On This Day 23 December

1968 23 December On This Day Led Zeppelin arrives in the USA

• 1966 The Yardbirds – London at Wembley Studios
• 1972 Led Zeppelin – London at Alexandra Palace (day 2) 
• 1975 Boleskine House fire 

1968 Jimmy Page passport stamp

1972 Led Zeppelin Alexandra Palace, London

♪

♪  Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin, Alexandra Palace 1972) YouTube
♪  Over The Hills ((Led Zeppelin, Alexandra Palace London 1972) YouTube
♪  Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin, Alexandra Palace London 1972) YouTube

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

On This Day 10 December

Beyond amazing and into the realm of Magick.

10 December Jimmy Page's On This Day (published 2020)

1998 and 2007 - 10 December On This Day, Page & Plant at Amnesty International Show
and Led Zeppelin/Jason Bonham at Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert, O2
Videos: Black Dog  Gallows Pole

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Bristol, England at Student Union, Bristol University
• 1968 Led Zeppelin - London, England at  Marquee Club
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - St. Helier, UK at Behan's Park West (guest appearance with pianist Norman Hale)
• 1998 Page & Plant, Amnesty International Concert - Paris, France at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
• 2007 Led Zeppelin Ahmet Ertegun Tribute - London,England at O2 Arena  

1975

Robert Plant was still recovering from his August car accident, and the four members of Led Zeppelin were in Jersey for a few weeks. John Paul Jones and John Bonham were at a club where the resident pianist, Norman Hale, invited the two onstage to jam. Instead the full band showed up a week later for a 45 minute set with Hale at the piano and Plant seated on a stool, performing to an audience of a few hundred lucky souls.

1975 Led Zeppelin - St. Helier, UK at Behan's Park West
(guest appearance with pianist Norman Hale)

1998
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant performed When the World Was Young, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Gallows Pole, and Rock and Roll at the last Human Rights Concert to benefit Amnesty International. The full 1998 performance with Page & Plant, among others, is available on Amazon.

1998 Page & Plant, Amnesty International Show, Paris

2007
Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006) was a powerful figure in Led Zeppelin's career. He was founder and president of Atlantic Records and was a chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After hearing Led Zeppelin's demo recording, Ertegun immediately signed the then unknown band to his label.

At age 83 Ertegun was backstage at a Rolling Stones' concert at the Beacon Theater in New York when he tripped and fell, hitting his head on the cement. During the Led Zeppelin induction to the UK Music Hall of Fame on 14 November, 2006, Jimmy Page announced that Ertegun had gone into a coma. Ahmet Ertegun died on December 14, 2006 and was buried in his native Turkey.

The remaining members of Led Zeppelin organized an Ahmet Tribute Concert to raise money for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund for university scholarships in the UK, US and Turkey. Although other performers were to share the stage, it was the reunion of Led Zeppelin, with Jason Bonham taking his father's place, that stole the headlines.

Over 20 million people tried for tickets.

2007 February, Led Zeppelin statement on passing of Ahmet Ertegun

2007 10 December, Led Zeppelin reunion, with Jason Bonham,
at Ahmut Ertegun Tribute concert, O2 Arena, London

2007 O2 ticket

2007 Dave Grohl with Scarlet Page and the "secret" setlist, before the show
(Ross Halfin photo)

Setlist:
Good Times, Bad Times
Ramble On
Black Dog
In My Time of Dying
For Your Life
Trampled Under Foot
Nobody's Fault But Mine
No Quarter
Since I've Been Lovin' You
Dazed and Confused
Stairway To Heaven
The Song Remains the Same
Misty Mountain Hop
Kashmir

Encore:

Whole Lotta Love

Rock and Roll

2007, the Concert of the Century

2007 Jimmy Page at the mic, O2

2007 Jimmy Page, O2 (Ross Halfin photo)

2007 Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, O2

2007 John Paul Jones, Jason Bonham, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant at O2 (Scarlet Page photo)

2007, the Concert of the Century

It's rock and roll, baby.  It's Jimmy Page.  It's Magick.

