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 26 July

All our love.

1969 26 July On This Day Led Zeppelin  Vancouver, BC

• 1967 The Yardbirds-San Francisco, CA at Fillmore Auditorium
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Vancouver, BC at PNE Agrodome
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - London at Wembley Arena
• 2012 Jimmy Page at Warner pre-Olympics Party at Tate Modern, London

1969 Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge - Vancouver, BC

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin Vancouver BC

1969 28 July Vancouver Sun review of 26 July show

2012 Jimmy Page arrives at Warner pre-Olympics party at Tate Modern, London

1977:

Robert Plant received a phone call from his wife, Maureen, as the band was checking in to their New Orleans hotel.  Plant's 5-year-old son, Karac, was seriously ill.  Two hours later the boy was dead. The next 10 performances of the US tour were cancelled. Led Zeppelin was to never play again in the US.

All My Love, from Led Zeppelin's 1979 album In Through the Out Door, is a tribute to Karac.

1995:

Peter Grant's final public appearance was this final night of the Page and Plant tour at Wembley Arena. Grant died four months later, on 21 November.

♪  All My Love (Led Zeppelin, Polar Studio outtake, 1978) YouTube


[update 26 July 2020]

On This Day 25 July

"He was such a stylist.  I don't think anybody ever managed to play the same way as Scotty."

~ Jimmy Page, at Gibson guitar party for Scotty Moore, 1999

1999 25 July On This Day Jimmy Page presents Gibson Signature guitar to Scotty Moore
♪  Mystery Train (Jimmy Page) Soundcloud

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Bath, England at Bath Pavilion
• 1967 The Yardbirds - San Francisco, CA at Fillmore Auditorium
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - West Allis/Milwaukee WI at Midwest Rock Festival 
• 1995 Page & Plant  Unledded Tour - London at Wembley Arena 

Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III (1931-) is an American guitarist and recording engineer who backed Elvis Presley between 1954 and the beginning of the Hollywood years. Many of his performances are considered precedent-setting.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Scotty Moore used a thumbpick (a flat pick with a loop to slip your thumb into) to create his own unique finger-picking style. He also used an EchoSonic guitar amplifier with built-in tape echo.  He started out with a Gibson ES-295. Gibson created a Scotty Moore Signature guitar that was presented to Moore at a private party at North London's Air Studios.  (At about 3:19 on the video hear Jeff Beck tell Jimmy Page to shut up!)

Associated Independent Recording (AIR) was founded in 1965 by Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his partner John Burgess.  The  studio has operated in three locations: Oxford Street, London (1970-1991), Montserrat Island, West Indies (mid 1970s-1989) and AIR Lyndhurst Hall, London (1991-present).  

1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - London at Wembley Arena

♪  White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin, Midwest Rock Festival Milwaukee 1969) YouTube
♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, Midwest Rock Festival Milwaukee 1969) YouTube

♪  Orchestra soundcheck (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  Wanton Song (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  The Song Remains the Same  (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube
♪  Full show  (Page & Plant, Wembley 1995) YouTube

On This Day 24 July

I knew what sound I was looking for.

~ Jimmy Page, as quoted in Dave Lewis' Led Zeppelin: The Concert File

1967 24 July The Yardbirds' Little Games album released
♪  No Excess Baggage Demo (Yardbirds 1967) Soundcloud

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Little Games album released
• 1969 Led Zeppelin receives first Gold Record Award
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Pittsburgh,PA at Three Rivers Stadium
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Oakland,CA at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (day 2)
• 1979 Led Zeppelin - Copenhagen Denmark at Falkoner Theatre 

1969 Led Zeppelin receives first Gold Record Award

1969:
As Jimmy Page has said in interviews, Led Zeppelin, the original album is in a way his favorite because it is the one that started it all. Although it took just 36 hours' studio time (over the course of a few weeks) it was nevertheless a long time coming. Jimmy Page knew the sound he wanted, he knew where he wanted to go with the music, and he simply made it happen when the time was ripe.

