On This Day 04 August

Safe sex, huh?  Nowadays I guess that would mean wearing a mask.

1986 04 August On This Day Jimmy Page - San Antonio,Ibiza at Heartbreak Hotel

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Dallas, TX at Texas State Fair Arena
• 1979 Led Zeppelin - Knebworth House 
• 1986 Jimmy Page - San Antonio,Ibiza at Heartbreak Hotel 

1975:
Robert Plant was seriously injured in a car accident while on vacation in Greece on this day and all concerts for the rest of the year were cancelled.

..my kind of vision, or the carefree element I had, disappeared instantly when I had my automobile accident in 1975. That kind of ramshackled "I'll take the world now" attitude was completely gone.
~ Robert Plant - In His Own Words 

1979:
Dave Lewis has written a whole book about Knebworth, so there’s not much more I can add except even after all these years the Knebworth concerts are still emotional events. 

1979 04 August Jimmy Page laser music magic at Knebworth (photo Alan Perry)

1979 04 August Jimmy Page at Knebworth (Photo Alan Perry)

1979 04 August Led Zeppelin backstage

1986:
The Spanish island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean Sea is known for its nightclubs and white sand beaches. Ulysses was lured there by the song of sirens and Nostradamus predicted it would be the final refuge of humanity at the end of the world.

In 1986 it wasn't the celebrity party hot-spot it is today, but it was already a destination for those in the know.  In 1985 Robert Plant filmed the video for his single “Sea of Love” (Jimmy Page guitar) on Ibiza, and Jimmy Page was back the following year to play with the jam band, Safe Sex, at the Heartbreak Hotel in San Antonio.

1986 Jimmy Page with Safe Sex at Ibiza
[Note this bootleg cover photo for Safe Sex is actually from the Les Paul birthday party]

♪  8mm film (Led Zeppelin, Knebworth 1979) YouTube

♪  Full concert playlist (Led Zeppelin, Knebworth 04 August 1979) YouTube

♪  Sea of Love (Robert Plant with Jimmy Page guitar, 2006 remaster) YouTube

♪  Jimmy Page with Safe Sex (Jimmy Page, Ibiza 1986) 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 02 August

 Sometimes you just have to think about it a little harder.

1967 02 August The Yardbirds travel... but see more below
♪  Think About It (The Yardbirds) Soundcloud

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Ellsworth, WI at Proche's Popular Ballroom
• 1969 - Led Zeppelin - Albuquerque, NM at Civic Auditorium

1967:

Believe me, its easy to screw up dates when you're doing research and digging into old records. JimmyPage.com had posted this Yardbirds travel date originally as 1968, but this year corrected it to 1967 because The Yardbirds had split up in the early part of July.  

But even so, The Yardbirds would have been traveling to Ellsworth, Wisconsin for their gig that night rather than to Ann Arbor, where they were to perform on August 8, 1967.  

1969:

Phil, roadie, on the Albuquerque show (note that the creative spelling below is Phil's, not mine)

This most amazing band was, hands down, Led Zepplin. I was backstage helping out at first..... Vanilla Fudge was the main draw and the Zep of course. 1969.

We cleared the stage and their guys were pulling out the equipment and we went front row center. Pretty soon the curtains were moving, cause someone was trying to find the break so they could get through. Plant come out, says hello to everybody and says "Hi, I'm Robert Plant and we are Led Zepplin and we'd like to play some music for ya". The curtain opens and they go to it for about 1/2 hour. He says "that's the first side of our album . Here's the second side" They used to do an incredible riff where Paige would strum the lowest fret and Plant would match it exactly (I mean EXACTLY) in tone. They would go up the scale until Paige was leaning on the wah-wah pedal while sliding up and down and Plant keeping up with him the whole time. Never heard that matched before or since. Then Plant said " we are working on a second album, would you like to hear it?" Duh....... They played about four more songs and Plant said "That's all we got, thanks a lot".

1969 02 August Led Zeppelin in Albuquerque

1969 Led Zeppelin in Albuquerque

Because I don't have any music for you from the above dates, here are some links to In The Evening that I used in a previous Mage Music post to track the evolution of magic in the song, and I've added the rough mix from the In Through The Out Door remaster companion disc (I got mine, did you get yours?)