♪

♪  Full set (Page & Plant, Amnesty International Paris 1998) YouTube

♪  When the World Was Young (Page & Plant, Amnesty International Paris 1998) YouTube 

♪  Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (Page & Plant, Amnesty International Paris 1998) YouTube
♪ Gallows Pole (Page & Plant, Amnesty International Paris 1998) YouTube
♪  Good Times Bad Times with concert intro (Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham, Ahmet Tribute Concert at O2, 2007) YouTube

♪  Black Dog (Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham, Ahmet Tribute Concert at O2, 2007) YouTube

♪  Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham, Ahmet Tribute Concert at O2, 2007) YouTube

♪  Kashmir (Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham, Ahmet Tribute Concert at O2, 2007) YouTube
♪  Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham, Ahmet Tribute Concert at O2, 2007) YouTube

♫  Rolling Stone review by David Fricke

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

Soundcheck

Eight years ago today, just about now (allowing for the time difference and when you read this), the final O2 rehearsal/soundcheck was happening.

Tickets for the show itself, available through a lottery system, had been snatched up by some 16-18,000 lucky devils, with literally millions of us losers sobbing about it.

Some lucky suckers had gotten access to the rehearsal/soundcheck, too.

2007 Led Zeppelin O2 rehearsal

Meanwhile, back home millions of us remained crying into our beer (or wine, in my case), not having won
one of those precious concert tickets or an invitation to the soundcheck. But we were not idle. No we were not. We were searching online for every scrap of information, any report - first or second hand, or even rumor. Anything at all.

Much had been kept secret, but in this day and age, there are always leaks. What was out there was hard to distinguish from rumors, but you had to find trustworthy sources and, well, trust them. Early feedback from Cameron Crowe (who was not there but had heard from someone who was) was that the soundcheck was thrilling.

The few hundred or so blessed witnesses to this penultimate performance were not allowed to record, but yes, that happened anyway.

The setlist for the sound check included:
 Good Times Bad Times

 Ramble On

 In My Time Of Dying

 No Quarter

 Nobody's Fault But Mine

 D'yer Mak'er

 Communication Breakdown

It was already common knowledge that the band had been practicing For Your Life, a song they'd never played live before.

Afterwards, some of the blessed met up at the Pilot Inn/Pub for a Led Zeppelin fan club meeting arranged by Dave Lewis, who, after all was said and done, referred to the whole experience before, during and after, as inhabiting Planet Zeppelin.

Amazingly, after all these years I'm still upset that I wasn't there and I'm still green with envy even as I type this blog post. So go ahead, ticketholders.  Torture me. Post your story of O2 in the comments.

♪

♪  Rock and Roll (Shepperton Studio, 05 December 2007) YouTube

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

On This Day 21 August

Still standing ovations, after all these years.

1971 21 August On This Day Led Zeppelin at LA Forum

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Tucson, AZ at Thrift City
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Framingham, MA at Carousel Theatre
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Tulsa, OK at Tulsa Assembly Center Arena
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1998 Page & Plant - Vaduz, Liechtenstein at Little Big One Festival

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Framingham, MA

1970 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Tulsa, OK

1971 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum

 1971:
Eddie Cochran (1938 - 1960) was an American musician who earned a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. His rockabilly songs were covered by many later artists, including Led Zeppelin. Cochran experimented with multitrack recording and overdubbing, and is credited as one of the first to use an unwound third string in order to "bend" notes up a whole tone.

Eddie Cochran was killed, while on tour in the UK, in a single vehicle crash when he was only 21 years old. During the time that the taxi and its contents were at the local police station a police cadet taught himself to play guitar on Cochran's impounded Gretsch.

2015 Press release for  Proud Gallery's Led Zeppelin Exhibit

1993 Jimmy Page with Gretsch White Falcon guitar (Ross Halfin photo)

♪  Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin, Tulsa 1970) YouTube
♪  Full show (Led Zeppelin, Tulsa 1970) YouTube
♪  Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1971) YouTube
♪  Weekend (Eddie Cochran, 1959) YouTube
♪  Weekend (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1971) YouTube
♪  Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1971) YouTube

On This Day 03 August

A great guitar is a thing of magic in the hands of a great guitarist.

2009 03 August On This Day Jimmy Page checks out the Gibson Les Paul "Number Two" prototype

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Racine, WI at New Sound Dance ClubYMCA
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Houston, TX at Houston Music Hall

2007 Q Magazine cover (Ross Halfin photo)

2007:
Ross Halfin on the Q cover Guitar Heroes issue and how it was done.

