On This Day 10 March

Please Mr. Page: let it be instrumental, let it be all you!

1967 10 March On This Day Jeff Beck released Hi Ho Silver Lining & Beck's Bolero
AUDIO: Beck's Bolero

• 1968 The Yardbirds - Paris at L'Olympia Music Hall and at a private party for the head of Barclay Records, Eddie Barclay
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Hamburg, Germany at Hamburg Musikhalle
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Canterbury, England at Rutherford College
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - San Diego, CA at San Diego Sports Arena
• 1981 Jimmy Page with Jeff Beck - London, at Hammersmith Odeon, encore
• 1985 The Firm - Denver, CO at McNichols Sports Arena
• 1995 Page & Plant - New Orleans, LA at U.N.O. Lakefront Arena

1967:

I've always wanted to hear a version of Beck's Bolero that was Jimmy Page solely. I think he could put even more majesty into a work that is already majestic. Jimmy Page wrote the piece for Jeff Beck's first solo release and no doubt Mr. Page meant it to showcase what Jeff Beck could do, but we know who could do better because we've heard Mr. Page play snippets of it here and there over the years. The 1967 recording includes John Paul Jones on bass.

Read more about Beck's Bolero in a Mage Music post from 2012. 

1971 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Canterbury

1975 John Paul Jones & Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, San Diego
(Gary Morgan photo)

1981:

On this day Jimmy Page stepped onstage with a guitar for the first time since John Bonham's death to join his friend, Jeff Beck, in an encore number at Beck's show at the Hammersmith Odeon. If there is a recording of the song he played, I'm Going Down, I haven't come across it, but someone must have recorded it and I wanna hear it!

1985 Jimmy Page / The Firm, Denver

1995 Jimmy Page / Page & Plant, New Orleans

2005 Jimmy Page at Jeff Buckley photo exhibit, Proud Gallery, London

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♪ Becks Bolero (Jeff Beck Group 1967) YouTube
♪ How Many More Times medley (Led Zeppelin, Hamburg 10 March 1970) YouTube
♪ Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin, San Diego 1975) YouTube
♪ Full Set (Page & Plant, New Orleans 10 March 1995) YouTube

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

On This Day 18 December

Some people smash guitars. Others just smash the boundaries of music.

1966 18 December On This Day Blow Up premieres in New York

Note:  I'm still dealing with all kinds of uproar in my personal life right now, so Mage Music posts remain.... um... basic.  That's it.  Basic.

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♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube

On This Day 20 September

A call to ARMS

1983 20 September On This Day Jimmy Page at Royal Albert Hall, ARMS benefit

• 1968 Led Zeppelin begins recording first album at Olympic Studios
• 1983 Jimmy Page - Royal Albert Hall, London for ARMS Concert

1983:
The ARMS Charity Concert started out with the idea for a single performance at Royal Albert Hall in London in support of Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis (ARMS).  The concert was the brainchild of Ronnie Lane, former bassist for The Small Faces and The Faces, who had himself been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The concert was such a success that it was decided to perform a further nine concerts in the US. These performances included Joe Cocker, with Paul Rodgers replacing Steve Winwood in Jimmy Page's set. 

There are a lot of nay-sayers out there who have decided that Jimmy Page was no good at the ARMS concerts. I simply say perhaps these people are "listening" with their eyes or their prejudices - and not their ears.

1983 20 September On This Day text

1983 Royal Albert Hall ARMS benefit musicians

1983 Jimmy Page, Royal Albert Hall ARMS benefit

1983 Jimmy Page, Royal Albert Hall ARMS benefit

1983 Jimmy Page, ARMS benefit

♪

♪  Prelude/City Sirens/Who's To Blame/Stairway to Heaven (Jimmy Page, ARMS RAH 1983) YouTube
♪   Layla (finale with all musicians, ARMS RAH 1983) YouTube
♪  Full concert with Ronnie Lane footage (ARMS RAH1983) YouTube

On This Day10 September

The show must go on.

