On this day 22 January

 UNDER CONSTRUCTION - links might not work properly

1973 22 January On This Day Led Zeppelin at Southampton University

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Sydney, Australia at Sydney Stadium
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Southampton,UK at Southampton University
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Chicago, IL. at Chicago Stadium (day 3 of 3)

1971:
Note that the source for the one minute intro to Four Sticks (link below), with John Bonham's setting up the timing, may have been from a session at Headley Grange between 1970 December and 1971 January or from the 1971 February sessions at Island Studios in London.  Rumor has it that this and other outtakes were found in trash.

1973 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at soundcheck, Southampton University

1973 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Southampton University

1973 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Southampton University

♪

♪  Four Sticks / intro only (Led Zeppelin, rehearsal 1971) 
♪  Led Zeppelin, Southampton UK at Southampton University, 22 January 1973) 

♪  Led Zeppelin, Chicago IL at Chicago Stadium - day 3 of 3, 22 January 1975)

On this day 30 December

 Dazed thinking 2023 is about over

1968 30 December On This Day Led Zeppelin at Gonzaga University, Spokane WA
AUDIO: a minute and a half of Dazed and Confused (MP3)

• 1968 Led Zeppelin - Spokane, WA at Gonzaga University 

1968

The House of Gonzaga was the ruling family of Mantua, in Northern Italy, from 1328 to 1708. The most famous son was Aloysius Gonzaga, who was canonized in 1726. In 1729 Pope Benedict declared Aloysius to be the patron saint of young students. 

Gonzaga University is a private Jesuit university located in Spokane, Washington, founded in 1887.

As noted in today's post: The audience recording of Dazed and Confused from Gonzaga (9 minutes and 42 seconds long) was training for a number that would run much, much longer in later years.  According to Jimmy Page, the song had "all the movements of a classical symphony".  Note that Led Zeppelin performed Dazed and Confused  more than 200 times over the years, with the longest being nearly 45 minutes at The Forum in LA, 27 March 1975.

Also in 1968

Not on this day but interesting: In 1964 Jimmy Page, along with Big Jim Sullivan, had worked with PJ Proby on Proby's first studio album, I Am P. J. Proby. Four years later all four members of Led Zeppelin recorded together for the very first time -- but not on a Led Zeppelin album, on PJ Proby's final album Three Week Hero. The recording sessions took place starting August 1968 and the album was released in April 1969. Read more... 

According to Proby in a 2012 interview by Corbin of Finding Zoso:

"...we recorded that album, I think it was in two days. We even undershot, we recorded it with about thirty-five minutes left over, and so Roland yelled down, “Why don’t you all busket*? We shouldn’t waste the studio time.” I told the boys, “Y’all start picking and I’ll write as you pick.” So the three last numbers on the album, It's So Hard to Be a Nigger/Jim's Blues/George Wallace is Rollin' in This Mornin’, I just made up as the boys played."

Jimmy Page - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar

John Paul Jones - Bass guitar, keyboards, arrangements

John Bonham - Drums, conga

Robert Plant - Harmonica

* Re: "busket": Roland must have said "busk it", meaning improvise.

2008 Jimmy Page (Ross Halfin photo)

♪

♪  Led Zeppelin (Spokane WA at Gonzaga University, 30 December 1968) 

♪  Jim's Blues (PJ Proby with Jimmy Page guitar recorded 1968 released 1969) 
Note: PJ's first name was Jim
♪  Mery Hopkins medley (PJ Proby with "The New Yardbirds" released 1994) 
Note: Proby calls out each member of the band, who then plays a little solo

On this day 29 September

 Oh Mr. Bonham....

1971 29 September On This Day Led Zeppelin in Osaka, last performance in Japan
published 2020

1971 29 September On This Day Led Zeppelin in Osaka, last performance in Japan

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Stockton, England at ABC Theatre
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Osaka, Japan at Osaka Festival Hall
• 1995 Page & Plant - Albuquerque, New Mexico at Tingley Coliseum

1971:

This performance was a bit chaotic, with John Bonham disappearing from the stage and the other three having to wing it for a while. Years later Peter Grant said that Bonzo and Robert Plant were having a tiff about a minor amount of money from some time in the past. Bonham was also reported to have said he was tired of Moby Dick, and in fact the solo was just 11 minutes long this show. 

Perhaps it is fitting that the first and only live performance by Led Zeppelin of Friends was performed at this gig. Note that the On This Day text says Bonham had not yet returned to the stage, but in fact, he had.