♪  In The Evening – Studio: Led Zeppelin In Through The Out Door – 1979 
♪  In The Evening – Live: Led Zeppelin Knebworth August 4 1979
♪  In The Evening – Live: Led Zeppelin Berlin July 7 1980
♪  In The Evening – Live: Page & Plant Glastonbury - June 25 1995
♪  In The Evening - Rough Mix (from remaster companion disc)

On This Day 01 August

On This day posted in 2020

SOUNDCHECK at Knebworth erroneously posted here for this day but actually happened  August 2  

1979 02 August On This Day Led Zeppelin soundcheck at Knebworth

• 1967 Yardbirds - Vancouver, British Columbia  at Pacific National Exhibition Grounds
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Santa Barbara, CA at Earl Warren Showgrounds
• 1979 Led Zeppelin - soundcheck at Knebworth [actually 02 August. The photos of the stage being constructed are from 01 August]

1979 Knebworth amp stacks (Photo John Harrison, stage crew)

(Photo John Harrison, stage crew)

Photos below are from 02 August

1979 Knebworth soundcheck Robert Plant singing, Jason Bonham standing in for dad on drums
(photo John Harrison, stage crew)

1979 Robert Plant at Led Zeppelin's Knebworth soundcheck
12 y.o. Jason on drums (photo John Harrison, stage crew)

Two accounts from stage crew

Mark Bancroft, Knebworth 1979 stage crew
The Wednesday sound check, lunch time . Owing to sound restrictions there were small windows to tune the PA. Until then the sound guys were playing a heart beat loop,du dum du, dum. In Stevenage someone told me it must be a pile driver! So Wed was the only permited PA test. Zep arrived , ignoring the helicopter pad they flew into the arena and circled the stage,the chopper wash tested the stage, 11 stories at the centre, 5 from the stage to the proscenium arch.

It stood up to this.

The Zep families turned up in Daimler limos and the kids went into the chopper for a spin round the home counties. Chopper cost 750 pounds an hour. Robert Plant was the first on stage, there were about 50-60 crew and liggers in the arena. He sang acapella "Take good care of my Baby" , the Bobby Vinton song, we were all stunned, knowing of the sadness his family had suffered. Many tough roadies were sniffing, not good for the image.

The rest of Zep appeared. They played "Trampled Underfoot" , I noticed then Bonzo was watching the band. I looked at the drums and could not see who was playing, but he knew his stuff. All you could see was a hand coming over the top to hit the cymbals, later I found out it was his son. So I got to see the current line up in 79!

As for Peter Grant, I was in the same room a few times with him and others, I just kept very quiet. Not the type to suffer fools and so on top of his game. Was he tough? yes, very. Was he ruthless to those who tried to rob him, ask them, they may have healed by now.

I have worked a lot of gigs before and since,but none like Zep.When they left the stage, I went on to strike fire extinguishers before the road crew stole them.The crowd was still calling for more. The energy hit you physically, I felt like if I walked off stage into the crowd, it would carry me over their heads.


John Harrison,Knebworth 1979 stage crew

... I think it was around 2pm the band started arriving, first was John Paul Jones in a BMW 6 series with his wife, second Plant, who I think was on his own, third John Bonham with Jason who must have been around 12 at the time. Last but by no means least Pagey and Peter Grant arrived in a helicopter. Needless to say I had stopped work by then. I grabbed a page of the Sounds music paper from someone and a felt tip pen and went round getting all their autographs, well all except Grants – he was terrifying, and I didn't ask Jason for his either.

Whilst he was waiting Plant had a play on the piano and on the keyboards with JPJ. So eventually they all got sorted and Bonham started hitting the drums – noisy bastard I was right in front of a bank of speakers it nearly took my head off.

On This Day 31 July

Many opportunities now available to get more Jimmy Page.

1967 31 July On This Day The Yardbirds - Vancouver, British Columbia at Kerrisdale Arena
♪  Only The Black Rose (Jimmy Page home recording 1967) 

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Vancouver, British Columbia at Kerrisdale Arena
• 1973 Led Zeppelin NBC Nightly News appearance

1973:

Check out the video. The boys sure did ham it up for the news camera.