1966 10 September On This Day The Yardirds - Baltimore, MD at Baltimore Civic Center

• 1966 The Yardirds - Baltimore, MD at Baltimore Civic Center
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Syracuse, NY at Onondaga War Memorial

1966:

You can never predict what the consequences of an action might be. Whether Jeff Beck was recovering from surgery or was, as Jimmy Page perhaps hints at On This Day, playing hooky, the result was that it would not be long before our Mr. Page was sole lead guitarist for The Yardbirds. And of course, the next step after that was a big one.

1966 Yardbirds Baltimore

1988:

A bit of trivia about the beginning of the Outrider Tour, though not so trivial at the time: Jimmy Page had abdominal surgery during the week of 21 August 1988. The opening night of the tour was to have been at the Sun Dome in Tampa on 31 August, only ten days post-surgery, so that gig was cancelled and the Miami Arena date was changed from 2 September to the 8th.  He flew from London to Atlanta on 31 August and, after three days of rehearsal at The Omni, the tour opened.

A far cry from tonsillitis - know what I mean?

2009 Fall Guitar Aficionado Magazine (Ross Halfin Photo)

2015 September special Led Zeppelin collectors edition published by Bob Guccione

♪

♪  No Excess Baggage (The Yardbirds feat. Jimmy Page guitar 1967) You Tube
♪  Sick Again (Led Zeppelin, MSG 1975) YouTube
♪  One Hit To The Body (Rolling Stones feat. solo by Jimmy Page 1986) YouTube
♪  For Your Life (Page/Plant/Jones/Jason Bonham, O2 2007) YouTube

On This Day 25 August

I was going to let my ghostwriter take over today so I could take a break, but oops - I don't have a ghostwriter.  So I'm taking a break anyway.  Today we have just a few photos and a playlist with a few songs related to nothing in particular, because why not.

1970 25 August On This Day Led Zeppelin, Nashville, TN at Nashville Municipal Auditorium
♪  Noshville Katz - parody of Nashville Cats (Lovin' Cohens) YouTube

• 1966 The Yardbirds - San Francisco, CA at Carousel Ballroom
• 1967 The Yardbirds - New York, NY at Village Theater
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Nashville, TN at Nashville Municipal Auditorium
• 1994 Page & Plant Unledded Project - London, England at London Studios (recording and filming without orchestras in front of a select audience)

1970:
Terry Manning (then recording engineer, along with Andy Johns) delivered the Led Zeppelin III masters to Peter Grant while the band was in Nashville. The first pressings of the album included the phrases "So mote be it" and "Do what thou wilt" inscribed on the lacquer by Manning.

1970 Nashville show promo

1994 Unledded - Robert Plant, Jimmy Page

♪

♪  Who's To Blame (Jimmy Page with Steve Winwood) YouTube

♪  Everything I Do Is Wrong (Jimmy Page, Albert Lee, John Paul Jones) YouTube

♪  Gonna Shoot You Right Down (Jimmy Rogers, Page, Plant, Clapton) YouTube

♪  Chuckles (Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck) YouTube

On This Day 20 August

Happy birthday, Robert Plant.  And happy day, Jimmy Page.

1948 20 August On This Day Robert Plant was born
♪ Happy birthday!

1990 20 August On This Day Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Marquee Club

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Oklahoma City, OK at Wedgewood Amusement Park
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Schenectady, NY at Schenectady Aerodrome
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Oklahoma City, OK at Oklahoma State Fair Arena
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Seattle, WA at Seattle Center Coliseum (unconfirmed)
• 1990 Jimmy Page with Aerosmith - London, England at Marquee Club 

1990:

Train Kept A-Rollin' has been around a while. It was first recorded in 1951 by Tiny Bradshaw as a jump blues song (up-tempo blues that became popular in the 1940s, the precursor to rhythm and blues and rock and roll). The Johnny Burnette Trio added a repeating three-note minor key guitar line with intentionally distorted guitar (achieved by loosening a tube in the guitar amp), leading the way for The Yardbirds in 1965.