1971 Led Zeppelin in Japan

1971 Led Zeppelin, Osaka, day 2

1971 Led Zeppelin in Osaka day 2

♪

♪  Led Zeppelin (Osaka Japan at Osaka Festival Hall, 29 September 1971) 
♪  Friends (Led Zeppelin, Osaka 29 September 1971) 
♪  Page & Plant, (Albuquerque  NM, 29 September 1995) 

 

On this day 25 September

 On this day Led Zeppelin began recording Led Zeppelin I, the band's opening shot heard round the world. On this day 12 years later, Led Zeppelin was done. 

What made John Bonham such a great drummer? Not just the speed, strength, and power of his playing --which was considerable-- but his ability to hold the rhythm steady while all four of his limbs moved around the beat. 

Holder of elemental energies: Master of Drums. RIP Bonzo. Never forgotten.

1968 25 September On This Day - Led Zeppelin I recording begun
published 2020

1967 25 September On This Day The Yardbirds, Ten Little Indians recorded at Olympic Number Two Studio
♪  Ten Little Indians (Yardbirds 1967) Soundcloud

• 1966 Yardbirds - Liverpool, England at Liverpool Empire Theatre
• 1967 Yardbirds - Ten Little Indians recorded at Olympic Number Two Studio; Jimmy Page uses reverse echo effect
• 1980 John Henry Bonham death 

1967:

Ten Little Indians was written by Harry Nilsson for his 1967 Pandemonium Shadow Show album. The Yardbirds covered it that same year. Jimmy Page, who thought it was an "extremely silly song" (Uncut Magazine, January 2009), used engineering to salvage it with reverse echo, an effect that he was to use later on You Shook Me, Whole Lotta Love and When The Levee Breaks.

1980:

People have commented on the fact that Jimmy Page has never chosen to acknowledge John Bonham's death on the Jimmy Page On This Day website home page. To me it's no mystery: Jimmy Page has always been very protective of his personal life, and his feelings about Bonzo's passing would be a most unlikely thing he would discuss in such a public way. 

Jimmy Page has also said that everything that needs to be known about him can be found in his music. I believe this is true about any musician who is true to his art. John Bonham was and remains the only drummer I can consistently listen to and hear music, not just rhythm. He has been called the best rock drummer in the world, and I can't disagree. RIP Bonzo.

1971 John Bonham/Led Zeppelin, Belfast

1977 John Bonham/Led Zeppelin, Landover (L Hensley photo)

RIP Bonzo

♪

♪  Ten Little Indians (Yardbirds, 1967) YouTube
♪  You Shook Me (Led Zeppelin, 1969/2014 remaster) YouTube
♪  When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin, Mothership 2007 remaster) YouTube
♪  Moby Dick (Led Zeppelin, Royal Albert Hall 1970) YouTube
♪  Bonzo's Montreux (John Bonham/Led Zeppelin, Coda Mix construction in progress 1976/2015 remaster) YouTube

 

On this day 14 September

 Friends

1988 14 September On This Day Jimmy Page Outrider Tour - Austin, TX at Frank Erwin Center
♪  How Come (Ronnie Lane) Soundcloud

• 1968 Led Zeppelin - Stockholm (Knivsta), Sweden at Angby Park
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Berkeley, CA at Berkeley Community Center
• 1974 Jimmy Page & John Bonham with David Crosby, Neil Young, Graham Nash & Stephen Stills - St. James Place, London at Quaglino's Restaurant 
• 1988 Jimmy Page Outrider Tour - Austin, TX at Frank Erwin Center

1971

Originally the reviewers whined about how loud the band was, but the Berkeley Community Center show is immortalized in the bootleg, Going to California and is now considered a classic.

1974

After the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Joni Mitchell show at Wembley in London, all four members of Led Zeppelin joined in at the party at Quaglino's Restaurant in St. James Place.  The in-house band was determined to be no good, so Young, Nash and Stills took the stage.  They were joined by Jimmy Page and John Bonham for a jam that included Vampire Blues and On The Beach. Supposedly Robert Plant also joined in on guitar and vocals. If there are recordings of the jam, I haven't come across them. If you have, please share!

1974 Neil Young, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills & Jimmy Page
jam at Quaglino's in London after CSNY concert at Wembley.   (Photo Joseph Stevens)

1988:
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ronnie Lane was the driving force in the British bands the Small Faces and later, the Faces with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. In 1973 he quit the Faces and formed his own band, Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance. They toured England in a caravan for a few years, playing in small towns like bards of old, complete with a circus tent, jugglers and clowns.

