concert in Reykjavik and the day before we arrived all the civil servants went on strike and the gig was going to be canceled. The university prepared a concert hall for us and it was phenomenal. The response from the kids was remarkable and we had a great time. 'Immigrant Song' was about that trip and it was the opening track on the album that was intended to be incredibly different."

~ Robert Plant, in Chris Welch's book, Led Zeppelin (1994) 

1977 Jimmy Page with Led Zeppelin at LA Forum

2004 MOJO Awards - James Patrick Page III, Jimmy Page, Scarlet Page
(Photo Ross Halfin)

2004 MOJO Awards - John Frusciante presentation speech for
Jimmy Page's Maestro Award
(Photo Ross Halfin, appeared in August 2004 MOJO)

2014 MOJO Magazine (Photo Ross Halfin)

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS - Music will be added at another time.  Thank you for your patience. 

On This Day 31 May

John Bonham was born on this day in 1948.

1969 31 May On This Day Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Fillmore East

• 1948 John “Bonzo” Bonham born
• 1968 The Yardbirds - Los Angeles, CA at Shrine Auditorium
• 1969 31 May On This Day Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Fillmore East
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Greensboro, NC at Greensboro Coliseum

John Bonham

Led Zeppelin played the LA Forum on John Bonham's 25th birthday. When George Harrison and wife Patti dropped by to help celebrate at the hotel afterwards, Bonham threw both of them, fully clothed, into the swimming pool. (as reported by Newswire, June 1973)

John "Bonzo" Bonham, arguably the world's best rock drummer, was a core part of Led Zeppelin's success.

Around the same time in 1968 that Jimmy Page asked Bonham to join the new band that would become Led Zeppelin, "John had also been receiving other tempting offers from esteemed artists such as Joe Cocker and Chris Farlowe who were in positions to offer John more financially lucrative prospects. Plant and Grant bombarded Bonham with telegrams of persuasion (eight from Plant and fourty from Grant) sent to John at his favourite local pub: 'Three Men in a Boat' in Walsall. Bonham finally decided to accept Grant's offer, joining the band in early September 1968. Bonham said: "I decided I liked their music better than Cocker's or Farlowe's." Quote from http://www.johnbonham.co.uk/

1967 A young John Bonham and Robert Plant with Band of Joy

Bonzo at tea time

1971 Bonham & Page in Japan

1973 31 May John Bonham takes a bow on his birthday at LA Forum

1974 14 Feb Bonham presenting Keith Moon with a fake award
on stage during a concert featuring Roy Harper and Friends
at the Rainbow Theatre, London

1975 Bonham Earls Court

The essential John Bonham

John Bonham portrait by Jan Perssons

♪

♪ Happy Birthday Bonzo (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1973) YouTube
♪ Bonzo's Montreux (Led Zeppelin, CODA, recorded 1976 released 1982) YouTube

♫ John Bonham, Traps Magazine article by Chris Welch PDF 25 page download

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

On This Day 22 June

They went to the land of ice and snow

1970 22 June On This Day Led Zeppelin in Reykjavik Iceland

• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Reykjavik, Iceland at Lauguardalsholl Sports Arena
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - San Bernardino ,CA at Swing Auditorium
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 2004 Jimmy Page receives MOJO Maestro Award and accepts Vision Award for Led Zeppelin DVD (2003)

1970 Jimmy Page in Iceland

1970 Jimmy Page with Led Zeppelin in Iceland

1970 Bonzo calling home... or somewhere

"We weren't being pompous. We did come from the land of the ice and snow. We were guests of the Icelandic Government on a cultural mission. We were invited to play a concert in Reykjavik and the day before we arrived all the civil servants went on strike and the gig was going to be canceled. The university prepared a concert hall for us and it was phenomenal. The response from the kids was remarkable and we had a great time. 'Immigrant Song' was about that trip and it was the opening track on the album that was intended to be incredibly different."

~ Robert Plant, in Chris Welch's book, Led Zeppelin (1994) 

1977 Jimmy Page with Led Zeppelin at LA Forum

2004 MOJO Awards - James Patrick Page III, Jimmy Page, Scarlet Page
(Photo Ross Halfin)

2004 MOJO Awards - John Frusciante presentation speech for
Jimmy Page's Maestro Award
(Photo Ross Halfin, appeared in August 2004 MOJO)

2014 MOJO Magazine (Photo Ross Halfin)

♫  Robert Plant interview (Led Zeppelin Iceland, 1970) YouTube

♪  Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin 1970) Soundcloud

♪  Immigranat Song (Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions 1971) YouTube

♪  Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin San Bernardino 1972) YouTube

♪  Concert footage (Led Zeppelin LA Forum 22 June 1977) YouTube

On This Day 17 May

"Robert Plant... a jester at the wheel of some fearsome juggernaut, offering sly asides and poetic ruminations between moments of terrible power."

~ Chris Welch

1975 17 May On This Day Earls Court Day One

Interestingly, the photo for the On This Day image for Earls Court (above) is from Knebworth, not Earls Court. The band had transported their whole 40-ton stage and light show from the US and a huge screen was installed above the stage for Earls Court. While there were laser effects it wasn't until 1977 that the pyramid effect was used and 1979 that the the bow itself had a laser as in this photo [read more on Led Zeppelin use of lasers].   

Earl's Court, 1975: Three shows sold out in just a few hours (May 23, 24 and 25) before two additional shows were added (May 17 and 18).

1975 19 April NME announcement of two additional shows

Five nights of Led Zeppelin, with each show clocking in at over three hours. Talk about endurance. Many still consider these shows to be Led Zeppelin's best ever performances.

♪ Bron-Y-Aur Stomp YouTube

• 1968 Yardbirds,Tacoma, Washington at University of Puget Sound, Memorial Fieldhouse
• 1969 Led Zeppelin, Athens, Ohio at O. U. Convocation Center
• 1975 Led Zeppelin, London, England - Day 1 of 5 at Earls Court Exhibition Centre
• 1986 The Firm Dallas, Texas at Reunion Arena'
• 1995 Page & Plant - Inglewood, California at The Forum
• 2003 the double DVD set ‘Led Zeppelin’ was released with six tracks from Earls Court May 24 and 25 shows.

1975 May Earls Court stage set

1975 May Earls Court stage set

1975 May Earls Court - Jimmy Page playing Black Dog

1975 May Earls Court Jimmy Page acoustical set

1975 Earls Court

1975 May Earls Court "...moments of terrible power" (Chris Welch quote)