With The Yardbirds the song became Stroll On, as seen in the movie Blowup, with Jimmy Page on bass. He took the song with him to Led Zeppelin, reverting to the song's original name and, of course, to the guitar. When the four who were to become Led Zeppelin rehearsed together for the first time in 1968, the first song they took on was Train Kept A Rollin'.  

John Paul Jones:  

"...we did 'Train'... It was there immediately. It was so powerful that I don't remember what we played after that. For me it was just like, 'Crikey!' I mean, I'd had moments of elation with groups before, but nothing as intense as that. It was like a thunderbolt, a lightning flash – boosh! Everyone sort of went 'Wow'."
~ Mick Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin 2009

Aerosmith adopted Train Kept A Rollin' early on for their own set lists, recording it for their second album, Get Your Wings (1974, remastered 1993).

1990 Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Marquee Club

1990 Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Marquee Club

 Happy Birthday Robert Plant
10 Best Robert Plant Songs (post-Led Zeppelin), by Matthew Wilkening

Happy birthday, Robert Plant!

Jimmy and Robert

♪ Train Kept A Rollin' (Johnny Burnette Trio 1956) YouTube

♪ Stroll On (The Yardbirds, from the movie Blowup, 1966) YouTube

♪ Train Kept A Rollin' (Led Zeppelin, Frankfurt 1980) YouTube

♪ Train Kept A Rollin’ (Jimmy Page with Aerosmith, Marquee Club 1990) YouTube

♪ Train Kept A Rollin (Metallica, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Joe Perry, Ronnie Wood, Flea, Jason Newsted at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2009) YouTube 

On This Day 13 July

Some things must end for other things to begin.

2011 13 July On This Day Jimmy Page jams with The Black Crowes

• 1969 Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham jam with Jeff Beck Group and others at Flushing Meadows, Queens, NY Singer Bowl 
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, MI at Cobo Hall (day 2)
• 1985 Led Zeppelin - Philadelphia, PA at John F. Kennedy Stadium -Live Aid – Jimmy Page with John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, Tony Franklin & Phil Collins
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - Sheffield, England at Sheffield Arena
• 1998 Page & Plant - Boston, MA at Fleet Centre
• 2011 Jimmy Page  jams with The Black Crowes at Shepherd's Bush Empire

1969 Backstage at Singer Bowl with Jeff Beck group (L-R: Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, unknown, Jimmy Page, Richard Cole)

1969:
Press Review – "Sunday’s (13th) Jeff Beck, Vanilla Fudge, 10 Years After, Edwin Hawkins Singers concert at Singer Bowl resulted in an unexpected jam amongst members of The Jeff Beck Group, Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull. The music excited Zeppelin drummer John Bonham to the point where he started tearing his clothes off. He was carried offstage by friends before he could get past his underwear."

John Paul Jones was the only one of Led Zeppelin who didn't join Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Glenn Cornick (Jethro Tull) and Alvin Lee (Ten Years After) on stage at the Singer Bowl for what turned out to be a rowdy encore for the Jeff Group, Jailhouse Rock.

To be fair, Bonzo wasn't simply tearing off his clothes, he was also drumming The Stripper while acting it out.

"It was one of those riotous sorts of day, everyone's energy level was 100 percent ... It was just one of those animal things. Three English groups at the same place has to add up to trouble!"
~ Jeff Beck 

1985:

"It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid ...."
~ Richard Skinner opening the Live Aid concerts.

The Live Aid concerts (two venues on the same day) were organized to raise funds for the ongoing famine in Ethiopia. The venues were Wembley Stadium in London, England and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, USA. It was broadcast via satellite and had an estimated audience of nearly 2 billion. The combined concerts lasted 16 hours, although with some performances occurring simultaneously, the actual number of hours of performance was longer than that. 

Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones' performance was referred to as a Led Zeppelin reunion. Tony Thompson and Phil Collins took John Bonham's place at the drums. The set list was Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love and Stairway to Heaven.