Lane also established a mobile studio after he left the Faces. Kashmir was recorded there. It was around this time that Lane was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, rendering him incapable of playing his instruments or singing. Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood and other musicians put together and performed the ARMS Tour in the UK and US in 1983 to raise awareness of MS and to promote a cure.  Lane died in 1997 from the disease.

1988 Jimmy Page with Bucks Burnett in Texas

1988 Jimmy Page with photographer Mark Bowman in Texas

2013 Jimmy Page with Bucks Burnett in London

♪

♪  Led Zeppelin (Berkeley CA at Berkeley Community Theater, 14 September 1971) 
♪  Jimmy Page Outrider Tour (Austin TX at Frank Erwin Center, 14 September 1988) 

On this day 12 September

 Oh, oh, O2!

♪ Bonzo's Montreux (Soundcloud)

• 1968 Led Zeppelin - Stockholm, Sweden at Tivoli Grona Lund,Stora Scenen
• 1976 Jimmy Page and John Bonham recording in Montreux Casino Studios
• 1998 Page & Plant - Mountain View, CA at Shoreline Amphitheatre
• 2007 O2 show announcement 

1968

Still performing as The Yardbirds, but not for long.

1968 Led Zeppelin - Stockholm, Sweden at Tivoli Grona Lund,Stora Scenen

1968 Billed as Yardbirds - not even the new ones

1976:
Bonzo's Montreux is one of my favorite pieces of music ever. Of course, I say that about so many of Led Zeppelin's and Jimmy Page's music, but this is different. Bonzo's Montreux is music at it's most basic, what humans have heard in the plink of raindrops and the slap of windshield wipers, the thing that makes toes tap and bodies sway.  This one song is music stripped to a fundamental component of human life, "the spatial representation of time as rhythm" (Ursula Leguin, The Dispossessed).  It is truly, as Jimmy Page puts it, John Bonham's drum orchestra.

Keyboard mentioned in Jimmy Page's On This Day post

1998 Page & Plant - Poster for Mountain View, CA show

2007 Led Zeppelin announces O2 show

2007:
"O2" of course, refers to the one-off "Led Zeppelin Reunion" (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham).  The official name of the show was the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert.  It was a benefit to help raise money for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund for university scholarships in the UK, US and Turkey.

The 12 September announcements for the event mentioned a lineup that included Pete Townshend, Foreigner, Paolo Nutini, and Bill Wyman And The Rhythm Kings, with rumors of Mick Jagger playing the gig. Tickets for the show were £125 each, limited to two per person, distributed by ballot via online registration. Registration was supposed to close on Monday, 17 September, but in fact the website exceeded its bandwidth and crashed almost immediately upon the announcement.  According to Guinness World Records 2009, a world record was set for the "Highest Demand for Tickets for One Music Concert". Depending on the source you believe, there were no fewer than one million or as many as 20 million requests for tickets.

Pete Townshend declined to perform, reportedly saying, "They really don't need me."  It didn't matter whether he or anyone else showed up. For most of the world there was only one band that was going to play that night anyway: Led Zeppelin.

2009 5 March, Jimmy Page/Ross Halfin studio photoshoot

2009:
I posted this photo today because I like it. Is there any other reason necessary?

♪

♪  Bonzo's Montreux (Led Zeppelin, Coda 1976) YouTube
♪  Bonzo's Montreux (mix construction in progress) (Led Zeppelin, Coda 2015 remaster) 

♪  Page & Plant (Mountain View CA at Shoreline Amphitheatre, 12 September 1998)

♪  Ramble On (Led Zeppelin, O2 rehearsal Shepperton Studios 2007) YouTube
♪  For Your Life (Led Zeppelin, O2 rehearsal Shepperton Studios 2007) YouTube

On this day 09 August

 Phony lords, real rebels, and music to unite them all

1994 09 August On This Day Page & Plant Marrakech, Morocco

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Arnolds Park, IA at Roof Garden Ballroom
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Leesburg, IN at Tippy Ballroom
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Anaheim, CA at Anaheim Convention Center Arena
• 1969 Jimmy Page & Robert Plant with Screaming Lord Sutch at Experience Club 
• 1994 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - Marrakesh, Morocco

RIP Robbie Robertson (1943 - 1923)

♪ The Weight (Jimmy Page, The Edge, Jack White - closing credits for It Might Get Loud, 2008)

1969:
David Edward Sutch (1940-1999) was not of the nobility although he was known as 3rd Earl of Harrow, and although he was the UK's longest serving party leader, he was never elected to office. In fact, Screaming Lord Such was an English musician who gave himself his own title, started his own political party, and used the money earned from concerts to pay for his political campaigning . Lord Sutch was a shock-rocker before the term was invented. His 1970 debut album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends was produced by Jimmy Page and featured Jimmy Page and John Bonham among others. It was named as the worst album of all time in a 1998 BBC poll, which is kind of too bad since aside from Sutch's vocals the music is just fine.