"I wanted artistic control in a vice grip, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with these fellows. In fact, I financed and completely recorded the first album before going to Atlantic... It wasn't your typical story where you get an advance to make an album—we arrived at Atlantic with tapes in hand... Atlantic's reaction was very positive – I mean they signed us, didn't they?"
~ Jimmy Page, Guitar World interview 1993

1977:
The belly dancer. You've seen the photos!

This was the last concert before the sudden death of Robert Plant's son, Karac. Led Zeppelin would never again perform in the United States.

1977 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin Oakland California

1977 Oakland Coliseum during Led Zeppelin concert

2014 On This Day for 24 July

♪  White Summer (JimmyPage/Yardbirds 1967) YouTube
♪  Live in Pittsburgh 8MM footage (Led Zeppelin, Pittsburgh 1973) YouTube
♪  White Summer (Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions 1969) YouTube

On This Day 23 July

Things don't always go the way you think they should.

1985 23 July On This Day - but these events didn't actually happen on this day

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Buxton, England at Buxton Pavilion Gardens Ballroom 
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Baltimore, MD at Baltimore Civic Centre
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Oakland, CA at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
• 1979 Led Zeppelin - Copenhagen, Denmark at Falkoner Theatre
• 1985 Robert Plant with Jimmy Page appearance - East Rutherford, NJ 
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - Birmingham, England at NEC Arena (day 2)

1973:

The famous scene in The Song Remains The Same, with Peter Grant venting his rage at the venue's promoter, was taken at the Baltimore Civic Center concert on this date. 

1977:

Led Zeppelin's huge Stonehenge backdrop for the Oakland 23-24 concerts was the basis for some funny stuff later on. Black Sabbath had commissioned a Stonehenge stage set for their 1983 Born Again tour (Stonehenge is the second track on the Born  Again album).  That band couldn't use the stage set because it had been mistakenly constructed too big to haul around.  Coincidentally, at the same time the writers of This Is Spinal Tap created a scene with a Stonehenge set that turns out to be way too small to use. The two didn't copy each other (a 20-minute cut of the movie with that scene dates from before the Black Sabbath tour).  Thus, we might conclude that both were inspired by Led Zeppelin at Oakland.

 

1977 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Oakland

1977 Led Zeppelin's Stonehenge backdrop at Oakland

1979:

This was Led Zeppelin's first concert in almost two years.  It was kept low-key -- tickets were actually available to purchase at the door -- because it was a warm-up for Knebworth.  

1985:

The On This  Day post for July 23 is incorrect - let's blame it on the webmaster and not Jimmy Page (why not!).  The Firm played Meadowlands (Brendan Byrne Arena) in East Rutherford, NJ on May 9th.  Les Paul was introduced onstage.  The video for The Firm's Satisfaction Guaranteed (in which Les Paul played the bartender), was filmed in New York City on May 11, 1985.  The band returned to England shortly after. 

Jimmy Page did join Robert Plant onstage in Meadowlands, E Rutherford, NJ for the encores, Mean Woman Blues and Treat Her Right.

1985 Jimmy Page & Les Paul at Meadowlands

1985 Jimmy Page, from The Firm Tourbook

♪  Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin, Baltimore 1973) YouTube

♪  The Song Remains The Same 8MM excerpt (Led Zeppelin Oakland 1977) YouTube

♪  No Quarter (Led Zeppelin, Copenhagen 1979) YouTube

♪  In The Evening (Led Zeppelin, Copenhagen 1979) YouTube

On This Day 22 July

Scarlet, recorded in 1974 by the Rolling Stones & feat. Jimmy Page guitar released 2020

1967 22 July On This Day Jimmy Page with The Yardbirds at Santa Monica

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Gravesend, Kent England at Co-op Hall
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Santa Monica, CA at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Birmingham, England at NEC Arena
• 2020 The Rolling Stones release "Scarlet", recorded in 1974 with Jimmy Page

1995 Page & Plant at Birmingham UK

2008 July Jimmy Page backstage with The Mars Volta at the Roundhouse, London (Ross Halfin photo)

Jimmy Page's famous Dragon Telecaster started out as a generic white.  Page inherited it when Jeff Beck left the Yardbirds in 1966, and by spring 1967 the Tele sported eight reflective circle patches.