Edge was shot in Dublin. He was very professional, turned up a half hour late, apologised and stayed on to make up the time. He asked if I'd ever shot them early on. I told him I'd discovered America and toured with Rush, ACDC, UFO, Ozzy, Aerosmith and that ilk. I liked Edge a lot. The U2 camp is like being in the army, it's run with military precision.

Jack White was in Nashville and we shot at 9am - he's got a daughter so he's up early.

Jimmy Page was in Fulham on the hottest day of the year. I shot quite a lot that wasn't used.

Johnny Marr was in sunny Manchester (look at the sky on the inside spread). I'd never met him, he was a good bloke - as they say in ancient Rome. We talked about Rory Gallagher and how he acted towards people, always gracious.

Slash was in LA, at the bar of the Sunset Marquis Hotel. He did the interview sitting under giant prints of himself.

Matt Bellamy was at the Soho Hotel in London. Terry Hall (Matt's sexy PR) told me I had 15 minutes in a tiny bedroom, with the backdrop taking up the whole room. Steve Peck from Q stepped in and stretched it to 45 minutes while Terry chain-smoked and wouldn't stop talking inbetween blowing smoke all over the room.

Dave Grohl was in Los Angeles. Diamond Dave was so hyper. I was useless, not focused, shot in the evening while I was so jetlagged - I just wanted to go to bed.. At the end of the day I think it worked out well. The Master can still work well, even when half asleep.

Joe Perry was in London inbetween taking a nap and eating at Nobu with Jimmy Page.

~ Ross Halfin Diary August 2007

Features of Gibson's Jimmy Page "Number Two" Les Paul

Gibson's Jimmy Page "Number Two" Les Paul guitar

2009:

Jimmy Page has played and owns bunches of guitars, and has played and owns bunches of Gibson guitars. His Les Paul "Number One" is the guitar Mr. Page got from Joe Walsh in early 1969, and it quickly became his go-to guitar (bumping his Fender Telecaster from that position). "Number One" was used to record Led Zeppelin II and was in use through to the 2007 O2 concert and the 2008 Foo Fighters concert at Wembley Stadium. 

"Number Two" was purchased to supplement "Number One", possibly to avoid damaging the first guitar any further (just think about the force on a guitar when it's slapped with a bow) or maybe to have two guitars with very similar sound but with different tuning available on stage. "Number Two" was put into action after the initial modifications in the beginning of 1975 and was in use through to the 2007 O2 concert. 

I'm expecting to be seeing more of both these guitars in the future when Mr. Page puts out new music.

I'd talk about what modifications have been done to Jimmy Page's Gibson Les Paul "Number One" and "Number Two" but that's not my thing.  And of course, if you really want to know the details of the guitars and other gear, you want to buy Jeff Strawman's definitive book, Led  Zeppelin Gear: All the Gear From Led Zeppelin and the Solo Careers, which will be published in October 2015.

From the Gibson website:
Jimmy Page "Number Two" Les Paul.

Every musician knows that late ’50s Sunburst Les Paul Standards are hard enough to come by as it is. Obtaining a pristine and exemplary ’59 ’Burst and modifying it for heightened performance and vastly expanded tonal options? Unheard of… unless, of course, you’re Jimmy Page. That’s exactly what the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist, perhaps the world’s most iconic Les Paul player, did with his own ’59 Les Paul Standard, and now—thanks to the extreme efforts of Gibson’s Custom Shop and the intimate cooperation of Jimmy Page himself—the artist’s hallowed “Number Two” Les Paul is available to mere mortals, in the form of the Custom Shop Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul. Produced in strictly limited numbers, with two levels of aging, this guitar captures the look, feel, sound, and versatility of one of the greatest artist-owned Les Pauls of all time, and it is likely to disappear from authorized Gibson dealers in record time.
[Mage Music note: this model is no longer available from Gibson]

Image from Gibson website for Jimmy Page "Number Two" Les Paul guitar

♪  Rock and Roll (Jimmy Page & John Paul Jones with Foo Fighters, Wembley, 2008) YouTube
♪  Ramble On (Jimmy Page & John Paul Jones with Foo Fighters, Wembley, 2008) YouTube

On This Day 16 July

It's been a long time since he rock and rolled...

