On this day 27 July

 And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune, then the piper will lead us to reason. 

~ Stairway to Heaven

1973 27 July On This Day Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden, NYC (show 1 of 3)

• 1967 The Yardbirds - San Francisco, CA at Fillmore Auditorium
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Woodinville, WA at Seattle Pop Festival
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden

1973:
"Originally, we saw the whole essence of our live performance as something that the audience listened to very carefully, picking up on what was going on, the spontaneity and musicianship. And you can’t do that if you’re running around the stage all night, or at least we couldn’t back then.” By 1973, however, “we were much more ambitious, in that respect. We really wanted to take the live performances as far as they could go".
~Jimmy Page, Mick Wall interview, Times Online 1 Nov 2008

"The kind of speed we were moving at, the creative juices in the air, the whole thing was just an absolute mixture of adrenaline, chemical, euphoria ... and there were no brakes. We couldn't stop what was happening. We had no idea what it even was. But we just kept trying, pushing forward, every show."
~Robert Plant, from liner notes by Cameron Crowe for The Song Remains the Same, 2007.

1973 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at MSG

1973 Eddie Kramer & Jimmy Page at MSG

Jimmy Page from 'The Song Remains The Same' movie footage (Stairway to Heaven)

Jimmy Page from 'The Song Remains The Same' movie footage (Stairway to Heaven)

♪  Glimpses (Yardbirds, Fillmore West 1967) YouTube
♪ Led Zeppelin (New York NY at Madison Square Garden day 1/3, 27 July 1973)
Note: First half of the show is missing from currently available recordings

On This Day 21 June

 Jimmy's first show with the Yardbirds in 1966, and what some consider Led Zeppelin's best performance, at the LA Forum in 1977.  Listen to that, Eddie.

1966 21 June On This Day Yardbirds - London, England at Marquee Club

• 1966 21 June On This Day Yardbirds - London, England at Marquee Club
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Bristol, England at Colston Hall
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - Denver, CO at Denver Coliseum
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Rotterdam, The Netherlands at Ahoy Rotterdam

1966 Yardbirds - London, England at Marquee Club

1966 The Yardbirds - Why I left/Why I joined

1969 Led Zeppelin Bristol

1972, Denver:  The Mighty Led Zeppelin Roars
by Pillow/June 1972
"During Dazed and Confused, [Jimmy Page] grabbed a violin bow and holding the tip in his hand about 2 feet from the strings, coaxed eerie, shivering riffs from his guitar. The whole audience held its breath and then Page spring into action. He lept into the air, and using the bow  like a fencing foil, hit each exact string at point-blank range and never missed a beat. The audience howled and stopped, but he remained calm and collected, put down the bow and resumed playing guitar with his fingers,  acting as if these amazing feats were as simple as rolling off a log."

1977 21 June Led Zeppelin LA Forum (Photo Ed Finnell)

1977, LA:
It took a mere 40 minutes to sell out the tickets for five nights at the Forum. Another night was added later. It too sold out within minutes.(The Telegram - June 1977)

Nearly a quarter of a million tickets were sold for the combined MSG and The Forum shows.

Listen To This, Eddie is a bootleg recording of the June 21, 1977 show at The Forum in Los Angeles, CA by a member of the audience, the late Mike Millard. The show is considered one of Led Zeppelin's best ever performances and Mike the Mic's recording does it justice.

The title supposedly refers to either audio engineer Eddie Kramer or, more likely, to guitarist Eddie Van Halen (who criticized Jimmy Page's guitar work and who should have been blown away by Mr. Page's performance in this show).

1980 Rotterdam (Photo Rob Verhorst/Redferns)

♪ Listen To This Eddie (Led Zeppelin LA Forum 21 June 1977)

♪ Trampled Under Foot (Led Zeppelin Rotterdam 1980)

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

On This Day 06 May

Mashups. Why spoil perfection?

2016 06 May On This Day Whole Lotta Helter Skelter, by Soundhog

1984 06 May On This Day Jimmy Page with Roy Harper

• 1967 Yardbirds Chippenham, England at Royal Agricultural College
• 1984 The Firm Thetford, Norfolk, England at Maytree Farm
• 1986 The Firm Rosemont, Illinois at Rosemont Horizon
• 1995 Page & Plant St. Louis, Missouri at Kiel Center

"Olympic Studios in 1967 was at the cutting edge. We were very innovative and of course we had, I think, the best console in England and possibly the world at the time. We were ahead in terms of design."
~ Eddie Kramer

Jimmy Page & Eddie Kramer at Olympic Studio

I'm not that fond of Roy Harper's music.  I'll listen when Jimmy Page joins him, but really - just give me Jimmy Page straight up, thank you very much.

I'm not fond of mashups either. They're sometimes interesting curiosities but the music is never better than the sum of the parts. Still, if you haven't heard this one, give it a listen.