1967 March Jimmy Page's Telecaster before the Dragon

In late 1967 the Dragon was hatched.

"... Jimmy Page stripped the Fender Blond paint off and handpainted a green, red and orange psychadelic dragon on the front of the ash body and replaced the pickguard with a pickguard made of clear acrylic with a sheet of diffraction grating film underneath."
~Achilles Last Stand

2020
The Rolling Stone's remaster of Goats Head Soup is due to be released 04 September, 2020, but one of the three bonus cuts is 'Scarlet', recorded in October 1974 with Jimmy Page on guitar, and available on this day, 22 July, 2020.
Read More: How Jimmy Page Ended Up Jamming With Keith Richards on 'Scarlet' |

♪  Over Under Sideways Down (The Yardbirds, 15 March 1967) YouTube
♪  Black Dog (Page & Plant Birmingham 1995) YouTube
♪  Ramble On (Page & Plant Birmingham 1995) YouTube
♪  Scarlet (Rolling Stones feat Jimmy Page guitar  1974) YouTube

♪

[Edited 07/22/20]

On This day 21 July

1961 21 July On This Day Jimmy Page accompanies Royston Ellis

• 1961 Jimmy Page guitar fusion with poet Royston Ellis at The Mermaid Festival
• 1966 The Yardbirds - Worthing, England at Worthing Assembly Rooms 
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Santa Rosa, CA at Santa Rosa Fairgrounds 
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - New York NY at Central Park Schaefer Music Festival
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Providence, RI at Providence Civic Center
• 2011 Jimmy Page presents MOJO Maverick Award to Donovan

1961:

Royston Ellis was born in England in 1941 and now lives in Sri Lanka.  He is a novelist, travel writer and beat poet. As a young man seeking a name for himself he performed his poetry on stage and TV to backing by a number of Liverpool musicians, including Jimmy Page and by John Lennon's skiffle band (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Stuart Sutcliff - no drummer at that point).  Ellis has published over 60 books; in 2013 he published a retrospective book of poetry, Gone Man Squared, with a forward by Jimmy Page. 

1969:
The Schaefer Music Festival was a recurring music festival held in summer between 1968 and 1976 at the Wollman Skating Rink in New York City's Central Park. The series was sponsored by F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company, brewer of Schaefer Beer.  It began as a one day event but quickly expanded to an annual summer-long exposition.  B.B. King and Led Zeppelin performed two shows on July 21, 1969.

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Schaeffer Music Festival, Central Park NY

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Schaeffer Music Festival, Central Park NY (N Fields photo)

2011:
MOJO awards are voted for by readers of the monthly MOJO Magazine and MOJO's website as well as by music critics.  The awards celebrate the musical achievements of the last 12 months as well as career-long accomplishments.  Donovan was presented with the 2011 MOJO Maverick Award from Jimmy Page.

In 2004 Jimmy Page received the MOJO Maestro Award and in 2010 he was inducted into the MOJO Hall of Fame.

2011 Roy Harper, Jimmy Page and Donovan at MOJO Honors, London (Ross Halfin photo)

♪  You Shook Me (Led Zeppelin, Central Park/Schaefer Music Festival 1969) YouTube
♪  Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin, Central Park/Schaefer Music Festival 1969) YouTube
♪  Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin, Providence 1973) YouTube
♪  The Rain Song (Led Zeppelin, Providence 1973) YouTube