It was not a great show for the boys. Robert Plant was hoarse, Jimmy Page's guitar was out of tune, neither drummer had rehearsed with Plant, Page and Jones, and the monitors were malfunctioning. (Phil Collins' performed at both venues.  He did a solo set at Wembley, then took a Concorde supersonic jet to JFK Airport and a helicopter to JFK Stadium, where he joined the Led Zeppelin reunion).

Led Zeppelin's wasn't the only reunion - prompting some to refer to the shows as "geezer events" - and theirs wasn't the only problematic performance. There was further criticism of the Live Aid effort as it appeared that a good amount of the funds raised ended up being siphoned off by corrupt Ethiopian government. The official four-disc Live Aid DVD set, released in 2004, contains only 10-hours of the concert. Led Zeppelin and Santana requested to be not included on the DVD set because they felt their performances were sub-standard. Because of the immense audience there are, of course, many recordings out there.

1985 Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Live Aid Philadelphia JFK Stadium

 2011:
Although the 2011 Farewell to England tour was billed as the end of The Black Crowes, in fact they toured again in 2013. The band's guitarist, Rich Robinson, announced in January 2015 that the band had broken up. Chris Robinson, in an interview two weeks later, said the breakup was due to an unwillingness to write new songs.

2011 Jimmy Page & Chris Robinson backstage at Shepherds Bush Empire (Photo Ross Halfin)

2011 Jimmy Page jamming with The Black Crowes at Shepherds Bush

♪  Live In Detroit (Led Zeppelin 13 July 1973) YouTube

♪  Full performance (Led Zeppelin Live Aid Philadelphia 1985) YouTube

♪ Shake Your Moneymaker (Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes, Shepherds Bush Empire 2011) YouTube

On This Day 22 May

Awards, accolades and just plain fine music on this day.

2006 22 May On This Day Led Zeppelin receive Polar Music Prize

 

2006 22 May On This Day Led Zeppelin receive Polar Music Prize

The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by Stig ”Stikkan” Anderson, publisher, lyricist and manager of ABBA.  The prize was named for Anderson´s record label, Polar Music. The Polar Music Prize is one of the most prestigious and unique music prizes in the world, awarded to individuals, groups and institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements.

Led Zeppelin recorded In Through The Out Door at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden November - December 1978.

• 1967 Yardbirds - London, England at BBC Radio
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - San Antonio, Texas at HemisFair Convention Center Arena
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Fort Worth TX US at Tarrant County Convention Center
• 1985 The Firm – London at Wembley Arena
• 1986 The Firm - Inglewood, California at The Forum
• 1995 Page & Plant (Unledded North American Tour), Landover MD at Air Arena 
• 1998 Page & Plant (North American Tour) - Miami, FL at Miami Arena
• 2006 22 May On This Day Led Zeppelin receive Polar Music Prize
• 2014 Jimmy Page attends the Ivor Novello Awards at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England.

♪ 1977 White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin - Fort Worth 1977) YouTube

1973 Led Zeppelin - San Antonio Photo: Carl Dunn

1973 Led Zeppelin - San Antonio Photo: Carl Dunn

1985 Jimmy Page with The Firm at Wembley 

The Times review of The Firm – 22 May 1985 London at Wembley Arena

2014 Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck at Beck's Ivor Novello Award  Photo: Dave J Hogan

On This Day 04 May

Led Zeppelin played the Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, GA,

1973 04 May Led Zeppelin at Atlanta

• 1967 Yardbirds - Folkets Park, Halmstad Sweden
• 1968 Yardbirds - Grande Ballroom, Detroit MI USA
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta GA USA
• 1985 The Firm - Hartford Civic Center, Hartford CT USA
• 2009 Jimmy Page - practice session for Jeff Beck Hall of Fame, Cleveland OH USA

 1973 archive footage from WSB-TV Atlanta

1967 04 May Yardbirds at Folkets Park, Halmstad Sweden

1973 04 May Led Zeppelin at Atlanta - Barrett photo

1973 04 May Led Zeppelin at Atlanta - Forbes photo

2009 04 May On This Day Practice for Jeff Beck's induction in to the Hall of Fame, Cleveland OH.
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ron Wood