Jimmy Page, from NBC News report on rich rock stars

♫  1973 NBC report "Rich rock stars and the Industry that shares their wealth" 

2015:

Only a few days left to support Scarlet Page's Kickstarter campaign for her photographic book project, Resonators.  There are several pledge levels, ranging from a good-will gesture all the way to to a signed copy of the book plus day's photoshoot in London with Scarlet. Resonators is to be published November 2015.

Jimmy Page, photo by Scarlet Page from her book, Resonators

2015:
The last three of the Led Zeppelin studio remasters are released today. The remasters represent thousands of hours of Jimmy Page's effort to provide the music world with the best quality Led Zeppelin albums ever.

Presence

In Through The Out Door

Coda

On This Day 30 July

We're here, right by you Jimmy!

1984 30 July On This Day Steven Stills' Right By You released, with Jimmy Page on tracks 1, 3 and 10
 ♪  Right By You (Stephen Stills with Jimmy Page guitar) Soundcloud

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Windsor, England at Royal Windsor Racecourse
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Seattle, WA at Eagles Auditorium
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Salt Lake City, UT at Terrace Ballroom (2 shows one night)
• 1984 Stephen Stills' Right By You released with three tracks recorded by Jimmy Page at The Sol 

1969:
Led Zeppelin was the opening act to veteran performers, Vanilla Fudge. According to a press review, Vanilla Fudge appeared as musical impostors when compared to a group like Zeppelin. The bass player for the Fudge even apologetically acknowledged this as he mounted the stage and said, “There’s no way we can follow that.”
~Summer Chronicle, by S. Poulsen, August 1, 1969

1969 Led Zeppelin in Salt Lake City, UT

1984:

The Mill Studios (also known as The Mill or The Sol), located in Berkshire, England, was a recording studio built by Gus Dudgeon, who purchased the property in 1975 to develop a studio for recording/producing a number of Elton John's albums. The property itself is an old watermill on the Thames River system, with a recording studio and control room connected to the old watermill and residential wheelhouse via a bridge over the millpond dam.

Jimmy Page purchased the studio complex in 1980 when he also bought a home, the Old Mill House, a few minutes away.

The Led Zeppelin songs Poor Tom and We're Gonna Groove, originally recorded in 1970, were produced by Mr. Page at Sol Studios for release for the album Coda. The soundtrack for the film Death Wish II, The Firm’s two albums, and Outrider were also recorded at The Sol.

The Mill Studio (a.k.a. The Sol) view from control room

Control room of The Mill Studio (a.k.a. The Sol

♪  Flaming Heart (Stephen Sills, feat. Jimmy Page guitar, 1984) YouTube
♪  Right By You (Stephen Sills, feat. Jimmy Page guitar, 1984) YouTube

On This Day 29 July

Dum de dum dum...

1973 29 July On This Day Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden
♪ Drake Hotel (Dragnet radio & TV theme song) (Soundcloud)

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Danville, CA at San Ramon High School
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Edmonton, Alberta, at Kinsmen Field House
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden
• 1984 Jimmy Page with Roy Harper at Battersea Park, London

1973:
This was the third performance in a row at Madison Square Garden. At the end of Whole Lotta Love, East Indian fire-eater Mike Quashie came dancing out on the stage with a couple of torches. He lit John Bonham's gong and one drumstick, but Bonzo just kept on playing.

This is the show where the robbery occurred of MSG receipts from the safety deposit box at the Drake Hotel. Originally reported as $203,000, the amount was $180,000 and no one was ever arrested for the theft. The band later sued the hotel and received a settlement.

After the show, the band went to a party held by Ahmet Ertegun to present gold records for Houses of the Holy.

This final night was also the final performance in this 1973 North American tour.

1973 29 July Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden

1973 Led Zeppelin at MSG - Mike Quashie lights Bonzo's fire

Led Zeppelin - New York  1973 - Houses of the Holy Gold Album Award.

1984:
GLC Free Festival Battersea Park in London was put on by the Greater London Council, the city's local authority from 1964 to 1986.  It was one of two music festivals used to highlight what the GLC was doing to fight unemployment, boost the London economy and help create and fund new jobs. 

1984 Jimmy Page at Battersea with Roy Harper

♪  Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin, MSG 29 July 1973) YouTube

♪  Dazed and Confused excerpt 8mm film (Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, MSG 29 July 1973) YouTube

♪  The Ocean (Led Zeppelin, MSG 29 July 1973) YouTube

♪  Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin, MSG 29 July 1973) YouTube