1984 16 July On This Day Jimmy Page at Alexis Korner Tribute, Pistoia
♪  Bring It On Home To Me (SoundCloud)

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Ayr, Scotland at Ayr Ice Rink 
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Koln, Germany at Koln Sporthalle 
• 1984 Jimmy Page - Pistoia, Italy at Pistoia Blues Festival, Alexis Korner Blues Tribute 
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Poole, England at Poole Arts Center 
• 1998 Page & Plant -  New York, NY at Madison Square Garden 

1984:
Jimmy Page performed at the second Alexis Korner tribute concert.  Read more about Alexis Korner.

1984 Jimmy Page at Pistoria Blues Festival

1998 Jimmy Page at MSG (image capture from video posted by aprl20)

♪  Nobody's Fault But Mine (Page & Plant, Unledded 1994) YouTubeMine 

♪  Yallah (Page & Plant, Unledded 1994) YouTube

♪  City Don't Cry (Page & Plant, Unledded 1994) YouTube

♪  Rock and Roll (Page & Plant, MSG 1998) YouTube

♪  Most High (Page & Plant, MSG 1998) YouTube

♪  CODA unboxing with music clips (Led Zeppelin remaster) YouTube

On This Day 12 July

Happy birthday Wilko Johnson

Wilko Johnson birthday  On This Day 2019, 2020

1967 12 July On This Day Yardbirds in Illinois

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Aurora, IL at Crimson Couger Club
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Philadelphia, PA at The Spectrum - Summer Pop Festival
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, MI at Cobo Hall
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour, Glasgow, Scotland at Scottish Exhibition Centre  

1969:

Led Zeppelin - follow the rules? Wasn't Jimmy Page always about pushing the musical envelope? At the three day Summer Pop Festival there was a thirty minute performance limit and a no-encore rule. But no rules apply to Led Zeppelin. The fans went crazy and Led Zeppelin came back onstage for an encore.

1973:

More firecrackers. I've said it before and I'll say it again and again: It's not easy being a rock star.

1969 Led Zeppelin in Philadelphia (Photo: Simeone)

1973 Led Zeppelin in Detroit

♪  Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin, Detroit 12 July 1973) YouTube

♪  Celebration Day (Led Zeppelin, Detroit 12 July 1973) YouTube 

♪  Since I've Been Loving You (Led Zeppelin, Detroit 12 July 1973) YouTube

♪  Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin, Detroit 12 July 1973) YouTube
♪  Led Zeppelin (Detroit 12 July 1973) complete show - YouTube

[edited 07/12/20]

On This Day 30 June

 "Please give us a chance..." 

 

1990 30 June On This Day Jimmy Page with Robert Plant at Silver Clef Awards concert at Knebworth

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Shrewsbury, Shrops, England at Shrewsbury Music Hall
• 1979 Led  Zeppelin visit Knebworth House 
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Frankfurt, Germany at Festhalle Frankfurt
• 1990 Page & Plant - Knebworth for Nordoff  Robbins Silver Clef Winners Charity Concert 
• 2000 Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes - Holmdel, NJ at PNC Bank Arts Center

1979:

"Led Zeppelin, arguably the world's most popular hard rock band, came down before the (1979) festival to meet us and look around Knebworth House. Guitarist Jimmy Page was a fan of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, who lived in the House in the early 1800's. They shared an interest in the occult, and Jimmy wanted to see all our Bulwer Lytton memorabilia. He used to have a resident medium living at Knebworth and we have his crystal ball and books on magic and witchcraft. It is his ghost that roams the passages at night!

"Drummer John Bonham was more interested in the gardens and singer Robert Plant nearly took a swim in our pool but decided his hairdresser wouldn't be happy about it if he did."
--Chryssie Lytton Cobbold, Knebworth Rock Festivals

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. He wrote a number of bestselling novels that were very popular in his day. If you've come across any of the following phrases, you've read some of his words: "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", "dweller on the threshold", and yes, "It was a dark and stormy night".

Zanoni is a story of love and occult aspiration.
A Strange Story, with its supernatural theme, was an influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula 

1980:
The Frankfurt audience was so loud that Jimmy Page had to stop playing White Summer when he couldn't hear himself and had to ask the audience to please give them a chance. Those were the days before in-ear monitors.