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin Anaheim (photo RM Dechellis)

1969 David "Screaming Lord" Sutch & Jimmy Page

1994:

For all you grammar police types out there, Marrakech and Marrakesh are both acceptable spellings for the former Moroccan imperial city.

Alan Lomax (1915-2002) was an American field collector of folk music traditions from around the world.

Jimmy Page mentions the Berber women's fierceness and no wonder. Berbers are an ancient nomadic people of the deserts of Northern Africa. Before they were called Berbers, their name meant “free man“.  Berber women are no less determined than Berber men to preserve their ethnic identity and the fierce independence of their people. One of the great Berber religious and military leaders was the Berber queen, Kahina, who in the 7th century led resistance to Arab Islamic expansion in Northwest Africa. She was a believer in the scorched earth policy.

The word Gnawa has three meanings: The people, originally brought to Morocco as slaves and free farmers (some as slaves to the Berbers); a religious/spiritual order; and the deeply hypnotic trance music associated with the religious/spiritual order that is used in the magical treatment of physical and psychic ailments.  The music has a parallel with American blues, music that also has roots in slavery.  More on Gnawa music.

1994 Jimmy Page/Page & Plant Marrakech

1994 Page & Plant with Moroccan musicians

♪  Thumping Beat (Jimmy Page and Lord Sutch 1970) YouTube
♪  'Cause I Love You (Jimmy Page, John Bonham and Lord Sutch 1970) YouTube
♪  City Don't Cry (Page & Plant, Live in Marrakech 1994) YouTube
♪  Wah Wah (Page & Plant, Live in Marrakech 1994) YouTube

On This Day 07 July

 Honoring Bonzo on this day

1980 07 July On This Day  Led Zeppelin, Berlin  Final show

1980 07 July On This Day Led Zeppelin Berlin

• 1968 Yardbirds -Beds, England at Student Union, Luton College
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Chicago at Chicago Stadium
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Berlin, Germany at Eissporthalle Jafféstraße ^^^
• 1998 Page & Plant - Washington, DC at MCI Center
• 2001 Page & Plant - Montreux Festival, with Bill Jennings and Mike Watts 

Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin  Chicago 1973

Led Zeppelin  Chicago 1973

2001 Page & Plant Montreux Jazz Festival

2001:
This night at Montreux was a tribute to Sun Records, founded by Sam Phillips.  Phillips was a DJ, radio engineer, producer, label owner, and talent scout throughout the 1940s and 1950s.  In 1950 he started up the Memphis Recording Service for amateurs (then!) such as B.B. King, Junior Parker, and Howlin' Wolf.  Phillips launched the Sun Records label in 1952.  The Memphis Recording Service became the Sun Recording Studio, which was the first to record Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash.  Phillips recorded what may be the first rock and roll record: "Rocket 88" (discussed previously in Mage Music).

At Montreux, Page & Plant were introduced by Claude Nobs and Ahmet Ertegun. The playlist below provides links to the original versions that Page & Plant covered, with the final link being the 2001 Montreux show.

2014 Jimmy Page (Ross Halfin Photo)

2014 July Guitar World cover (Ross Halfin Photo)

♪ Led Zeppelin (Chicago IL at Chicago Stadium, 07 July 1973)

♪ Led Zeppelin (Berlin Germany at Eissporthalle Jafféstraße, 07 July 1980)

Montreux 2001:
♪  Good Rockin' Tonight (Roy Brown) YouTube
♪  My Bucket's Got a Hole in It (Sonny Burgess) YouTube
♪  Heart in Your Hand (Page & Plant, Walking Into Clarksdale 1998) YouTube
♪  Candy Store Rock (Led Zeppelin, Presence 1976) YouTube
♪  Endless Sleep (Jody Reynolds) YouTube
♪  How Many More Years  (Howlin’ Wolf) YouTube
♪  My Baby Left Me  (Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup) YouTube
♪  Baby Let's Play House  (Arthur Gunter) YouTube

♪  Live at Montreux ( Page & Plant 2001) YouTube