Whole Lotta Helter Skelter (Soundhog mashup 2012) YouTube

On This Day 27 July

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune, then the piper will lead us to reason. 

~ Stairway to Heaven

1973 27 July On This Day Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden, NYC (show 1 of 3)

• 1967 The Yardbirds - San Francisco, CA at Fillmore Auditorium
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Woodinville, WA at Seattle Pop Festival
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden

1973:
"Originally, we saw the whole essence of our live performance as something that the audience listened to very carefully, picking up on what was going on, the spontaneity and musicianship. And you can’t do that if you’re running around the stage all night, or at least we couldn’t back then.” By 1973, however, “we were much more ambitious, in that respect. We really wanted to take the live performances as far as they could go".
~Jimmy Page, Mick Wall interview, Times Online 1 Nov 2008

"The kind of speed we were moving at, the creative juices in the air, the whole thing was just an absolute mixture of adrenaline, chemical, euphoria ... and there were no brakes. We couldn't stop what was happening. We had no idea what it even was. But we just kept trying, pushing forward, every show."
~Robert Plant, from liner notes by Cameron Crowe for The Song Remains the Same, 2007.

1973 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at MSG

1973 Eddie Kramer & Jimmy Page at MSG

Jimmy Page from 'The Song Remains The Same' movie footage (Stairway to Heaven)

Jimmy Page from 'The Song Remains The Same' movie footage (Stairway to Heaven)

♪  Glimpses (Yardbirds, Fillmore West 1967) YouTube
♪  Top 50 moments (Led Zeppelin, Madison Square Garden 1973) YouTube
♪  The Ocean (Led Zeppelin, Madison Square Garden 1973) YouTube
♪  Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin, Madison Square Garden 1973) YouTube

On This Day 21 June

Jimmy's first show with the Yardbirds in 1966, and what some consider Led Zeppelin's best performance, at the LA Forum in 1977.  Listen to that, Eddie.

1966 21 June On This Day Yardbirds - London, England at Marquee Club

• 1966 21 June On This Day Yardbirds - London, England at Marquee Club
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Bristol, England at Colston Hall
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - Denver, CO at Denver Coliseum
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Rotterdam, The Netherlands at Ahoy Rotterdam

1966 Yardbirds - London, England at Marquee Club

1966 The Yardbirds - Why I left/Why I joined

1969 Led Zeppelin Bristol

1972, Denver:  The Mighty Led Zeppelin Roars
by Pillow/June 1972
"During Dazed and Confused, [Jimmy Page] grabbed a violin bow and holding the tip in his hand about 2 feet from the strings, coaxed eerie, shivering riffs from his guitar. The whole audience held its breath and then Page spring into action. He lept into the air, and using the bow  like a fencing foil, hit each exact string at point-blank range and never missed a beat. The audience howled and stopped, but he remained calm and collected, put down the bow and resumed playing guitar with his fingers,  acting as if these amazing feats were as simple as rolling off a log."

1977 21 June Led Zeppelin LA Forum (Photo Ed Finnell)

1977, LA:
It took a mere 40 minutes to sell out the tickets for five nights at the Forum. Another night was added later. It too sold out within minutes.(The Telegram - June 1977)

Nearly a quarter of a million tickets were sold for the combined MSG and The Forum shows.

Listen To This, Eddie is a bootleg recording of the June 21, 1977 show at The Forum in Los Angeles, CA by a member of the audience, the late Mike Millard. The show is considered one of Led Zeppelin's best ever performances and Mike the Mic's recording does it justice.

The title supposedly refers to either audio engineer Eddie Kramer or, more likely, to guitarist Eddie Van Halen (who criticized Jimmy Page's guitar work and who should have been blown away by Mr. Page's performance in this show).

1980 Rotterdam (Photo Rob Verhorst/Redferns)

♪  Listen To This Eddie (Led Zeppelin LA Forum 21 June 1977) YouTube

♪  Trampled Under Foot (Led Zeppelin Rotterdam 1980) YouTube

On This Day 06 May

1984 06 May On This Day Jimmy Page with Roy Harper

1984 06 May On This Day Jimmy Page with Roy Harper

1967 Yardbirds Chippenham, England at Royal Agricultural College
1970 Led Zeppelin records Poor Tom at Olympic Studios, Barnes, England
1984 The Firm Thetford, Norfolk, England at Maytree Farm
1986 The Firm Rosemont, Illinois at Rosemont Horizon
1995 Page & Plant St. Louis, Missouri at Kiel Center

"Olympic Studios in 1967 was at the cutting edge. We were very innovative and of course we had, I think, the best console in England and possibly the world at the time. We were ahead in terms of design."
~ Eddie Kramer

Jimmy Page & Eddie Kramer at Olympic Studio