Phil Carson, then senior vice president at Atlantic Records, joined Led Zeppelin for an encore version of Money.  Carson started out his musical career with Dusty Springfield.

1980 John Paul Jones & Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Frankfurt (Photo Hans P Kirsch)

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Frankfurt

1990:

The Knebworth Festival is held on the grounds of the Knebworth House in England. The Nordoff Robbins Silver Clef Award Winners Concert was held there in 1990. The awards recognize outstanding talent across the music industry. Nordoff Robbins is a music therapy charity dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable children and adults.  

Robert Plant, who was awarded a Silver Clef that year (Jimmy Page received it in 2014), did a set for that show and Jimmy Page joined him on stage for three songs. As one person said who was there, when Jimmy walked on the stage the volume of the audience went up 1000%. The concert is available on DVD Live at Knebworth.

 

1990 Jimmy Page with Robert Plant at Knebworth

1990 Robert Plant, Jimmy Page at Knebworth

Knebworth House

♪  White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin, Frankfurt Germany 1980) YouTube

♪  Money (Led Zeppelin with Phil Carson, Frankfurt Germany 1980) YouTube

♪  Wearing and Tearing (Page with Plant, Knebworth 1990) YouTube

♪  Rock and Roll (Page with Plant, Knebworth 1990) YouTube

♪  Full show (Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes, Holmdel NJ 2000) YouTube

On This Day 28 June

1969 and 1970 28 June On This Day - Led Zeppelin at Bath Festivals

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Bath, England at Bath Pavilion Recreation Ground
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Shepton Mallet, England at Royal Bath & West Showground
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - Tucson, AZ at Tucson Community Theatre
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - Stockholm Sweden at Maritime Museum
• 2000 Jimmy Page - The Black Crowes - Pittsburgh, PA at  Star Lake Amphitheatre

1969:
The Bath Festival of Blues was held at the Bath Pavilion Recreational Ground in Bath, Somerset, England, on 28 June 1969. The headline act was Fleetwood Mac. The festival was produced by Wendy and Freddy Bannister, London club show promoters. All 30,000 tickets were sold out in the first week. Led Zeppelin had only played their first show nine months before, and this was the band's biggest UK audience to date. As we know, things would be drastically different very quickly.
Bath got its name from the hot springs that were shrines in prehistoric times and later developed by the Romans and others into public baths. Bath is said to have been where King Arthur's defeated the Anglo-Saxons.

1970:
The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music was held at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England on 27–29 June 1970. Led Zeppelin was the headline act. This location, about 20 mi (32 km) south of Bath, allowed for a much larger crowd. The logistics were not so great - some of the bands' equipment trucks couldn't get to the site due to the country lanes being blocked by cars. Donovan showed up on the stage on Sunday morning, providing an unscheduled 2½ hour performance because the scheduled band wasn't there yet.

Peter Grant had arranged for Led Zeppelin to hit the stage as the sun was setting. They played to an audience estimated at 200,000 for three hours and performed five encores. The show is considered one of the most important performances of their career.

Plastic bags and raincoats were de rigueur in the audience. A bearded Jimmy Page wore a rain hat and his long overcoat during the show.

"ANOTHER ENCORE – at 10:50pm Zeppelin had won. They had made all the hang-ups worthwhile and given the crowd a night to remember – whatever else happened."
~ MelodyMaker, July 1970

1970 Bath Festival (Photo Terry Farebrother)

1970 28 June Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Bath Festival (Photo Michael Putland)

1972 28 June Led Zeppelin at Tucson (Photo D. Ford)

2000:
The venue for this show has changed names over the years.  Originally it was the Star Lake Amphitheater and it was called the Post-Gazette Pavilion when the Page/Black Crowes show took place.  It is currently named the First Niagara Pavilion.  Burgettstown is a suburb of Pittsburgh.

2000 28 June Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes at Pittsburgh

♪  8mm film footage (Led Zeppelin, Shepton Mallet 1970) YouTube

♪  Bring It On Home (Led Zeppelin, Shepton Mallet 1970) YouTube

♪  How Many More Times  (Led Zeppelin, Shepton Mallet 1970) YouTube

♪  Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin, Tucson 1972) YouTube

♪  Full show (Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes, Burgettstown /Pittsburgh 2000) YouTube